A portrait of the landscape in barns
Photographer Larry Kanfer is known for his elegant, beautifully composed prairie scenes in Illinois. Many are like portraits of the landscape. The University of Illinois Press has just published Kanfer’s fifth photography book, Barns of Illinois, and who better to document the American barn than he? Trained as an architect at the University of Illinois,…
JOGS ON ICE
As winter sets in, many athletes begin moving their exercise regiments indoors to escape the cold. However, one Springfield group revels in the low temperatures. The Frost Toes running group is a band of Springfield runners training for the Springfield Frostbite Festival’s 10-mile foot race on Dec. 6. Their motto? “It’s never too cold to…
Eat, drink, shop, think LOCAL FIRST
You always have a choice where you spend your money. If you aren’t already a believer in the cause of LOCAL FIRST, I urge you to consider what this town is going to look like in 10 years. Will there be anything on Veteran’s Parkway that isn’t regional / national? Will there be anything (other…
Familiar name wants back in the game
She is practically a household name in the Illinois political scene, and now Judy Baar Topinka is throwing her hat into the political ring once more in her bid for state comptroller. Topinka announced Oct. 25 that she would seek elected office for the first time since her failed 2006 gubernatorial race against now-impeached governor…
Light dance with organ
Timothy Spelbring, University of Illinois doctoral candidate in organ performance and Yale School of Music graduate, leads this Halloween and All Saints concert with pieces such as Toccata and Fugue in D minor by Bach, Phantom of the Opera (Overture) by Andrew Lloyd Webber, Fugue in C (Gigue Fugue) by Dieterich Buxtehude and Rhosymedre by Ralph Vaughan…
Eerie ensemble
Halloween evening at Sangamon Auditorium mixes holiday fun with fantastic music. The Illinois Symphony Orchestra plays the spooky soundtrack to the 1921 feature film, Nosferatu, projected above the orchestra. Dress in your Halloween best to compete in the costume contest. Grab your treat as Dancing with the MONSters makes the audience scream with laughter. Halloween…
These Cajuns add seasoning to life in central Illinois
By the time you read this, I’ll be back down by the bayou. There’s a pretty good chance I’ll be eating oysters harvested that morning, or shrimp and crabs from the Gulf of Mexico, only a few miles south. Then again I might be eating tangy gumbo z’herbes, made of greens and onions and thickened…
Board worries building plan may cause voter sticker shock
Bill Castor, president of the Vinegar Hill Neighborhood Association, was once a staunch supporter of keeping Springfield High School rooted to its historic downtown location. One of 59 members of a community committee charged with proposing a new plan for Springfield’s three public high schools, Castor initially hoped to see the Springfield High campus doubled…
A corporate Monster v. “The Vermonster”
Where are those lawsuit abuse groups when you really need them? Chance are that you’ve seen ads, letters-to-the-editor, op-ed pieces and other materials put out by outfits with such civic-sounding names as Citizens Against Lawsuit Abuse. By whatever name, the message is always the same, usually delivered in a sort of urgent, basso profundo voice…
Illinois Symphony votes to unionize
The new season for the Illinois Symphony Orchestra brings not only new management, but also a recent announcement that musicians have voted to officially unionize. On Oct. 20, representatives from the National Labor Relations Board sub-regional office in Peoria counted 64 ballots that were mailed in by ISO musicians. (The NLRB sent ballots to 107…
FUNKY FRESH FRIDAYS
ReChad Bradley, an algebra teacher at Southeast High School, decided this year that he was going to challenge his students in more than just math equations. Instead of dressing down and wearing jeans on Fridays, Bradley dresses up in a new sweater vest and matching French cuff shirt at the end of each week. “I…
Soileau’s Dirty Rice
Dirty Rice is a Cajun classic. If you’re fond of chicken livers, you’ll love this dish. The livers are essential for truly authentic Dirty Rice, however I have seen versions that substitute finely ground hamburger for some or all of the livers. 1 pound chicken livers, rinsed and drained pound smoked sausage, ground or very…
Remember to not forget
The bronze sculpture commemorating the 1908 race riots was finally dedicated this summer on Aug. 6, a century late. As all mayors must, Mayor Davlin said a few words at the ceremony in Union Square Park. “I think we also put up a monument over here,” he said, “to remind . . . current and…
Groove Daddies
Getting a photo into the Best of Springfield issue surely grants the Groove Daddies a special award as the best band in Springfield to never win a category. The venerable group formed in 1990 with lead vocalist Gary Bloom as the heart and guitarist Jeff Kornfeld as the soul of the band. Add in Brian…
Everybody’s weird at The Rocky Horror Show
