A live contest
For the first time in eight years, Sangamon County voters will have a choice for coroner on Nov. 2. Democrat Jerry Compton, a veteran medical lab technician for Memorial Medical Center, is taking on Susan Boone, the two-term Republican incumbent. Neither Boone nor Compton have primary challengers. The state doesn’t require much of coroners. They…
The perfect place to cheat (on your diet)
La Sorella Ristorante is the perfect place to cheat on your low-carb diet — and not just a little bit. Really throw caution to the wind and indulge in pasta, cheese gnocchi, homemade bread and wood-fired pizza. It’s easy to do here. In fact, one of the highlights of dining at La Sorella arrives at…
Quick takes
LINCOLN REVEALED If you saw our Night & Day plug last week about the free Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum Open House tour on Thursday, Feb. 12 — make that Saturday, Feb 14. We got word about the switch after we went to press last week. The tour, the idea of the library and…
Now playing 2-12-04
Good day, fair citizens of Illinois’ capital city, Mr. Lincoln’s hometown, and keepers of the best-kept secrets of the finest in Midwest entertainment. Well, two out of three ain’t bad. And as you should know, we do get our reasonable share of the good stuff. If you don’t believe me, pull your slumbering body out…
A contrast in blues
Otis Taylor plays the blues. The hurtin’ blues, not happy, well-polished, barroom blues for the beer swigging, fun-loving crowd. He sings of lynchings, dying children, murder, race relations, social problems, and other incidents of life not always covered in the “I-got-the-blues-so-bad-but-not-that-bad” whitewashed versions popularized by rock bands parading as blues purveyors. After a brief stab…
Movie review
Give credit to star and co-producer Ice Cube for making Barbershop 2 the congenial comedy that it is. Not only is his quietly keen performance as shop owner Calvin the straw that stirs the personalities of the disparate types who inhabit his character’s shop, but his Cube Vision company also made a wise decision to…
The queen of hearts
It’s showtime at the Station House and Mahogany Knight is splendiferous in white satin hot pants and go-go boots, lip-synching to Shania Twain’s hit “I’m Outta Here.” Later, she appears in a bare-midriff gown constructed of glittery swatches held together by Mardi Gras beads. At closing time, she works the crowd into a froth with…
If you feel meddlesome, it may be time to sample the crumpets
Janet Jackson’s brazen bust-baring before millions of football fans, dubbed by one pundit “a tempest in a C-cup,” got me wondering. Not about the fall of western civ as we know it, but about where the word boob comes from. Or, for that matter, tits, or knockers, or hooters (beforeHooters became a fast-food franchise). Lucky…
Grace about town 2-12-04
I met Jay Leno. I got to meet him so he could tell me he didn’t want to be interviewed. Last week, when I told you Jay left me a message on my cell phone (he said, “Hi, Grace, it’s Jay Leno. I didn’t see you at the club. Sorry I missed ya. Uh. .…
In Lincoln’s voice
What if Abraham Lincoln had committed his observations to verse, shared his private feelings about the remarkable — and the mundane — events of his life? What would a freshman state legislator make of life in a frontier capital city? How would a rough man from the West prepare for his political coming out among…
No courtship required
Imagine marrying someone you have never cuddled, never kissed goodnight. Someone you’ve never taken to a movie. Never washed the car with on a lazy Saturday afternoon. Someone you’ve known only a few days. Sound strange? Not to Subhash and Rambha Chaudhary and Rajesh and Sunita Iyer, Indian couples now living in the Springfield area.…
Pinching pennies
Faced with the need to fund vital city services, some City Council members want to tap cash reserves built up by the Springfield Convention and Visitors Bureau. The idea is meeting with stiff opposition from the city’s hotel industry and Mayor Tim Davlin. Council members started eyeing the $1.22 million rainy-day fund during budget hearings,…
Knoepfle 2-12-04
cats in chelsea cat #i well sam your white whiskers they are a national treasure how remarkably they express that velvet black face you claim your own it is the face only a senator of cats would carry in the halls of deliberation oh you know when to institute progress through the legislature or when…
“For the Darlingest Little Girl”
Susan Lawrence Dana is best remembered for her Springfield home, designed by the young Frank Lloyd Wright. In 1883, the young Susan Lawrence married Edwin Dana, who worked with Susan’s father on mining interests in the West. Six years later, Susan wrote a poem to Edwin, recounting how he first sent her a valentine and…
Sound and fury
You really have to hand it to Gov. Rod Blagojevich. By simply proposing to transfer the powers of the Illinois State Board of Education to his own office, Blagojevich did several huge favors for the teachers unions, forestalled any budget-busting funding increases for education and all but killed the income-for-property tax swap idea for the…
Letters 2-12-04
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 LOWERED EXPECTATIONS I have just finished reading your article on the proposed…
Southern comfort
John Kerry’s decisive victories in Virginia and Tennessee Tuesday confirmed that he can compete in all parts of the country, and dealt a severe blow to the campaigns of U.S. Sen. John Edwards, D-N.C., and retired general Wesley Clark. Kerry’s wins “eliminate the one lingering question about his campaign, which is, can he win in…
