I saw the most popular Indian film of 1997 in an art-deco movie palace in Calcutta. The actors spoke Hindi, and the film wasn’t subtitled, but I could still figure out what was going on. That’s because the movie Judaai lifted its plot from the Hollywood tearjerker Indecent Proposal. In Indecent Proposal a billionaire playboy […]
Arts & Culture
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Bards of the Sangamo 6-5-03
Holiday at Normandy This June morning my skiff rides toward shore, grinds bottom; I hit the beach in my father’s steps– twenty seven, twenty eight, twenty nine . . . thirty yards the letter said. This morning a pale regiment patrols, white gulls drive the tide, falling back without casualties. Then one more wave attacks […]
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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 […]
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Summer preview 2003
The summer movie season is upon us, bringing the latest batch of sequels, remakes of TV shows, and star-driven action and comedy vehicles, all with hefty budgets. Money buys spectacle, but it represses creativity–originality is too risky when so much is at stake. Hollywood, much more than Washington, is in serious need of finance reform. […]
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Knoepfle 5-29-03
dogwood branch with blossoms girls milling at the chapel door after their first communion oh they are full of life this sunday morning ©John Knoepfle 2003
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Bards of the Sangamo 5-29-03
Venus Fly Trap Somewhere between puberty and menopause I have been metamorphosed by life firmly entrenched in the soil of reality no longer watered and fed by admiring glances nor warmed in the sunlight of a man’s desire I have become less Lily of the Valley and more Venus Fly Trap. –Cheryl Miles Local poets […]
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Summer onstage 2003
Summer theater has experienced a bit of a boom in central Illinois over the past few years, with more eclectic choices offering something for everyone. Springfield’s Muni Opera breaks new ground with two area premieres–Titanic (June 6 through 15) and Big (June 27 through July 6). Director Paul Presney Jr. has been working on Titanic […]
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Movie Review – Down With Love
Down With Love Is it a romantic comedy or a Mad parody of one? Down With Love, directed with great panache by Peyton Reed (Bring It On), works as both, providing big laughs and an affectionate nod at a quaint sub-genre relegated to the realm of afternoon airings on the Turner Classic Movies network. Down […]
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Live Poet’s Society
In the mid-1980 a Chicago construction worker named Marc Smith was organizing an open-mic poetry night at the Green Mill, an Uptown jazz club once famous for its association with Al Capone. Smith had selected the venue because he hated poetry readings–they were far too genteel. He wanted to turn his evening into a knock-down […]
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Never screened in Springfield
Roger Ebert’s Overlooked Film Festival, which took place last month in Champaign-Urbana, always reminds local film buffs how limited our movie choices are here. Kerasotes has improved in recent years, but there are still numerous films that completely bypass Springfield. The local alternatives–the Route 66 Film Festival and the Springfield Arts Council’s foreign film series–offer […]
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Bards of the Sangamo 5-22-03
This week we have a poem by Corrine Frisch from her new chapbook, Seasonal Affections. Frisch will give a reading on Wednesday, May 28, at Imo’s Pizza, 751 S. Durkin. Frisch’s reading, sponsored by Poets & Writers Literary Forum, will be preceded by an open mic. at 7 p.m. Frisch is the director of public […]
