Melanie Martinez Among Headlining Acts for This Year’s Lollapalooza Festival in Chicago

Posted on March 19, 2024 by Tom Castaneda

Melanie Martinez is headed to the Windy City…

The 28-year-old Puerto Rican and Dominican American singer and former The Voice contestant will be among the headlining acts at this summer’s Lollapalooza festival in Chicago.

Martinez is among a roster of headlining acts for the August 1-4 music event that includes SZA, Tyler, The Creator, blink-182, The Killers, Future X Metro Boomin, Hozier, Stray Kids and Skrillex.

Among the 170 acts that will perform on eight stages includes Deftones, Tate McRae, Laufey with the Chicago Philharmonic, Reneé Rapp, Lizzy McAlpine, Zedd, Fisher, Zeds Dead, Dominic Fike, Labrinth, Pierce the Veil, Victoria Monét, Sexyy Red, Teddy Swims, Faye Webster, Benson Boone, Jungle, Two Door Cinema Club, Killer Mike, Ive, Vince Staples, Kesha, Galantis, Kevin Abstract, Ethel Cain, Chappell Roan, Megan Mornoey, Teezo Touchdown and many more.

Fans can sign up now for the 2024 presale, which will kick off on Thursday (March 21) from 11:00 am to 1:00 pm ET; the presale is the only way to guarantee the lowest price on 4-day general admission, GA+, VIP and Platinum tickets. Ticket prices will increase at 1:00 pm ET when the public onsale begins; click here for ticketing information. One-day tickets and the lineup-by-day rundown will be available at a later date.

Last summer’s event featured headlining sets from Billie Eilish, Lana Del Rey, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Kendrick Lamar, Odesza, Karol G, TOMORROW X TOGETHER and The 1975.

The four-day extravaganza that sets up in Grant Park in downtown Chicago draws more than 400,000 fans to the massive party near Lake Michigan.

Feid Among the Headlining Acts for This Year’s Sueños Music Festival

Posted on February 4, 2023 by Tom Castaneda

Feid is living his sueños…

The 30-year-old Colombian singer and songwriter will be among the headlining acts at the second edition of Sueños Music Festival.

In addition to Feid, headlining acts include Wisin y Yandel, Grupo Firme and Nicky Jam, who will all grace the stage on the weekend of May 27 and 28 in Chicago’s Grant Park.

The exclusively all-Latin music festival — which highlights regional Mexican and urbano powerhouse performers in the same roster — will also host reggaeton icon Ivy Queen, as well as Becky G, Eladio Carrion, Chencho Corleone, Junior H, Gera MX, Ryan Castro, Young Miko, Pao Pao and more.

From the founders of Mexico’s Baja Beach Fest, Sueños made its debut in 2022 with headlining acts J Balvin, Ozuna, and Farruko. Returning acts include Puerto Rican rapper Myke Towers, Dominican dembow purveyor El Alfa, as well as reggaeton pioneers Wisin y Yandel who will be headlining for a second year in a row.

“We’re thrilled to be coming back to Chicago for our second annual Sueños festival,” Aaron Ampudia and Chris Den Uijl, co-founders of Sueños, told Billboard Español in an email. “Last year was such a moment, you could feel the energy and excitement from fans no matter where you were at in the festival. It just felt like we were meant to be there, celebrating Latin music and culture with Chicago’s thriving Latino community – and this year we’re bringing even more.”

Wisin y Yandel kicked off their farewell tour La Última Misión last year, while showcasing their latest 2022 album of the same name. In December, the dynamic duo broke their own record at Coliseo de Puerto Rico José Miguel Agrelot (a.k.a. El Choli) with a series of 14 homecoming shows, which included a New Year’s Eve performance, the first time ever the iconic venue held a show on said date.

Feid, who entered the Billboard 200 chart in October for his successful (and leaked!) LP Feliz Cumpleaños Ferxxo: Te Pirateamos el Álbum, is poised to make an impact in 2023. Late last year, Feid embarked on his first headlining U.S. tour, produced by Live Nation, selling out numerous dates.

The Mexican band Grupo Firme, who has been elevating norteña music to higher grounds, made a splash at last summer at Baja Beach Fest in Rosarito when the group surprised audiences with its performance of “Cada Quien” alongside Medellín superstar Maluma.

“We can’t wait to see what Grupo Firme, Wisin Y Yandel, Feid, Nicky Jam and all the phenomenal artists on the lineup bring to the Sueños stage this Memorial Day Weekend!” added the founders.

For more info, visit SuenosMusicFestival.com.

J Balvin to Co-Headline ‘Sueños,’ Chicago’s New Reggaeton & Latin Trap Festival

Posted on February 10, 2022 by Tom Castaneda

J Balvin is livin’ the sueño(s)…

The 36-year-old Colombian singer and rapper will co-headline Sueños, a new reggaeton and Latin trap festival in Chicago.

