N.C.R.
Around since 2012, this band has gone through a few personnel changes, but now “the artist formerly known as New City Road” is officially called N.C.R., and with the name change comes a slightly new direction. Once a mostly-classic country group, the latest lineup of Jessica Dooley (vocals, guitar), Robbie Mitchell (vocals, guitar), Harry Lounsberry…
Best Of Springfield Social Media Collateral
*Click/right click on the images below to download.
Grandstand Concert Ticket Giveaway
WIN ILLINOIS STATE FAIR GRANDSTAND TICKETS! Enter to win two tickets to see Grandstand acts at the Illinois State Fair along with gate admission and a parking pass.
Nature vs. Nurture in Haunting Strangers
It was Mark Twain who pointed out that truth is stranger than fiction and were he alive today, he would point to Tim Wardle’s compelling documentary Three Identical Strangers as proof. What begins as an examination of an incredible coincidence turns into an examination of the question of whether nature or nurture is more significant…
Money to burn
I was nervous, opening my latest light bill. Late June and early July had been sweltering, and I don’t skimp on air conditioning. Plus, the air had gone out for a couple of days, forcing emergency installation of window units. The bill was higher than usual, which I had expected, but not staggering. It could…
Trump’s border policies undermine our democracy
In early June I traveled to “The Valley,” as the McAllen-Brownsville area of Texas is called, down where the Rio Grande empties into the Gulf of Mexico. This river, one of the longest in the U.S., forms the entire Texas-Mexico border, meandering south and east 1,250 miles from our far-west desert city of El Paso…
Dems hope to stop Madison County’s slide to GOP
President Donald Trump visited an Illinois county last week which was once considered a Democratic Party bastion but has been slipping away to the Republicans throughout this decade. Madison County, just across the Mississippi River from St. Louis, has been known for two things for as long as most can remember: union workers and trial…
Letters to the Editor
HOMELESS SOLUTION In the recent City Council debate on closing the Lincoln Library grounds at night, opponents argued it was wrong to kick the homeless out of a place they felt safe without giving them another safe place to go. (“Homeless have nowhere else,” Bruce Rushton, Illinois Times, July 26). Many said the solution was…
Gun and hoses
Let’s say you mouth off to a cop, then walk away, only to have the cop show up in your driveway, asking you what you meant. And you tell the cop, “You know.” Is that a crime? Sherman police thought so when they arrested Chad Bates, a battalion chief with the Springfield Fire Department, after…
A hard-knock life
The Muni kicks off their fourth and final show of the 2018 season with Annie, directed by Carly Shank. The Tony Award-winning musical originally opened on Broadway in 1977 and is based off the “Little Orphan Annie” comic strip written by Harold Gray. Annie is the story of a spunky 11-year-old girl living in a…
A celebration of community
Celebrate the residents of Springfield and neighboring communities during the second annual Blacks, Whites and Blues Festival. The two-day event will feature family activities, health education, live music, food, drinks, entertainment and more. The festival entry, live music and youth and family activities are free; food and beverage items will require ticket purchases. Free family…
Learning is fun
Elementary and middle-school age children are invited to ease back into education with complimentary back-to-school activities for children at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library on Saturday, Aug. 4 from 10 a.m. to noon. The activities are designed for children in grades first through eighth, and some activities, such as a giant game of Operation, a…
Seize the meh
I’m a 31-year-old guy who got really hurt after a relationship ended a few years back. Now I just don’t date women whom I’ll ever really care about because I don’t ever want to feel how I felt when my previous relationship ended. My friends say I’m being a coward and missing out, but, hey,…
Flying blind
We were veritable Jetsons. Between 1970 and the mid-1980s, scores of propeller-powered planes crisscrossed Illinois, offering daily service between such towns as Jacksonville and Mt. Vernon. No trip was too short. In 1981, a plane ticket from Springfield to Decatur cost $5. Resort Air. Chicago Suburban Airlines. Piasa Airlines. The companies came and went, maintaining…
In love with Shakespeare
For 40 summers, the Illinois Shakespeare Festival, part of Illinois State University’s College of Fine Arts, has presented professional theatrical productions in the idyllic setting of Bloomington’s Ewing Manor Cultural Center. This season’s offerings consist of the Bard’s historical drama Henry V and his wacky Elizabethan sex farce The Merry Wives of Windsor (here given…
Springfield High students to study abroad
Three Springfield High School students are about to embark on a one-year experience that will have a lifelong impact. Mandy Lynn, Maia Ojugbele and Yasmin Martinez-Powell are Rotary Youth Exchange students who will soon leave behind the familiar to study abroad for the coming school year. These three 16-year-olds will become part of a local Rotary…
“Art Meets Writing” at SAA Collective
The SAA Collective will host a free public reception for In Black and White: Art Meets Writing, an international, interdisciplinary exhibition from 5-7 p.m. on Friday, Aug. 3. The collaborative exhibition will showcase creative writing inspired by black and white artwork. The artwork was selected by a panel of judges from over 300 submissions. “We…
THE DYNAMIC DUO
When last we saw state Rep. Sara Wojcicki Jimenez, R-Leland Grove, and Catie Sheehan on the same team (other than the Republican Party), they were enlightening us with news and other fantastic tales on WICS TV news, where both worked as reporters and anchors about 10 years back. We figured that landing a gig wouldn’t…
Overbearing McKinnon, bland script sink Spy
Some performers have a tendency to want to dominate whatever production they’re in. A good director knows that actors such as this need to be kept in check, lest the spotlight constantly falls on them at the expense of the rest of the cast and the story. Based on her misguided comedy, The Spy Who…
August-ing music
Here it is in fine fashion as we roll into August 2018 with Mars and the moon at midnight behind us, plus good music and fine times straight ahead. Who could ask for more? This weekend Decatur is hosting their fabulously famous “Celebration” from Friday through Sunday. It all happens in the downtown area with…
Kim Richey
Kim Richey is, by all standards, a gifted singer and songwriter who carries herself with the presence of the artist supreme. Her life has been one of singular commitment to song but without pretension or demand, only a desire to make music that matters, whether it matters to anyone else or not. She’s toured consistently…
Lamb 101
When I was growing up Sunday dinner at home was nothing special, just a bit fancier than the TV dinners in compartmented foil pans that we had on most weeknights. Sunday dinner at my wife’s grandmother’s house, on the other hand, was always like a scaled-down version of Thanksgiving. At the center of the meal…
