Fifth Street, December 1938
Photographer Herbert Georg captured a classic film noir image in early December 1938, with the neon of Springfield’s many movie theaters reflecting on the rain-washed bricks and streetcar tracks of South Fifth Street. Looking north from Jackson, we note a street full of sedans, but not a single person is in sight. Even the double-parked…
Painting for the rest of us
Many people interested in learning how to paint on canvas turn to academe and enroll in semester-long classes. Others seek guidance from Springfield Art Association or the Prairie Art Alliance. Many would therefore be surprised to learn there exists a teacher whose approach to placing colors on cloth produces take-home results not at the end…
quick takes 12-23-04
LUMP OF COAL It appears that Santa Claus has skimped on Springfield’s Salvation Army. The capital city’s oldest and largest emergency-shelter provider received a rejection letter last week in response to its application for a $20 million grant to build a new community center. The local Salvation Army, 510 N. Sixth St., was among several…
now playing 12-23-04
No one is saying Springfield seems a little peculiar at times, although I can certainly see where one could get the idea, but no one is saying so. So what if we are the capital of a proud and populous state and still have a miserable recycling program, underfunded public libraries, a poor mass-transit system,…
Christmas wish
Demarcus Holmesdoesn’t have to work. He lives in a nice house with his mother, older sister, and two brothers, all of whom dote on 21-year-old Demarcus. He spends his days with his grandmother, often joining her friends for morning walks at the mall, where everybody seems happy to see Demarcus. And he doesn’t even need…
First night
More than 75 acts will be featured at this year’s First Night Springfield, the capital city’s 18th annual family-friendly alcohol-free celebration of New Year’s Eve. Among the new venues this year is the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library, where visitors can enjoy 19th-century period music and an appearance by Abraham and Mary Todd Lincoln (or, at…
For as long as we can
It is dark now, an early darkness that will soon give us the longest night. A thin moon hangs high in the December sky, looking down cold, the color of ice. The first wind of winter out of the north gives voice to the oak and elm. I hear their conversations, and it keeps me…
Game boy
It was probably no accident that Gov. Rod Blagojevich chose a Naperville school last week in which to unveil his proposal to criminalize the sale or rental of violent and sexually explicit video games to minors. If he had used an impoverished inner-city school as a backdrop, the assembled parents might have asked him about…
The gift
Darlene Anderson has every right to feel sorry for herself. The cruelest fate any mother can endure — the death of a child — has befallen her not just once but twice. This time last year, her own mother died, leaving Darlene to take care of her sister, who lives with HIV. And this year,…
Knoepfle 12-23-04
lighting the christmas tree in the auburn square this tree will be our own rising star it will sparkle even if there are clouds in the sky this soft-needled fir glowing with light the greens blues reds the yellows all the good colors these tinsel cheers in a dark evening the winter wearing to…
music notes 12-23-04
• Capcitill Promotions invites you, the listening public, to a “Hoes Exposed” meet-and-greet at Two Olives and Pepper from 9 p.m.-1 a.m. Dec. 28. What will you meet and greet at a such an event, you ask? Why, members of Springfield’s underground hip-hop scene, including such acts as ILL-Legitimate, Mohrer Les, Phat Head, Human Torch,…
sound patrol 12-23-04
Le TigreThis Island (Strummer/Universal) After two full-lengths and a couple of EPs on the now-defunct indie label Mr. Lady, Le Tigre has apparently tired of preaching to the choir. Predictably, many longtime fans of the New York-based electropunk trio are crying sell-out; aside from the fact that This Island is on Universal, the biggest, baddest…
common sense 12-23-04
In the cacophony of Christmas commercialism, it can be difficult even to recall that it’s about Jesus. But this hardly is the only time that Jesus gets lost in our modern swirl. Take politics. In the recent presidential run, much was made by George W. Bush’s supporters of his supposedly superior moral values based on…
letters 12-23-04
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 THE REST OF THE DASCHLE STORY Your interview with U.S. Sen. Dick…
movie reviews
Stale, contrived Aquatic charts a familar course Wes Anderson’s The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou deals with many of the same themes he explored in Rushmore and The Royal Tenenbaums. It also features a group of emotionally damaged or stunted people, each searching for genuine emotional connections with others. Anderson has proved himself particularly adept…
A second chance
Somehow, Aremelder Anderson survived. An alcoholic and crack-cocaine user for nearly two decades, Anderson tramped across the country, hopping from one abusive relationship to the next — “bumming and slumming,” she calls it. She’s been shot, gang-raped, and beaten. Her husband was sentenced to prison, her older sister — a mother of six — murdered.…
