The R. Kelly trial is finally scheduled to begin May 9, more than six years after the Sun-Times received and turned over to police a videotape that reportedly shows the singer having sex with and urinating on an underage girl. The day the Sun-Times broke that story Kelly sang “The World’s Greatest” at the opening ceremonies of the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympics.
Best of Chicago voting is live now. Vote for your favorites »
The pretrial maneuvering is another mystery. It’s taken place in the chambers of circuit judge Vincent Gaughan rather than in open court, and Gaughan has imposed a gag on attorneys. To find out what’s going on, the Sun-Times and Tribune filed emergency motions first with Gaughan and Monday with the Illinois Supreme Court. Presumably the judge wants to protect (former) minors who might figure in the trial. Pretrial coverage has focused on the video, but the Sun-Times noted in passing on April 14 that prosecutors “want to introduce evidence of other crimes allegedly committed by the R&B singer.”
Back in December 2000, a long Sun-Times article by music writer Jim DeRogatis and legal reporter Abdon Pallasch claimed that according to court records and interviews, Kelly had exploited his status “as a pop superstar to meet numerous girls as young as 15 and have sex with them.” The article cited a 1996 lawsuit by a Chicago woman who alleged she’d begun having sex with Kelly in 1991 when she was 15 and that “he encouraged her to participate in group sex with him and other underage girls.”
I don’t blame DeRogatis for being fascinated, and he’s not alone. At hitsville.org, former Reader staffer Bill Wyman has been compiling the highlights of Kelly’s “extravagant history” in the ongoing feature “R. Kelly SexFactsTM.”
The National Radio Hall of Fame, a part of Chicago’s Museum of Broadcast Communications, has been inducting members since 1992. Every spring a “steering committee” meets in Chicago to go over names submitted by the public and choose four finalists in each of four categories: an active national figure, a national pioneer, an active local or regional figure, and a local or regional pioneer. Then a vote by museum members and industry figures—and this year for the first time the public—decides the winners.
Kraig Kitchin, a radio consultant in LA, e-mailed me: “I can tell you that Mr. Terkel’s books, particularly Working, has had an impact on my thinking. I think very highly of him in that regard and if I had the chance to meet him, would certainly go out of my way to say a sincere Thank You for his body of work.”
For more on the media, see Michael Miner’s blog, News Bites, at chicagoreader.com.
