He’s got a van
More on the lowly status of the drummer in the band, this time from Sting. In Broken Music: A Memoir, published by Dial Press in 2003, he recalled his days as a struggling up-and-coming bass player on the club circuit. The scene is a bar at which Gordon Sumner, the future Sting, sits with Gerry,…
Tonight: Springfield Art Association Film Series
Toni Servillo and friend, just hanging out in The Great Beauty Sumptuous and kinetic, whimsical and melancholy – often all at the same time – director Paolo Sorrentino’s The Great Beauty might just be the perfect cinematic getaway for a freezing cold Tuesday night. Set in present-day Rome, the film follows the elegantly decadent meanderings of…
Spinning out of control
Spinzone Instructors Kristi Mitchell and Emily Barnardes PHOTO COURTESY SPINZONE If you are like me, dear reader, you have the urge to eschew all white food and start a new fitness regime every year around Jan. 1. A few weeks later I’m plagued by inevitable backsliding, potato roots growing deep into the sofa. But last…
A new sheriff in town?
Rosemarie Long likes fundraisers. As chairwoman of the Sangamon County Republican Central Committee, she says she enjoys getting out and seeing people. But Long has been conspicuously absent at fundraisers for candidates for sheriff, arguably the biggest local prize on the March 18 primary ballot. “As chairman, I won’t go to any of their fundraisers,”…
Multitalented funnyman
PHOTO COURTESY HTTP://TOMARNOLDCOMEDY.COM/ Yep, that Tom Arnold. Multitalented comedian, actor and producer Tom Arnold comes to Springfield’s Donnie B’s Comedy Club. This guy has won a Peabody and Golden Globe Award, currently hosts Country Music Television’s “My Big Redneck Wedding” and “My Big Redneck Vacation” that premiered at the highest ratings in CMT history and…
Minimum wage woes on campaign trail
If Bruce Rauner manages to successfully back away from his recently unearthed statement from December that he favored reducing the state’s minimum wage by a dollar an hour he will have dodged a very serious political bullet. According to a new Capitol Fax/We Ask America poll, the idea is absolutely hated in Illinois. Asked if…
Visit Galena, the winter wonderland of Illinois
A coating of snow adds charm to the winter scene of the Galena River and historic Main Street. PHOTO COURTESY VISITGALENA.ORG One of the most scenic towns in Illinois, Galena is a picturesque wonderland in the winter, with its snow-covered hills, valleys and charming 19th century architecture. If you’re looking for a variety of outdoor…
Third Street rail crossing closures in the works
A rendering of the Scarritt Street crossing shows a house would have to be demolished unless the crossing is closed. To bring Springfield’s Third Street rail line up to safety standards, the state plans to acquire private property and shut down some railroad crossings. Leaders of the city’s rail consolidation and the state’s high-speed rail…
The innovators
Fitness is in. We’ve all seen enough alarming articles about obesity in America to know that something has to change, and there are plenty of people in Springfield trying to do something about it. We’ve selected a small sample of people who are trying innovative and interesting approaches to helping those around them attain a…
God lets Ingersoll off
Robert G. Ingersoll PHOTO COURTESY LIBRARY OF CONGRESS PRINTS AND PHOTOGRAPHS DIVISION. BRADY-HANDY PHOTOGRAPH COLLECTION. Atheists don’t expect to rise from the dead, but one famous dead agnostic came up, as it were, when I was reflecting last week on the fear and loathing that atheists excite among some Illinoisans. Attorney Robert G. Ingersoll, blasphemer…
Slow Food Film Festival
Have you ever seen a film so powerful, so mind-boggling, so eye-opening that you had the urge to rush out and grab total strangers off the street and insist they see it, too? To think that it should be a required topic of study in high schools? That was my reaction when I saw The…
January heats up
End Times Trio plays The Pharmacy Jan., 19, 7 p.m. PHOTO COURTESY END TIMES TRIO With so many cool events this weekend, there’s no time to be cute or clever, so let’s get right to the meat of the matter and proclaim the host of happenings going on. First on the list comes the Road…
Dysfunction at a gallop
Meryl Streep, Ewan McGregor and Julia Roberts in the film August: Osage County. PHOTO COURTESY THE WEINSTEIN COMPANY Tracy Letts’ Pulitzer Prize-winning play August: Osage County is the sort of work that makes you take stock of yourself and your life. After seeing this story of a dysfunctional Oklahoma family that’s lorded over by a…
family story poem # 23