I admit that I watched The Rocky Horror Picture Show a few times growing up, mostly to learn the dance steps to the Time Warp to fit in at the high school Halloween Dance… so I turned the movie off after that song. Had I kept watching, I would have learned the rest of the…
Halloween happenings
With the holiday landing on Saturday this year, Halloween parties at the bars abound, with private parties happening too. Even public parties at private facilities are shaking, like the scary Sangamo Surf Club out on lonely Lake Springfield hosting the revolting Roxschool. I hardly know where to start to cover them all, but since we…
Goblin-filled grocery
Halloween weekend at the Farmer’s Market marks the end of the selling season with some ghostly-good fun and music. Register your kids (up to 12 years old) from 10 a.m. until judging at 11 a.m. Prizes will be awarded in three age categories. Register your dressed-up dog at 11:30 a.m. until judging at noon. The…
Letters to the Editor 10/29/09
FREE THE BLOGGER This incident is deeply disturbing [see “Blogger busted: Free speech goes on trial in Sangamon County,” by Amanda Robert, Oct. 15]. If the reporting is accurate here — and I have no doubt that it is — then what Scott Humphrey wrote does not rise to the level of either obscenity or…
Polls show half of voters disapprove of Quinn’s performance
For the first time since taking office, a new Rasmussen Reports poll of Illinoisans shows that more than half of all voters disapprove of Gov. Pat Quinn’s performance in office. The poll of 500 likely Illinois voters taken Oct. 14 found that 53 percent disapproved of Quinn’s performance while 45 percent approved. That’s a six-point…
Starting up, Cirque spins its wheels
A trend has emerged where franchise filmmaking is concerned. Often, the second part of a given series of movies winds up being better than the first. So much time is spent in part one on the exposition necessary to set up the character’s background and situation, that there’s little space left for anything truly interesting…
Best of Springfield 2009
The BEST OF SPRINGFIELD was a fresh idea in 1982 when we first asked our readers to identify the best burger in town. In the 27 editions since then we’ve worked to keep it fresh by shaking up categories, asking different questions. As you’ll see over the next 30 pages, there’s plenty to celebrate about…
Independent watchdog warns: Illinois needs better accountability
You could call him an immovable object. He has outlasted three governors, called countless state agencies to task, and even survived an attempted hostile takeover of his constitutional office. Illinois Auditor General William “Bill” Holland spoke Oct. 23 to the Citizens Club of Springfield at the Hoogland Center for the Arts, addressing questions about his…
WAR MACHINES
Sen. Richard Durbin (D-Ill.) announced this month that Congress had approved $11 million in defense appropriations that will buy two new types of vehicle simulators for the Illinois Army National Guard stationed at Camp Lincoln in Springfield. One kind of simulator teaches soldiers to drive the Army’s new mine-resistant armored personnel vehicles, which are designed…
Touching wind and wood
Tuesday holds your chance to experience the voice and instrumental wonders of two-time Grammy, and seven-time Native American Music award, winner musician Bill Miller who performs at Lincoln Land Community College. Besides a folk and bluegrass singer/songwriter, Miller excels as a Native American flute master, guitarist and humanitarian ambassador. Bill MillerTuesday, Nov. 311:30am Student Union,…
Soileau’s Chili
5-7 quart pot 2 lbs. 80/20 lean ground beef 1 large onion, chopped 2 cloves garlic, minced Entire package Soileau’s Chili Seasoning 2 8oz. cans tomato sauce 16 oz. water (add more if needed) 1 can cooked black beans, or beans of your choice (optional) 2 Tbsp. olive oil 2 Tbsp. butter Melt butter in…
Boys walks an emotional tightrope
The premise of Scott Hicks’ The Boys are Back has movie-of-the-week written all over it. Joe Warr (Clive Owen), a dad who’s hardly ever around, finds himself adrift when he’s faced with raising his young son (Nicholas McAnulty) after his wife succumbs to cancer. Barely coping at this, he’s forced to come to terms with…
Best of Springfield 2009 continued
RESTAURANTS IN THE MIDDLE OF NOWHERE Rather than name a single winner in this eatery category, we thought it would be more fun to alert readers to several delightful out-of-the-way discoveries nominated in our Best of Springfield survey. Westwoods Lodge 2406 W Jefferson St, 698-9256 Tucked away on Jefferson, this place is easy to pass…
The prospect for an American Renaissance
The financial, economic and environmental crises are alarm signals to the world, and particularly to us in the U.S. The crises arose because we rushed into unsustainable and destructive practices. Yet we now have an opportunity to build the foundation for an American Renaissance. Extrapolating from Peter Senge’s learning organizations, “where people continually expand their…