J Balvin will co-headline with Ozuna and Wisin y Yandel, when the festival takes place during Memorial Day Weekend (May 28-29).

The first-ever edition of Sueños — presented by the producers behind Baja Beach Fest and Lollapalooza, respectively, and Chicago’s Reventon Promotions — will also include sets by artists like Myke Towers, El Alfa, Tokischa, Sech, Natanael Cano, Fuerza Regida, Jhay Cortez, Blessd, Jowell & Randy, and DJ Luian.

“We’re honored to work with the producers of Lollapalooza and Reventon to bring a premier Latin festival to Grant Park in Chicago,” said Aaron Ampudia of Baja Beach Fest. “Reggaetón is a massive genre, but remains underserved by live festivals in the U.S. We’re extremely proud to expand to the US and serve our community and everyone who enjoys Latin music.”

Reventon Promotions’ Enrique Medrano added: ”Over a decade ago, I started Reventon Promotions with a dream of bringing authentic and diverse Hispanic entertainment to Chicago. Now I am excited and proud to be part of the first Sueños festival, an event that celebrates the Hispanic presence in the city, in addition to being held in the iconic and representative Grant Park right in the heart of downtown. What better place is there for thousands of people from different Latin American countries to meet, share, and celebrate with artists of the likes of J Balvin, Ozuna, and many more.”

Sueños’ inaugural edition will be the first of two back-to-back reggaeton festivals set to take place for the first time ever in Chicago over the summer.

The also new Más Flow three-day reggaeton fest — featuring headliners Don Omar and Ivy Queen — is confirmed for July 15 to July 17, and produced by Grass Root Events, a local production company.

Sueños and Más Flow join Chicago’s very own Ruido Fest, a Latin alternative music festival that launched in 2015, as the third and second Latinx music festivals to find a home in the Midwestern city, where Latinos are now the second-largest racial or ethnic group, growing by 5% from roughly 779,000 in 2010 to nearly 820,000 in 2020, according to census data.

Tickets for Sueños will be available via pre-sale beginning Friday, February 11, at 1:00 pm ET with the official on-sale launching at 3:00 pm at www.suenosmusicfestival.com.

Broadway Legend Chita Rivera to Release Memoir in Early 2023 via HarperOne

Posted on January 28, 2022 by Tom Castaneda

Chita Rivera is ready to share her story…

The 89-year-old half-Puerto Rican Tony Award-winning actress, singer, dancer and Broadway legend will be recapping her illustrious career in a memoir for HarperOne, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers.

The book, with a publication release date set for early 2023 and title to be determined, will also be published simultaneously by Harper Español.

Rivera will be writing the book with Emmy-winning TV commentator and arts journalist Patrick Pacheco.

Rivera is one of the most nominated actors in Tony Awards history, garnering 10 bids during her long career. Her credits include West Side Story, Bye Bye Birdie, Chicago and Kiss of the Spider Woman.

She plans to detail her associations with Leonard Bernstein, Stephen Sondheim, Arthur Laurents, Jerome Robbins, Bob Fosse, Hal Prince, Gower Champion, John Kander, Fred Ebb, Jerry Herman, and other titans of the Broadway world.

She will also share her stories about Gwen Verdon, Elaine Stritch, Dick Van Dyke, Liza Minnelli, and Sammy Davis Jr., among others.

“I’ve long considered writing my memoirs, but I’ve never been one to look back…until now,” Rivera said in a statement. “Now it feels right, and with Patrick Pacheco, I couldn’t be more pleased to pass on my experience to a new generation. I hope my words and thoughts about my life and career resonate and readers just might discover some things about me they never knew.”

Lisa Sharkey, SVP director of creative development, HarperCollins Publishers, acquired the North American rights for English and World for Spanish, first serial, and audio from Mel Berger at WME.

The book will have Rakesh Satyal as executive editor, HarperOne Publishing Group, and will be edited with HarperEspañol editor Ariana Rosado-Fernández.

Ana Villafañe to Star in Apple’s Drama “Bad Monkey”

Posted on January 11, 2022 by Tom Castaneda

Ana Villafañe isn’t afraid to monkey around…

The 32-year-old Cuban and Salvadoran American actress/singer has joined the cast of Apple’s drama Bad Monkey, written and executive produced Bill Lawrence.

Villafañe, best known for her portrayal of Latina icon Gloria Estefan in the Broadway musical On Your Feet!, joins an ensemble cast that Rob Delaney, newcomer Ahmed Elhaj and Arturo Luis Soria as series regulars, joining Vince Vaughn, who also serves as executive producer, Michelle Monaghan, Jodie Turner-Smith and Meredith Hagner.