our family traveled after the waronce gas wasn’t rationed we went toflorida over christmas played on thebeach enroute we slept in those littleseparate tourist cabins that predatemotels mother final-checked the roommy sisters and I had been in found hergood fountain pen under a bed noballpoints in those days for the next20 miles we were berated…
Rock out
PHOTO BY JOHN MUCHOW Roxy Theatricals presents eight performances of the rock musical Hedwig and the Angry Inch. With only 75 seats per show, phone and order your tickets now. There may only be a small number of seats or maybe even standing room only if you wait to buy tickets at the door, which…
MORE HOUSING NEEDED DOWNTOWN
Downtown Springfield could use the boost of additional residences. A study completed by the Bowen National Research Group shows the downtown housing market is in demand for more residential projects. The .81-square mile area the study looked at could use at least 160 units developed for graduate students and housing that ranges in price from…
Concealed carry firing up
A sign posted at the entrance of the Illinois Commerce Commission building at Capitol Avenue and Sixth Street in Springfield shows the carrying of firearms within the building is prohibited. PHOTO BY LAUREN P. DUNCAN Illinoisans who plan to carry a firearm may want to be on the lookout for where exactly guns will be…
Farm Bill is no place for poison pills
Congress must approve a farm bill. Our nation’s farmers and millions of food-stamp recipients, as well as American consumers, are depending on the leadership of U.S. Sen. Debbie Stabenow of Michigan to make that happen. As chair of the Senate Agriculture Committee, Sen. Stabenow has shown extraordinary skill in trying to bring together two drastically…
Help stroke survivors and you’ll sleep well
Tracy Green, left, and Clarke Steigerwald stand in ‘Julie’s Suite,’ named in honor of a late stroke survivor, at Dream Suitezzz in Springfield. The mattress and bedding store is operated by the Lincolnland Stroke Support Network. PHOTO BY LAUREN P. DUNCAN When members of the Lincolnland Stroke Support Network brainstormed fundraising methods, they decided on…
Editor’s Note 1/16/14
Finally, millions who have been denied health insurance are now getting coverage. But when the bills for Obamacare start coming due, it will become more obvious than ever that policy needs to shift from reaction to prevention, from treating disease and obesity to persuading more of us to eat good food and move more. In…
Letters to the Editor 1/16/14
Helping the homeless in Springfield is as easy as filling out and returning a Round Up insert in your CWLP bill. PHOTO BY OLIVIER DOULIERY/MCT HELP THE HOMELESSLast week we experienced bone-chilling sub-zero weather. Those who suffer the most when the thermometer drops below zero are our homeless brothers and sisters. This month, there’s an…
BIG GIFTS
The Christmas season may be over, but the gifts keep on coming. Alignlife, a new chiropractic clinic in Springfield, announced on Jan. 8 that its patients collected 61 toys during the holidays to donate to the Mini O’Beirne Crisis Nursery, located at 1011 N. Seventh St. in Springfield. The nursery aims to prevent child abuse…
Soul force
PHOTO BY YOICHI R. OKAMOTO Here are a few Martin Luther King Jr. Day events in Jacksonville and Springfield taking place on Monday, Jan. 20. Illinois College and the city of Jacksonville will celebrate with critically acclaimed author and NAACP Image-Award recipient Sheyann Webb-Christburg (pictured left) who will speak at 11 a.m. in Rammelkamp Chapel,…
Ras Kass and Copywrite
PHOTO COURTESY RAS KASS On the road for their Writer’s Block Tour, national rap stars Ras Kass and Copywrite started in Yuma, Ariz., last week and continue to travel the country making a stop at Bar None during Torch Tuesday’s weekly hip-hop night. Ras Kass, formerly of the hip-hop supergroup The HRSMN along with Canibus,…
Keep on trucking
At least one car was totaled in Washington Park last fall when a Springfield Park District garbage truck got away from its driver, who tested positive for marijuana metabolites. PHOTOS COURTESY SPRINGFIELD POLICE DEPARTMENT A Springfield Park District employee who triggered a six-car accident last fall by neglecting to set the parking brake on a…
Not your mother’s Jazzercise
From left, Springfield Jazzercise instructors Sue Davstok, owner Lisa Schaefer, Tiffani Saunders and Ashlyn Hood PHOTO AMY SPIES Like almost everyone else I know, I have long struggled against my sofa’s seductiveness as well as my upbringing of bedtime snacks. But the thought of facing down an army of cold, grey ellipticals sucks the life…
