Rack ‘em up!
In “Having fun saving the world” (Nov. 7, 2013) I raised questions about the proposed Kidzeum’s hopes of turning “addressing the following critical issues affecting the health and wellness of youth today and of future generations” such as obesity and its diseases and air pollution into family fun. I have a few more. Downtown Springfield…
Bookmaking
I had a few more thoughts on the subject of town histories. (“What they had to do,” Nov. 27, 2013.) I noted in that piece that the story of any of Springfield civic siblings –Decatur, Champaign and Urbana, Bloomington-Normal — would make a lively book, yet none has one. For example, Bloomington is, with Peoria,…
Tonight: Springfield Renaissance Raises Money for Music Education
Tonight Donnie’s Homespun (107 W. Cook) will host the the third edition of Springfield Renaissance, an all-ages benefit music-and-comedy concert-cum-art exhibit. All proceeds from the modest $5 cover will benefit District 186 music programs. There will also be an instrument drive happening tonight, so if you have any musical instruments lying around the house that…
Trailing the pack
A while back I lamented Illinois’ failure to set up its own exchange at which citizens without health insurance might learn about and apply for affordable coverage. Today, Business Insider provides a revealing chart on how the different states are doing signing up people for Obamacare. Using data from the Department of Health and Human…
Houston picks corporation counsel
Springfield Mayor Mike Houston has chosen J. Todd Greenburg to be the city’s next corporation counsel. Greenburg, former city attorney for the city of Bloomington, comes with controversy. He was placed on administrative leave in October for undisclosed reasons and ultimately left the city’s employ. He and the Bloomington mayor had clashed over disclosure of…
Lowder and Manning
PHOTO BY ANITA STIENSTRA If there was ever a dynamic duo in the performing singer-songwriter world, these two seasoned performers and musicians could most certainly fit the bill. The combination of Jill Manning’s rough and ready, lovely and literate voice backed by the superb and sublime, intense and intentional guitar playing of Jaigh Lowder is…
Spike Lee delivers twisted noir with Oldboy
While directors M. Night Shyamalan (Remember him? The Sixth Sense ring a bell?) and Spike Lee have both had to abandon their independent ways and have essentially become filmmakers for hire, at the very least you can say that the latter has managed to inject a bit of his unique style into the studio projects…
Toy land, toy land … tablet, game and joy land
Disney infinity (above) Skylanders swap force (below); $74.99 each Innovation. Building skills. Out-of-the-box thinking. This year, toys trends are more about stretching the mind than providing temporary entertainment – or finding new ways to do both. “This is the year of toys powered by kids’ imaginations,” says Marianne Szymanski, the founder and president of Toy…
Party 9-1-1!
Choosing a menu where most dishes can be prepared ahead of time, such as sliced meats and cheeses, crudites and baked goods. Along with the holidays come many parties, but unfortunately, parties don’t always go the way you hope they will. We asked Susan Spungen, founding food editor at Martha Stewart Living and author of…
Woe is us
Curses, foiled againJohnny Deleon, 20, was thwarted in his attempt to steal hubcaps from cars parked outside a restaurant in Harris County, Texas, where law officers were holding a retirement party. After an officer who spotted Deleon confronted him, about 30 deputies inside the restaurant rushed outside to assist. Noting that Deleon failed to notice…
Letters to the Editor 12/12/13
AND ALL THAT JAZZ I couldn’t agree with you more on this week’s column on noise in public places. (“Foreground music,” James Krohe Jr., Dec. 5.) Being a person with some hearing loss, I find background music in restaurants particularly objectionable. It is difficult enough to understand speech from an eating companion with the normal…
Dreamy dynamics
