30 SECONDS WITH JARED LETO

30 Seconds to Mars, an alternative rock-band featuring front man, Jared Leto, hosted its after concert party at RiNo on Friday night. As a publicist for RiNo, one of Chicago’s hottest lounges, I had the opportunity to attend the party and meet Jared Leto, an enemy of the paparazzi, in person. The band arrived at RiNo around 12:15 a.m. following an exciting performance at the Aragon Ballroom. Contrary to celebrity blog reports, Jared was surprisingly very polite and mellow. He may just be misunderstood, or possibly was on his best behavior!

Jared and his entourage of about 5 or 6 people headed straight to the back of RiNo upon their arrival. They mingled in a roped-off VIP area for the remainder of the night. If I hadn’t known he would be heading to RiNo, I probably wouldn’t have even recognized Jared behind his overgrown beard and dark clothing. Not to mention he sat secluded behind a crowd of friends for most of the night.

Despite his frosty aura, Jared was extremely polite to me when I finally introduced myself. As we talked about his show and his minimal post-concert partying, I never got the impression that he considered himself a celebrity. Though his appearance was a far cry from his blue-eyed "My So-Called Life" days, that charming Jordan Catalano manner was still there! I also had the chance to mingle with the 30 Seconds to Mars guitarist, Tomo Milicevik, who did take advantage of their table service while Jared had been partying sans-drink for the entire night.

Unfortunately Jared does not take pictures with any women. He made a special request against it before he even arrived at RiNo. With his embittered relationship with the press, he probably has the right idea! In lieu of any exciting pictures of Jared canoodling with random women, we were lucky to snap this shot of the alt-rocker with RiNo owner Michael Bisbee.

Susan Schreiber
Assistant Publicist