Barry Friedman’s Downtown Hat Trick
As a 13-year-old goalie for the Springfield Kings, Barry Friedman’s job was to turn people away and deflect their shots. He did it well enough to win a college scholarship. Now, as owner of three of the city’s oldest nightspots–Norb Andy’s, Two Brothers, and the Alamo–the poles have switched. Instead of turning people away, Friedman…
Your Turn . . . 8-21-03
The state fair is in his blood To the editor: Thanks for the state fair stories [“Our Fair City,” August 14]. From the age of 7 to 13, I always went away for a few weeks of the summer to spend time at my grandma’s house in Somalia, MO . . . home of the…
Capital improvements
When out-of-town developers called Joe Gooden, Springfield’s building and zoning administrator for the last eight years, they’d usually ask for the city’s landscaping code. But up until two years ago, Gooden says, Springfield didn’t require builders to plant trees or to landscape their projects. “I used to have to tell them we didn’t have any…
Aldermania
Blame it on the golden arches. I could have driven to McDonald’s and devoured a burger with fries plus a parfait and a cup of coffee in the time it took the Springfield City Council to hash out the variance necessary to permit United Community Bank to erect a pylon sign on the same vacant…
Backstage Pass
OK, I admit it: I saw Muni Opera’s The Wizard of Oz three times. It was just one of those special productions in which the audience and the actors each contribute to making an uncommon theatrical event. What did the audience bring? Well, the kids brought their imaginations, for one–and whoever says that kids these…
What’s in a name?
It’s easy to figure out how some schools got their names: Fairview had a view of the fair; Pleasant Hill stood on a pleasing hillside; Southern View, Laketown, and Southeast referred to specific areas of the city. A grove of hazelnut trees led to the naming of Hazel Dell School, and Harvard University lent its…
Watch your water
It’s that time of year again: 90-degree-plus temperatures, accompanied by the snap, crackle, and pop of grass under your feet. Strolling through Conservation World last Sunday at the Illinois State Fair, my family complained of thirst. How did the plants feel? A thirsty plant will wilt, and then lose its leaves. Most plants benefit from…
Now Playing 8-21-03
For crying out loud, what’s going on around here? Well, let’s take a few hundred words and find out. What do you do when your two favorite jobs in the world seem disparate and unable to mesh? You figure out a way to make it work. That’s exactly what Bill “The Sauce Boss” Wharton did.…
Knoepfle 8-21-03
afternoon for a fable the ants are busy making the most of sidewalk cracks and what of this grasshopper fiddling his time away well not to worry he can leap over shrubs and play out the best chaconnes and sarabands he has it all over the ants when it comes to talent © John Knoepfle…
Movie Reviews
Spellbound Documentary filmmaker Jeffrey Blitz follows 8 of the 249 finalists in the 1999 National Spelling Bee. Nominated for the Oscar for Best Documentary, the film lost out to Bowling for Columbine, which partly focused on students of another ilk. Though I was an admirer of Columbine’s power, Spellbound has so much more to offer.…
Cold caffeine
For many of us, a cup of coffee is the perfect way to start the day. But now, particularly in the summer months, that jolt of java may be poured over ice, mixed with soy milk and hazelnut syrup, and topped with whipped cream. Iced coffee was once a beverage found only on the menus…
The lingering storm
The afternoon of May 9, 1995, was clear, hot, and humid. A tornado watch had been issued, but Charles Bishop, an engineer at Garrett Aviation, continued to mow his lawn. At 4:45 p.m. he suddenly saw a funnel cloud across the road from his house four miles southwest of Cantrall. Bishop, 44, told writer John…
The highway side
FOURTEEN The Fairmont Hotel was at the very end of Wilshire Boulevard, high on a bluff above the coast highway. The woman behind the front desk said she’d be delighted to give me an ocean view. When the bellman parted the drapes a few minutes later, there it was, the biggest pond in the world,…