PHOTO BY DONNA LOUNSBERRY Springfield Ballet Company presents its 39th annual Nutcracker at Sangamon Auditorium, UIS, Dec. 14 and 15. Set to Tchaikovsky’s enchanting score, the dance follows Clara and her Nutcracker from a lavish Christmas party to a fierce battle with the evil Mouse King, then to a magical journey through the Land of…
Gifts for cooks
Looking for gifts for the cooks on your list? Here are four recommendations. All are in constant use in my kitchen, and implements I frequently give as gifts. Immersion blenders“I never thought I’d use one,” the woman told me. On a vegetable-heavy diet –“2 cups a day!” – she wanted alternatives to stir-frying. My suggestions…
Spritely seasonal sounds
PHOTO COURTESY SANGAMON AUDITORIUM Needing no introduction, this gold and platinum, No. 1-selling Christmas artist of all time, Mannheim Steamroller takes to the Sangamon Auditorium stage on Monday, Dec. 16. You won’t want to miss this lively, invigorating production of holiday sound with multimedia effects. Grammy award-winner, MS founder/creator Chip Davis directs and co-produces the…
Power plant giveaway wins pollution pass
Coffeen Power Station in Montgomery County, south of Springfield, is one of the five power plants obtained by Dynegy subsidiary Illinois Power Holdings earlier this month. Photo courtesy of Dynegy One of Illinois’ largest energy companies has given away five power plants, following a decision by state regulators to give the new owners a temporary…
Homefront runs on autopilot
It’s never good when your mind starts wandering while watching a movie. To be sure, it is the rare film that keeps you in rapt attention from start to finish, but when you begin thinking about how much money each of the actors got in order to throw good judgment out the door or what…
Bale and Harrelson formidable duo in Furnace
Woody Harrelson as Curtis DeGroat and Christian Bale as Russell Baze in Out of the Furnace. PHOTO CREDIT BY KERRY HAYES. While writing his follow-up to 2009’s Crazy Heart, director Scott Cooper had Christian Bale in mind for the lead role in what was to become Out of the Furnace. He even went so far…
Classical repertoire
The Illinois Symphony Chamber Orchestra opens its season with two hour-long “Happy Hour” concerts on Friday, Dec. 13, at 6 p.m. and 8 p.m. at First Presbyterian Church in downtown Springfield. The ISCO’s premiere includes Finzi’s pensive and elegant “Romance,” followed by the sounds of English string music in a performance of Britten’s “Serenade for Tenor, Horn…
Music matters at Lincoln Land
PHOTO BY GINNY LEE On Wednesday, Dec. 4, outside Room 2250 in Menard Hall on the campus of Lincoln Land Community College, well-dressed young adults pace nervously, awaiting the moment they enter to participate in the LLCC 2013 Honors Recital in progress. Inside the room a black Steinway grand piano dominates the center of the…
SURVIVAL OF THE FULLEST
The frigid temperatures of winter mean trouble for the homeless folks of Springfield. Although there is a temporary overflow shelter during winter for those who don’t get one of the limited spots at the year-round shelters, even the overflow shelter is often full, and people don’t always make it to the overflow shelter for various…
Promises, promises
Michael Carrigan, president of the Illinois AFL-CIO The headlines all say that the General Assembly has reformed Illinois’ public employee pension system. The headlines lie. Legislators didn’t reform what has become an unworkable system, although they did change it – or try to. Their ingenious fix is likely to prove futile; the courts will have…
Coal economy a dead end for Illinois
In 1911 the Peabody family moved into a new mansion in a suburb of Chicago. The move was made possible by many Peabody company miners living in shacks and risking their lives in unsafe mines downstate. Unions gradually improved conditions and pay for miners but the basic economic dynamics of coal haven’t changed. Mining communities…
Billionaires reap a cornucopia of farm subsidy cash
December is a time of many holiday feasts – which makes it a good time to remember family farmers and the tremendous contributions they make to our country, culture, taste buds and tummies. But not all farmers contribute equally, which is why I’m sending out this special holiday sentiment to one group of unique agriculturalists:…
