Two hometown girls returned to their roots this week first with Jennifer Hudson making two appearances on Monday. She went to Weight Watchers then ended the day by signing her memoir I Got This at Barnes & Noble. I felt 300 pounds next to the skinny chanteuse when I took a picture with her. What an inspiration for the new year. Her PR people know how to time things and were really nice to let me photograph her last minute. Her social media folks turned the tables on me and interviewed me about meeting Jennifer afterwards.

Then there was Team Griffin landing in a snowbank at the Chicago Theatre for two shows. Kathy brought the funny and the dish to tons of gays and women in the audience. Unfiltered and mouthy just the way we like her, she took on the Kardashians, Hasselbeck, and Paltrow with a little baby Blue Ivy in the mix. After chatting for over two hours she left the crowd ready for her new talk show in April on Bravo.

Then I jetted over to The Kills at the Riviera. This was rocking good show with two drummers pounding away and more hair flipping than a Poison concert! They reminded me of The Pixies with their retro sound and did not disappoint in that regard.

Saturday was "t-shirt time" with Jersey Shore the Musical. The cast captured the essence of our Jersey fist pumpers. My favorite was Nathan Stoner as Angelina. The accent, mannerisms, and wig were spot on. Erin Johnson as Sammi was a sweetheart after the show and had the cast pose with me. She is much nicer than the real Sammi let me tell you...

Bring some liquor with you when visit the show but keep the noise down as the audience got drunker they talked out loud at the performance I attended. Let Snooki be the messy one not you!
I finished out my east side experience with a Real Housewife of New Jersey Melissa Gorga at Spin Nightclub. She was so sweet and nice as when I interviewed her earlier a few weeks ago. Joe was a great sport and took pics with all his gay fans until the wee hours of the morning. What a week, yeah boy!!!