I first met Chris Durbin in1986. We remained close friends for the next three decades. He died unexpectedly in his sleep on Nov. 17 at his home in Monticello. When we met, both of us were living in Springfield and studying as undergraduates in the communication department at Sangamon State University, now University of Illinois […]
Scott Faingold
Scott Faingold is a journalist, educator and musician. He has been director of student media at University of Illinois Springfield, founding editor of Activator magazine, a staff reporter for Illinois Times and co-host of Old School Bleep, a music-centered podcast.
Posted inArts & Culture
Groundbreaking comedian, dedicated activist
“The only good thing about the good old days is they’re gone.“– Dick Gregory Dick Gregory, who passed away in August at the age of 84, had the rare gift of combining humor with social commentary in a way that created understanding and unity rather than division. As a stand-up comedian starting out in the […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Optimistic to a fault
Ryan Cannon met his future wife, Lisa, through an online dating site. “That was about three or four months before her cancer resurfaced,” he said. Nicknamed “Lisa Lu” (short for her maiden name, Lukaszewski), Lisa had been a little over two years cancer-free at the time they met. When her diagnosis came, the couple realized […]
Posted inNews
31st Night
Every New Year’s Eve since Dec. 31, 1987, the Springfield Area Arts Council has thrown a downtown party featuring a wide variety of entertainment. This year’s First Night Springfield promises to be no exception, with kid-friendly fun in the afternoon and music ranging from blues to cowboy yodeling to DIY punk, not to mention the […]
Posted inNews
Med school is a cut above
Founded in Springfield in 1970, Southern Illinois University School of Medicine has seen 2,818 students graduate (with 42 percent of those currently practicing medicine doing so in Illinois). That same year, the medical school – part of the overall Southern Illinois University system, with campuses in Carbondale and Edwardsville – began partnering with the former […]
Posted inNews
Artists in motion
Last weekend, the Pharmacy Gallery and Art Space presented “Blur,” its most recent show featuring work by its member artists. Several of the items on display seemed to take the show’s title literally, including enlarged and deliberately smeared onstage portraits by Jeff Williams of Pittsburg-via-Springfield band Looming and striking work by Diane Schleyhahn in which […]
Posted inNews
Persistent resistance
One month into the second year of Donald Trump’s presidency, resistance efforts in response to various policies of his administration have shown no sign of slowing. This week, Springfield has already seen a well attended, demonstration against the recently passed Senate tax reform bill; a protest in favor of maintaining the FCC’s current Net Neutrality […]
Posted inNews
Innocence Project receives grant for DNA testing
It was recently announced that the Illinois Innocence Project (IIP) will receive a $641,000 federal grant, part of a United States Department of Justice Bloodsworth grant. The grant is named in honor of Kirk Bloodsworth, who was exonerated by DNA evidence in 1993 after being sentenced to the death penalty, the first such case to […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Arts weekend in Springfield
This past weekend saw four separate, unique art events happening in Springfield at four different venues, each with its own flavor and focus, featuring artists working in multiple media, from this region and from elsewhere, some professional, others therapeutic. On Friday, the SAA Visual Art Center’s M.G. Nelson Family Gallery hosted “Morphology,” a collection of […]
Posted inSpecial Issues
Crunching numbers for Illinois kids
If the song is correct and “the children are our future,” it stands to reason that the quality of life experienced by children will have an impact on that future. Each year, the advocacy group Voices for Illinois Children releases its Illinois Kids Count report, compiling statistics from throughout the state indicating the well-being of […]
Posted inMusic
Greek blues come to Springfield
Vocalist Pavlos Vasileiou has been performing in Athens, Greece, as leader of the band Rebitiki Istoria for 35 years. Practitioners of the musical genre known as rebetika, Vasileiou and company were joined about a decade ago by violinist and bouzouki player Yona Stamatis, who also happens to be a professor of ethnomusicology at University of […]