longlastinglove poem
longlastinglove poem it’s been over forty years since jim a former herdsman worked in this barn he stands here looking around feeling its emptiness reminisces my favorite cow was a big rugged gentle cow of good production, I-9, she always stood just at the entrance to the lower barn beside her stood my other favorite…
The Bears and the wild heart of football
Mike Ditka, who coached the Bears in 1985, still makes a good living off the legend. The 1985 Super Bowl Champion Chicago Bears are a cottage industry. In a city starved for winners and bereft of championship rings, players and coaches of “Da Bears” are recalled and revered with unrequited love. Mike Ditka, who coached…
Naughty and nice
PHOTO COURTESY THE HOOGLAND CENTER FOR THE ARTS Wynyard Browne’s play, The Holly and the Ivy, will be performed Dec. 13-15 by a cast of local folk at the Hoogland Center for the Arts. Set in 1940s England, the heartwarming tale begins on Christmas Eve as relatives of elderly pastor Martin Gregory (Tom Lawton) come…
Gifts for mom and dad
There are only so many sweaters, necklaces and pocketknives a person can acquire before it gets to be a bit much. “At a certain age, we start to comprehend the sacrifices our parents have made for us,” says Shelley Hunter, the gift expert known as The Giftcard Girlfriend. “With this understanding, we feel compelled to…
Time for giving it up
Tankman Dubstep plays Killinoize presents: Dub the Hall 4 at Donnie’s Homespun on Friday, Dec. 13. Yes, the holiday season is upon us in full force with ads, snow, ads, parties, ads, lights, and did I mentions ads? One thing for sure, this time of year folks seem to not only unlock the pocketbook to…
Bass in your face
It’s late at night, the noise from a bar downstairs in downtown Springfield is keeping you awake. Who are you going to call? If you’re state Sen. Antonio Munoz, D-Chicago, you call Illinois State Police. That, according to a 911 recording obtained by Illinois Times, is the agency Munoz called in an attempt to get…
For Christmas and anytime, visit historic St. Charles, Mo.
Frontier Santa is one of nine Santa characters who participate in the St. Charles, Mo., Christmas Traditions festival during December. Other favorites include Father Christmas, Civil War Santa and World War II Santa. PHOTOS COURTESY GREATER ST. CHARLES,MISSOURI, CONVENTION AND VISITORS BUREAU You say you’re tired of the neighbors’ inflatable Santas, pushy crowds at the…
Plays for governor
By now, it should be self evident that Bruce Rauner has locked up pretty much all the big money in the Republican primary race for governor. Last week’s pension reform vote provides even more evidence. Rauner has built an impenetrable fortress of high-dollar campaign contributors. Ron Gidwitz, long known in GOP circles for being the…
Flesh prince
My boyfriend of two years has always disparaged gentlemen’s clubs. I truly believed him until he visited his family and I searched Google Maps on his computer for something in his hometown. The text box predicted “strip clubs” there. I confronted him, and looking to prove me wrong, he showed me his “places” history. Various…
GET OUT OF JAIL FREE
Springfield aldermen are not criminals, or at least not provably so. That’s the decision from the Sangamon County state’s attorney’s office, which has decided not to prosecute city council members for violating the state Open Meetings Act by discussing a proposal to privatize Oak Ridge Cemetery during a Nov. 5 executive session. Part of the…
A poochy plan
A walk in the park might take on a whole new meaning, at least for dogs, if Dr. David Hoelzer and his wife, Dr. Karen Hoelzer, have their way. The Hoelzers are pushing for a fenced-off leash area for dogs in Washington Park, and they are offering to put up as much as half of…
Sadder but not wiser
Bruce Rauner’s term limits referendum lurks like a submerged snag in the Sangamon. (See “Fixing the wrong problem,” Sept. 26, 2013.) Interested readers might want to read this useful summary in Crain’s Chicago Business of the experience of 15 states which have tried this miracle cure.
