From the moment he made his musical debut at age 10, lip syncing Prince’s “Let’s Go Crazy” at Blessed Sacrament School’s talent show, Jacob Langfelder wanted to be on stage. Now in his 30s, with a decade of experience behind him performing and working the business side of the music industry, he’s just released his […]
Julie Cellini
Posted inArts & Culture
Ossie’s incredible journey
He’s lived in Springfield for nearly 70 years – most of it with his wife, Midge, and their 13 children in a rambling white clapboard house at the corner of Whittier and Laurel Ave. But at age 85, Ossie Langfelder says he still longs to go home. “Home was Vienna, Austria,” he says. “My relatives, […]
Posted inArts & Culture
‘Medicine was doing God’s work.’
“He was the whole package” is Dr. Marc Shelton’s description of cardiologist Dr. James Dove, founder of Prairie Cardiovascular Consultants, who died Nov. 7 at age 71, one year to the day he was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. “I’ve known one or two academicians who were as smart as Jim,” says Shelton. “But no one […]
Posted inNews
The symphony’s singer of a century
When Illinois Symphony music director Karen Lynne Deal first met Polly Roesch at a musical program several years ago, numerous women around the table urged Deal to ask Roesch to sing with the symphony. “I couldn’t have guessed then that Polly was 97 years old,” recalls Deal. “I’d never met anyone that age. But with […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Lincoln and Darwin, born on the same day
Fans of fanciful, history-inspired books like Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter will surely find Lincoln and Darwin – Shared Visions of Race, Science and Religion a tough slog through the mid-19th century. This book seriously searches for, and finds, common ground for two intellectual giants, separated by an ocean, who never even met. But once you’re […]
Posted inArts & Culture
What Lincoln read shaped the man, and history
The first book I ever owned was a child-sized version of the life of Abraham Lincoln – a gift from my book-loving father, who was convinced Lincoln read everything he ever got his hands on. His hope was that even as a kindergartener, I’d be inspired to follow Lincoln’s example. Turns out Dad was wrong. […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Many buildings. Many battles.
“What did I know about restoring old buildings when I started out? Absolutely nothing,” recalls Carolyn Oxtoby, who is often called “the patron saint of downtown Springfield” for her work as a real estate developer. Recently Oxtoby was in Chicago to receive the prestigious Lifetime Achievement Award from Landmarks Illinois as part of the Richard […]
Posted inArts & Culture
A couple’s date to remember
“I believe in luck, fate and destiny,” says Christopher Trudeau. So when Trudeau, 27, and his bride-to-be, Joann Durbin, 24, realized that this Sunday comes up 10-10-10 on the calendar, they rescheduled their wedding to coincide with what they think will be an auspicious date for them. “I don’t know what’s going to happen to […]
Posted inSpecial Issues
Hundreds of Lincoln places
A recent estimate by the Abraham Lincoln Association puts the number of distinct titles about Lincoln at 17,000. Add another hundred or so generated by the 2009 Lincoln Bicentennial, and Lincoln may indeed be in the realm of Napoleon and Jesus Christ as the most written about figures in all of human history. Which begs […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Chicago political conventions, stories from Lincoln to Clinton
Chicago Alderman Edward Burke’s career as an author had an unlikely beginning. “I was sitting at a table with a writer and professor named Craig Sautter,” recalls Burke. “We were talking about all the great political conventions that had taken place in Chicago. But all anybody ever seemed to talk about was the fear in […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Dancing without the stars
It’s chilly in the packed parking lot of the Eagles Club on Springfield’s far east side. But inside the club’s cavernous concrete ballroom more than 100 novice dancers are shedding sweaters and mopping their brows. “Tee, ay—n-g-o! Tee, ay—n-g-o!” barks Pat Lyttaker as she leads a multigenerational crowd through the basic steps of the tango. […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Behind the scenes at Shen Yun, a controversial practice: Falun Gong
Promotional flyers for Shen Yun — a multimillion-dollar stage production set for Feb. 9 at Sangamon Auditorium — are lavish, four-color photo montages of elaborately costumed dancers, whirling banners and glowing quotes from reviewers. But way down at the bottom of the back page, in tiny type, is the name of one of the show’s […]
