Refined retreat
The Illinois State Fair may celebrate corn dogs, carnival rides, and country music. But how about sipping a glass of cabernet in air-conditioned comfort while listening to jazz? Tucked between tractors, a petting zoo, and a farm-safety display in the fair’s “Agri-Expo” area (once home to the “Happy Hollow”) is the Illinois Wine Garden, showcasing…
Removing barriers?
To mark his 100th day in office, Mayor Tim Davlin held a press conference in which he received a report from his transition team. The press conference was largely ceremonial; Davlin had met weekly with the committee, and he said its recommendations were based on his ideas. For the cameras, the mayor appeared with committee…
Your Turn . . . 7-31-03
No Tom Tomorrow! Dear Sir or Madam, I grow increasingly tired of the liberal fire-fueling cartoons and articles in your paper. I pick up your paper every week in order to get Springfield information and ideas for my upcoming weekend. However, I am appalled at your partisan beliefs. Yes, you have freedom of the press.…
Knoepfle 7-31-03
dialogue with cheks chek chek chek chek chek chek chek chek-chek-chek-chek-chek-chek-chek-chek chekachekachekachekachekachekchek chekchekchekchekchekchekaaakkkkkkkkkk what is all this sprinkler do we need this sprinkler grass does can’t you write something else chek chek chek chek chek © John Knoepfle 2003
Movies
Seabiscuit The story of champion racehorse Seabiscuit and the three men who shaped his destiny sounds like the worst sort of Hollywood hokum. Tragedies affect all of the characters and seem designed to pull at our heartstrings. Yet the story behind the Laura Hillenbrand best-seller and this fine adaptation by director Gary Ross is true.…
Bards of the Sangamo 7-31-03
TRINITY ‘Neath faille skirt of zealous genuflect, gold stare by pious eye, valley city sweat goth despair that cloudless cursed July. ‘Round coo-still Capitol dome pigeon bird shallow panted. While from burb to bowery home, fan whirred–summer recanted with each ragweed sneeze each rale each weeze on fallow grist. Stampeding stale through settler’s swath, wild…
End of a scene
In 1995, Carlinville high school chums Christopher Yeager and Mike Frizzo decided to start a rock band. They came up with a suitably cryptic name–October’s Perpetual Agony–and Frizzo owned all the necessary equipment. But they still faced a problem: Yeager couldn’t play an instrument. “Mike had to show me how to make a bar chord,”…
How the governor swore off video games
Even with everyone focused on “the worst fiscal crisis in the state’s history,” Governor Rod Blagojevich continues to be obsessed with his public image. Some state employees were required to monitor local TV news broadcasts for any mention of Blagojevich, until bad publicity forced the governor to reconsider the practice this week. In one instance,…
Roadblocks
Builders and city officials agree there has to be a better way to encourage development in Springfield. The sticking point has always been deciding who picks up the tab for a better looking city and quality roads. Last week, Mayor Tim Davlin’s transition committee presented their take on the topic inside their wide-ranging report. They…
Now Playing 7-31-03
Calling all bars, calling all bars: On the lookout for exciting and entertaining live music. Please report interesting activity anywhere in the city. Here’s one for you. Craig Russo and his Latin Jazz Project are back in town for a double bill and with a special guest. Russo has the guys over at Robbie’s from…
“Our darkest time”
When Paul Findley was a student at Illinois College in the early years of World War II, he read a book called Union Now by Clarence K. Streit, a New York Times reporter who had covered the fall of the League of Nations. Streit advocated the joining of democracies in the North Atlantic, not in…
The highway side
ELEVEN “Do you hear that?” Maddy asked. “Listen. Far away.” We were in her bed, down the hall from Billy’s room. Nobody said anything for a while. In that middle-of-the-night quiet, I could hear Maddy breathing, feel my own heart beat. And then I heard it, far, far away, barely a whisper moving through the…
W-e-e-d
Tip of the week To view the best free garden display in central Illinois, drive through the Illinois State Fairgrounds in the next couple of days. The other day I almost lost my one-year-old daughter–she had walked into the garden where the weeds were tall. I had to face up to the chore I’d put…
