Posted inArts & Culture

Faingold at Large Presents: Rocktober Part 5 – Built To Spill and friends in Bloomington

My perhaps foolhardy “Rocktober” tour of regional music and comedy shows came to a weird (and weirdly exultant) conclusion last night at Bloomington’s Castle Theatre for a concert by long-running Boise, Idaho guitar band Built To Spill. In contrast to most show reviews, I will start by focusing on the opening acts and then pretty […]

Posted inArts & Culture

Faingold at Large Presents: Rocktober Part 3: John Hodgman, Kristen Schaal and Eugene Mirman

   My continuing Rocktober travels around the region in search of extra-Springfieldian entertainment brought me to Chicago’s Vic Theatre this past Saturday for the “Sandwich to Go” tour featuring comedians Eugene Mirman, Kristen Schaal and John Hodgman. The three comics are all known for combining the cerebral with the silly. Hodgman and Schaal have both […]

Posted inMusic

Maestro Willis: ‘A great season’

In its opening concert, the Illinois Symphony Orchestra performs Igor Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring, which caused a sensation when it debuted in Paris 100 years ago. PHOTO COURTESY ILLINOIS SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA This week marks the start of Alastair Willis’ second season as music director of the Illinois Symphony Orchestra. The energetic maestro is nearly bursting […]

Posted inArts & Culture

The future is now

“Blow ashes into flame. Start a brotherhood of your own. Live in the New City that is revealed to you, as we are living in our City and in the streets of our Tomorrow.” – Vachel Lindsay Renowned Springfield poet Vachel Lindsay’s 1920 novel, The Golden Book of Springfield, quoted above, expressed a romantic, utopian vision […]

Gift this article