Summer has started on a high note, with some memorable performances so far: Cynda Wrightsman’s “Lizzie Curry” in New Salem’s 110 in the Shade was heartbreaking and moving; and Titanic at the Muni boasted many powerful singers. Now comes Muni Opera’s second show of the season: Big, the Broadway musical based on the hit 1987 […]
Arts & Culture
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Lenny Bruce isn’t funny
As its title makes plain, the interesting new book The Trials of Lenny Bruce: The Fall and Rise of an American Icon (Sourcebooks), by Ronald K.L. Collins and David M. Skover, traces the myriad legal troubles of arguably the most influential comedian of the past 50 years. But the volume, which also includes a CD […]
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Movie Review
Alex and Emma After director Rob Reiner bombed with his last two films–1996’s Ghosts of Mississippi and 1999’s The Story of Us–he returns to familiar territory with Alex and Emma, a delightful romantic comedy that borrows heavily from two of his biggest hits, The Princess Bride and When Harry Met Sally. The premise is more […]
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Movie Reviews
Chicago Using the classic musical form as a foundation and throwing in just a dose of MTV razzle dazzle, Rob Marshall’s Chicago is the musical Moulin Rouge wanted to be. Chicago shows far more restraint than Baz Luhrmann’s overrated exercise in excess by eschewing MoulinRouge’s seizure-inducing editing. Instead, Marshall favors sharply choreographed dance numbers executed […]
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Knoepfle 6-19-03
old man on his birthday the family all flying in pray god I don’t die they would never forgive me I would never get over it © John Knoepfle 2003
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Bards of the Sangamo 6-19-03
Shirley’s Eyes One misty morning, three visions, pleasant reverberations, came to me– your veiled face, a nocturnal lily blooming in the twilight of my hope, and a silver harp. I couldn’t discern your smile, but your eyes shone opalescent fire, more mysterious than stirred gray embers, ash glow from a burned out star. You sparked […]
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Strange Weather Lately
The following was adapted from a Clemens Lecture presented in April for the Mark Twain House in Hartford, Connecticut. It originally appeared in the Chicago-based political magazine In These Times. What other American landmark is as sacred to me as the Mark Twain House? The Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C. Mark Twain and Abraham Lincoln […]
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Movie Review
2 Fast 2 Furious A more apt title for Universal’s sequel to its surprise 2001 hit The Fast and the Furious, would be 2 Stupid 2 Boring. Director John Singleton and his screenwriters jettisoned everything that was interesting and exciting about the original, replacing them with, well, nothing really. Perhaps Singleton believes in doing things […]
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Bards of the Sangamo 6-12-03
By Lee Gurga This week we have a special treat for our readers: haiku by Cindy Strong’s students at Lutheran High School. Passionate warmth, The sweet kiss of sunshine, Summer heat heals winter blues – Hannah Rucker A hit, dust flying A player races the ball Which one is faster? – Ricky Harkins […]
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Knoepfle 6-12-03
lines for an old friend when oswaldo juarez diedsome of us did not know he was in lima a musician for musicians and that music in his country would never be the same once he had touched it with the soft chords of his guitar everyone mattered to him you felt what can be the […]
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Movie Reviews
Bend It Like Beckham Fox Searchlight Pictures has gone out of its way to tout the British import Bend it Like Beckham as the next My Big Fat Greek Wedding. It’s easy to see why. Both feature repressed female heroines in the unenviable position of having to reject rigid cultural conventions and familial traditions. Both […]
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Backstage Pass
The Springfield Muni Opera opens this weekend with the Broadway show Titanic: the Musical (June 6-8 and 11-15). With a score by Maury Yeston (Phantom), Titanic won five Tony Awards six years ago, including Best Musical. The tragic story was turned into a stage musical almost a year before the release of the 1997 blockbuster […]