Based on Carl Hiaasen’s popular 2013 novel, Bad Monkey tells the story of Andrew Yancy (Vaughn), a one-time detective demoted to restaurant inspector in Southern Florida. A severed arm found by a tourist out fishing pulls Yancy into the world of greed and corruption that decimates the land and environment in both Florida and the Bahamas. And yes, there’s a monkey.

Villafañe plays Rosa, a Miami medical examiner who is starting to realize she may not be cut out for her job, so is happy to ditch work and help Yancy try to figure out the story of the severed arm he brings into her lab.

Soria portrays Rogelio, a good Key West police detective who comes to his best friend and ex-partner, Andrew Yancy, with a life-changing assignment. It further complicates things that Rogelio’s husband is also Yancy’s attorney.

Villafañe was most recently seen in a recurring role on the final season of Younger. Her other previous credits include a heavily recurring role on NBC’s New Amsterdam. She was most recently seen in a starring role in the Broadway production of Chicago.

Soria’s guest star/recurring roles include Insatiable and The Blacklist.

Leslie Silva to Star in ABC Civil Rights-Themed Limited Series “Women of the Movement”

Posted on April 15, 2021 by Tom Castaneda

Leslie Silva is on the move(ment)…

The 52-year-old Afro-Latina actress has been cast in ABC’s limited series Women of the Movement, which hails from creator-writer Marissa Jo Cerar and a producing team that includes Jay-Z, Will Smith and Aaron Kaplan.

Silva, who will portray Ruby Hurley, joins a cast that includes Chris Butler as Rayfield Mooty, Alex Désert as Dr. Howard, Miles Fowler as Simeon Booker, Tongayi Chirisa as Medgar Evers, Jason Turner as James Hicks, and Daniel Abeles as Chet Packton.

Inspired by the book Emmett Till: The Murder That Shocked the World and Propelled the Civil Rights Movement by Devery S. Anderson, the six-episode limited series is set in 1955. It centers on Mamie Till-Mobley (Adrienne Warren), who risks her life to find justice after her son Emmett (Cedric Joe) is brutally murdered in the Jim Crow South. Unwilling to let Emmett’s murder disappear from the headlines, Mamie chooses to bear her pain on the world stage, emerging as an activist for justice and igniting the Civil Rights movement as we know it today.

Glynn Turman, Chris Coy, Julia McDermott, Carter Jenkins, Tonya Pinkins and Ray Fisher co-star.

Silva’s Ruby Hurley was a famed NAACP activist and leader in the Civil Rights Movement. A lady badass among men, Ruby was fiercely committed to getting justice for Emmett Till.

Silva’s television and film credits include NBC’s Shades of Blue, CW’s In The Dark, Showtime’s Odyssey 5, the Hulu limited series The Looming Tower and the independent film Reversion.

On stage, she starred in the Signature Theatre’s production of Chicago, directed by Joseph Chaikin and Sam Shepard, as well as The Master Builder directed by André Gregory.

Jon Seda Rejoins Cast of NBC’s Drama Pilot “La Brea”

Posted on March 6, 2021 by Tom Castaneda

Jon Seda is heading back to La Brea…

The 50-year-old Puerto Rican actor has rejoined the cast of NBC’s drama pilot La Brea.

Seda, who will star opposite Eoin Macken and Natalie Zea on the series, was originally cast in the project a year ago and released in June due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Meanwhile, Hollywood newcomer has joined the cast of the pilot.

In La Brea, written by David Appelbaum, when a massive sinkhole mysteriously opens in Los Angeles, it tears a family in half, separating mother (Zea) and son (Martin) from father and daughter. When part of the family find themselves in an unexplainable primeval world, alongside a disparate group of strangers, they must work to survive and uncover the mystery of where they are and if there is a way back home. (The family’s last name has been changed from Wolcott to Harris.)

Seda plays Dr. Sam Velez (originally Dr. Benjamin Glass). The father of a teenage girl, he carries himself like the general of an Army. Santiago plays Veronica. Very rigid and formal, she does her best to comfort and protect her younger sister.

Universal Television, a division of Universal Studio Group, is the studio, producing with Keshet Studios.

Seda starred for seven seasons on the Chicago franchise as Detective Antonio Dawson. One of the original stars of the franchise, he started off as a recurring on the mothership Chicago Fire before he was spun off to Chicago P.D. He also appeared for a time on the short-lived legal drama spinoff Chicago Justice. He previously played Nelson Hidalgo on Treme.

Santiago, a graduate of Northwestern University and LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts, has appeared in numerous stage productions including the All-Female Macbeth (Red Bull Theater), Othello (Shakespeare in the Park, Romeo & Juliet (Huntington Theatre), and most recently the Public’s mobile Shakespeare production of Measure For Measure.

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