Mary, a new novel by Janis Cooke Newman, gives Mary Todd Lincoln the opportunity to tell her turbulent life story in a voice that rings true to her bold and unconventional persona. There’s no shying away from the controversy that followed Mrs. Lincoln for most of her life: Mary tells of the First Lady’s frivolous […]
Marissa Monson
Marissa Monson, former Illinois Times staff member, recently received her master’s degree in journalism from the University of Illinois.
Posted inMusic
Cruisin’ instead of mixing it up
SINGLES ONLY Sleepy Brown has the 9-to-5 blues. (We’ll play along.) After a long day of the grind, Brown and Big Boi cut out at 4:59 pm — how scandalous! — and make their way over to the club for happy-hour mingling. “Margarita,” the first single from Brown’s new album, Mr. Brown, is a smooth […]
Posted inNews
Of mice and maestros
Originally published in 1970, the children’s book The Orchestra Mice had been out of print for decades when its author, Springfield resident Jacqueline Jackson, got an unexpected phone call. The woman on the other end of the line was Martha Hicks, an American teacher of wind instruments at an arts high school in Bielefeld, Germany. […]
Posted inMusic
Vinyl Static
SINGLES ONLY The flashy Scissor Sisters released their debut in a blaze of glitter and poppy piano parts, but who knew the fabulously retro New York quintet could strike gold twice? The first single, “I Don’t Feel Like Dancin’,” from the group’s sophomore effort, Ta-Dah, channels Elton John’s piano-based pop, the pomp of Queen, and […]
Posted inMusic
Vinyl Static
SHOWS-A-GO-GO! There are rock shows aplenty this week, but fans will have to rack up some mileage to attend them all. Devotees of Built to Spill will undoubtedly release a huge sigh this weekend when the band takes the stage at Mississippi Nights in St. Louis on Sunday, Sept. 17. The indie-rock demigods nixed the […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Witness
His bronze sculptures, monuments, and paintings tell of deep sorrow: the scars of slavery, the sacrifice of immigration, the quiet suffering of women. His art also speaks of hope: the eloquent words of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., the restless spirit of pioneer Jean Baptiste Point du Sable, the creative rebirth of the Harlem Renaissance. […]
Posted inMusic
Vinyl Static
CD EXCHANGE: This fall you’ll find Vinyl Static holed up in a closet somewhere with headphones and a compact-disc player — is Vinyl Static the only one still using a CD player? — indulging in the musical glut that litters the calendar with releases from early September until the end of November. At the top […]
Posted inMusic
Vinyl Static
CD EXCHANGE OutKast is back, finally. Last Tuesday the Dirty South duo unleashed Idlewild, an album to accompany the new film, set in the Prohibition era, that’s coming out Aug. 25. The release finds the pair’s house divided — another split disc of Big Boi and Andre 3000 tracks — and rarely do the two […]
Posted inMusic
Vinyl Static
SINGLES ONLY John Legend has doled out the first single from Once Again, the yet-to-be-released 2006 follow-up to his Grammy-winning debut Get Lifted. “Save Room” finds the dapper piano man channeling Nat King Cole and Otis Redding in a vintage tune bearing traces of cocktail-lounge smoothness. That’s no disrespect: Legend channels the Rat Pack’s head […]
Posted inMusic
Vinyl Static
CD exchange Experimental electro-punk trio Erase Errata released their third album, Nightlife, on July 25, unleashing a collection of punk tracks that slide in where riot grrrls such as Bikini Kill left off. The San Francisco-based female group’s Kill Rock Stars debut features the single “Tax Dollar.” Crunchy guitars kick off the song, ushering in […]
Posted inMusic
Vinyl Static
SINGLES ONLY By no stretch of the imagination does Yo La Tengo look cool. The Hoboken, N.J., trio doesn’t subscribe to any hipster conventions — nary an ironic mustache or trucker cap to be found. The group sticks to a similar, ever-dependable ethos when making their eclectic, dreamy space-pop, and perhaps that’s why it has […]
Posted inMusic
Vinyl Static
The Ditty Bops love to ride bikes. Instead of jamming into a cramped van for their 2006 summer tour, the jazzy duo decided to put shoe to pedal and log some miles on a couple of two-wheelers, and they’ll be cruising into Springfield on their way from St. Louis to play a show at the […]
