Chicago-based singer-songwriter Cathy Richardson and Bill Dolan, co-art director, recently received a Grammy nomination from the Recording Academy in the category of Best Recording Package for Cathy Richardson Band’s new CD, The Road To Bliss. The long-awaited follow-up to Buzzzed was just released on president Richardson’s own aptly christened Cash Rich Records label. ‘This is a great day to be an independent artist. I am very grateful to the Academy for recognizing this work. Creating this CD package was a truly inspired process and a labor of love. Bill and I are completely geeked,’ Richardson said. Her own road photographs comprise the six-fold case, and themselves are a compass for the songs. Unfold the package, unfold the trip. The CD is the steering wheel. The rearview mirror is in position. The road map to Bliss is in the glove box. ‘I really wanted to bring the listener into the record,’ Richardson explains, pointing out, ‘It’s probably more of a theme record than a concept album, but there are concepts involved in the design that we didn’t even plan on, that ended up in the finished product. The vision was for the package to be an extension of the music.’ Richardson will be on Windy City Radio this Sunday, Dec. 28, 11-midnight, WCKG, 105.9 FM (also on: John Kamys of Super 8 Cum Shot). MSNBC.com’s The Scoop reports that Queer Eye for the Straight Guy interior designer Thom Filicia has signed with Pier One to do commercials for the store. The ‘Fab 5′ were also among Barbara Walters’ ‘The Ten Most Fascinating People of 2003.’ So were Seigfried and Roy. Melissa Etheridge is doing four solo shows March 18-21 at House of Blues. But save up now—tickets are $75. Will her fans relent or rebel? Michael Jackson was charged last week with nine felony counts in connection with the alleged molestation of a child in California, reported the Washington Post. But most interviews with family members seem obsessed with his ‘sexuality,’ as opposed to making it clear that child molestation has NOTHING to do with one’s sexual orientation. The Dec., 15 Business Week had some great stuff on gays and lesbians and corporate America. ‘Gays are making huge strides everywhere but in the executive suite.’