Fables of the reconstruction
As the situation in Iraq grows ever more tenuous, the Bush administration continues to spin the ominous news with matter-of-fact optimism. According to Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, Iraqi uprisings in half a dozen cities, accompanied by the deaths of more than 100 soldiers in the month of April alone, is something to be viewed…
Aldermania: Watchdogs and hotdogs
This time last year, Springfieldians met the newest cast members on Municipal Channel 18’s hit TV series, City Council! — the reality show that is part Survivor, part The Apprentice, and part The Gong Show (minus, sadly, the gong). With a full 12 months of episodes under their belts, it’s time to give those new…
Letters 4-15-04
Letters policy We welcome letters, but please include your full name, address and a daytime telephone number. We edit all letters for libel, length and clarity. Send letters to: Letters, Illinois Times. P.O. Box 5256. Springfield, Illinois 62705. Fax: (217) 753-3958. E-mail: editor@illinoistimes.com DO YOUR JOB, JOHN John Schmidt’s ignorance about the prosecution of domestic-violence…
Grace about town 4-15-04
I’ve been back in Springfield for almost two years now, and I know there are many good things about the city. They include the Coney Island restaurant; the Country Market store on Wabash Avenue, which carries lots of fresh produce and many other great things; the newly finished intersection replacing the Wabash curve; the (original)…
Backstage Pass 4-15-04
Forever Plaid, the tuneful show that was an off-Broadway hit in 1990 and has played here several times, is back for two weeks at the Springfield Center for the Arts. The Gordon Productions show, which runs April 16-18 and April 22-25, is the same production that was seen at New Salem and Springfield Theatre Centre.…
Quick Takes 4-15-04
CHICKEN MAN Springfield entrepreneur Goldman G. Burnes’s newest product, Goldman’s Gourmet Marinated Chicken Breast, hits area store shelves next week. The low-carb precooked chicken breasts — which Burnes describes as “the ultimate in palatable delight” — join a family of products that includes his popular line of sauces. Cub Foods will be the first here…
Guitar Society’s season ends with return of Javier Calderón
When Springfield Classical Guitar Society founder Russel Brazzel calls Bolivian Javier Calderón “one of the deepest musicians to play Springfield,” he’s referring to the artist’s success not only as a performer of classical music but also as an arranger, publisher, and program director (at the University of Wisconsin-Madison). Calderón’s credits include concerts in Buenos Aires,…
Ten years after
Bob Bartel remembers the trip that gave birth to what became the Poets and Writers Literary Forum of Springfield. “My wife, Janice,and I visited New York in 1993. We toured coffee shops in Greenwich Village that had poetry readings seven days a week. The very first place I read was in a church basement. The…
Knoepfle 4-15-04
outdoor stage this space so empty in the wind a silence this evening where it seems only the silence itself has meaning until one night in a thousand this nondescript shred of humanity creeps into a surprise of light an apology coming forward on the stage a man trembling with uncertainty that no one has…
Now Playing 4-15-04
Come on, tell the truth. Is there any place on this glorious earth you’d rather be right now than Springfield, the home of Abraham Lincoln (and several other humans), preparing to bound out of your invisible chains, race to the place that supports your favorite (or at least most likeable) area band, order a tall…
Good humor
There should be a warning sign for anyone venturing down nostalgia way: “Caution! Platitudes ahead.” Why must reminiscences punish the present to paint the past as more precious? In his memoir Now, When I Was a Kid …, Dan McGuire avoids this pitfall. Comparisons between now and the good old days do not abound. Enthusiasm…
The road to Metropolis
When geologists want to know what’s in the ground beneath them — what time has made of all the swamp muck and dinosaur carcasses — they take a core sample. They jam a tube through layer after layer of earth and pull it out and study the little cylinder that reveals whether they’re standing on…
Defying description
Describing Augie’s Front Burner is no simple task. It’s not a high-concept restaurant offering tiny helpings of obscure foods: Augie’s serves generous portions of lamb, chicken, grouper, and filet mignon. This is not a basic “American food” place, either: The chicken breast is flavored with Dijon mustard and served with sweet-potato ravioli. The filet mignon…
Dream on
The slight buzz of rumors you may hear about Steven Spielberg shooting a movie about Abraham Lincoln is probably a distant dream. Two sources say locations were recently scouted here, but they don’t agree on which production company sent the scouts. Spielberg does own the rights to Doris Kearns Goodwin’s forthcoming Lincoln biography, but the…
Economy class
Veteran state employee Marge Heissinger may be out of a job come July. For 16 years Heissinger has run the Central Illinois Tourism Development Office, which would be axed under Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s current budget proposal. Heissinger’s office, one of six in the state, helps market and promote tourism for smaller communities in a 28-county…
Movie review 4-15-04
Familiar love story features drag queens, hit men, and show tunes So what do you do for an encore after you’ve written and starred in the second most successful independent film ever made? Why, you shamelessly remake a Hollywood classic and hope no one notices! That’s what Nia Vardolas appears to be doing with Connie…
