He wants you to want him.
For William J. Kelly, Republican candidate for Illinois comptroller, just listening to Cheap Trick's Rick Nielsen wasn't enough.
Nielsen, an investor in Chicago's Piece Brewery & Pizzeria, was in town this weekend for live-band karaoke at the New Haven-style pizza joint (a Current staff favorite, by the way).
True to form for a spotlight-craving politician, Kelly had to take the stage himself. A graduate of Chicago's Second City Conservatory, he offered a rendition of the Cheap Trick classic "I Want You to Want Me."
I want you to want me.
I need you to need me.
I'd love you to love me.
I'm beggin' you to beg me.
What ensued had us begging, all right — for him to stop.
When Kelly grabbed the mike, Nielsen told him, "You're drunk — but in a good way."
We'll agree with one part of that.