Oldies but goodies
For the next week and a half, view 40 or 50 photos of Washington Park as far back as 1902 in an indoor park-like setting with classical music playing. The folks at the conservatory have done up this exhibit nicely for your viewing pleasure. The display chronicles the changes that have taken place in the…
Smoking sounds and sauces
The Old Capitol Blues & BBQs is the place to be Saturday afternoon or evening to tantalize your taste buds and stimulate your ear drums. Thirty-seven BBQ entrants compete for prizes in rib, pulled pork and open division categories with 17 preparing and selling a variety of culinary favorites, such as, jerk chicken, Moroccan chicken…
Letters to the Editor 8/27/09
WHICH WAY?And just what is it that United Way is supporting these days? [See “Boy Scouts leave United Way,” by Amanda Robert, Aug. 20.] They never did contribute to the Girl Scouts of America organization. I have a co-worker who pulled his funds because of the decision by United Way to pull its Boy Scout…
The Final Destination
On what should have been a fun-filled day at the races, Nick O’Bannon has a horrific premonition in which a bizarre sequence of events causes multiple race cars to crash, sending flaming debris into the stands, brutally killing his friends and causing the upper deck of the stands to collapse on him. When he comes…
Apple strudel
Fresh-from-the-oven, warm apple strudel is one of fall’s greatest pleasures. Phyllo dough is fun and forgiving; a gift to anyone with pastry phobia. Keep it covered until you use it, don’t worry about minor tears, and don’t hesitate to throw out any leaves that crumble or are badly torn (there’s more than you’ll need in…
High-speed opposition to Third Street rail corridor
For a city where neighborhoods are often pitted against each other in battles for resources – or against various development projects — an uncharacteristically broad and diverse chorus of opposition is growing over a plan to run up to 40 additional freight and high-speed passenger trains that would require several overpasses for cars through center…
State Republicans energized for the good ol’ days
Republicans, as a class, tend to pine for the good ol’ days — mainly, the eras when they were in power. That’s been especially true in Illinois as the Republicans, uniformly blown out of power by George Ryan’s scandals and George Bush’s leadership style, have tried repeatedly to use the good ol’ days to convince…
The art of craft and flight
The weekend celebration in Lincoln colors the skies with 35 hot air balloons at the Logan County Airport, while more than 70 artists paint the Art Fair downtown in Latham Park. A couple of the attractions’ highlights include the balloon evening glow at dusk. Crews fire up their apparatuses in a synchronized light display that…
Best and bardiest
Over the Moon Productions presents its inaugural production, a menagerie of scenes with singing, dancing and stage combat from five Shakespeare comedies and three sonnets. Kevin Purcell, OMP brainchild and Royal Shakespeare Company of New York City alum, takes the stage with two OTM Acting Ensemble members, Leigh Steiner and Aasne Vigesaa. Shakespeare Shorts also…
STEPPING UP
Marissa Jo Cerar, the aspiring young actress from Athens who appeared on IT’s cover five years ago [see “Seeing Stars,” Dec. 2, 2004, at illinoistimes.com], has once again caught the eye of Hollywood filmmakers. This time Cerar plays a behind-the-scenes role as the screenwriter of “STEPS,” a three-minute short film that features a young girl,…
Six days a week
A while back, I remarked on the spreading use of the so-called year-round school calendar to remedy so-called summer learning loss. (See “The Pause that Regresses,” Aug. 13.) The start of another real new school year brings to mind questions left unasked in that piece. What about the learning that is lost the rest of…
Get on the scales
One of the worst things to tell a gardener is that their tree is heavily infested with a destructive insect. The U of I Extension office has received numerous calls about magnolia trees. A caller usually describes the problem as “sticky stuff all over the magnolia leaves and the leaves are turning black.” The answer:…
SIU cancer institute needs funds to “make it run”
It’s like building a car and not investing in gas to make it run, says Dr. K. Thomas Robbins of the brand-new, but still unopened home of the SimmonsCooper Cancer Institute at Southern Illinois University. “It’s one of those things where you’ve invested so much,” Robbins, a head and neck cancer surgeon and the director…
Black Magic Johnson
You don’t talk about blues bands in central Illinois without first mentioning Black Magic Johnson. The sizzling quartet, fronted by drummer Reggie Britton who sings lead vocals and plays harmonica, has been hanging around town in some form or other for about six years. Specializing in Delta and Chicago-style electric bar blues, the rest of…
Basterds a polarizing affair
The cinema of Quentin Tarantino has always been derivative in nature. A self-proclaimed movie geek who taught himself film history by working in a California video store, the director’s movies are allusion-packed affairs that riff on his favorite genres as he puts his distinctive spin on them. The quandary of his films is that they’re…
Harvest the fruits of the Apple Barn
Every vendor at every farmers’ market says the same thing: business drops off after Labor Day. Maybe it’s because parents are preoccupied with getting their kids back in school. Maybe it’s because even those without school-aged children participate in organizations or activities that are starting up for the year. Most likely, though, is a feeling…
Women’s equality: Are we there yet?
Each year, on Aug. 26, we celebrate Women’s Equality Day to pay tribute to those brave suffragists, like Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Alice Paul and Ida B. Wells Barnett, who led the struggle for American women to win the most critical tool of democracy — the right to vote. Women today not only have the right…
featherspoem # 9
hummingbirds we thought but why nesting so late in the season and on a hemlock bough over the dock where on rare sunny days we lie on our backs watch their comings and goings they fly like hummingbirds nest looks right but how can eggs or nestlings survive our thrashing downpours they’d be tossed out…
Taking Woodstock
A generation began in his backyard…. From Academy Award-winning director Ang Lee (Brokeback Mountain, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon), comes Taking Woodstock, a new comedy inspired by the true story of Elliot Tiber (Demetri Martin) and his family, who inadvertently played a pivotal role in making the famed Woodstock Music and Arts Festival into the happening…
Taking us for a ride on health care
If you get a thrill from taking a white-knuckle ride on a loop-the-loop, you don’t have to wait for next year’s state fair — just hop onto the right-wing express, which is plunging into ludicrous levels of loopiness in an effort to kill Barack Obama’s health care reform plan. You’ll shriek with astonishment as alarmist…
I got the Blues & BBQs Blues
The blues style of music originated as a form of deep therapy that allowed people to self-proclaim problems through lyric, rhythm and melody in the hopes of dispelling those troubles. The blues is a way of singing out the bad stuff, somewhat like talking to a friend about tough times, not that it makes the…
PLUTO-CRACY
We may have our share of leadership issues and year after year of budgetary blunders, but by golly, Illinoisans stand behind Pluto. This week marks the three-year anniversary of Pluto’s fall from grace — when the International Astronomical Union demoted the ninth-in-line from a planet to a dwarf planet (citing concerns that it was no…
