“Anarchy” has its Finger on the Pulse of an Angry Nation
There’s a sense of justified rage that propels The Purge: Anarchy, a film that simultaneously serves as a cathartic exercise for its audience as well as a screed against the current state of societal affairs. In shifting the focus from the first film from the Haves to that of the Have-Nots, writer/director James DeMonaco improves…
Tonight: Romance of Sorcery at DEMO Project
Tonight, check out Springfield expatriate artist Stephen Linksvayer’s show, “Romance of Sorcery,” the latest offering from the always innovative DEMO Project.The IT exclusive video below takes you inside the gallery space as the show was being prepared, and features Linksvayer’s thoughts on his influences and materials, and bears witness as the artist chances upon a…
What’s the market doing?
If you are around people involved in agriculture, the question “What’s the market doing?” will eventually come up. While there may be variations – “How’s the market?” or “Anything going on in the markets?” – the question is really about prices for corn, soybeans, hogs, cattle and other commodities of interest to the questioner. The…
The Driftaways
Music travels beyond the boundaries of regions, allowing for things like this: One of the best reggae-influenced bands in the Midwest comes from the St. Louis area. Mixing up a whole bunch of Jamaican-based sounds, such as ska, reggae and dub with a twist of blues-rock feel, put band members, Dane Wells (guitar, lead vocals),…
phish poem #1
phish poem #1 well odd things happen I am at a phish concert in saratoga springs not exactly atmore beside in my car but I can hear the throbbing drums sometimes a wail of a vocalist the crowd’s roar I wandered that crowd thronging the park’s entrance quite a few with a bent finger aloft…
Pricing pieces
The Springfield Art Association is hosting two interesting and informative events on the weekend of July 11-12. The first one on Friday night, July 11, is a free talk about downsizing by getting rid of your collections. Andrew Richmond of Garth’s Auctions, a nationally recognized antiques expert, will speak about selling your items at auction…
Is this deceit taken?
I’m a 54-year-old single man. I’ve discovered a troubling and apparently rampant trend among people around my age doing online dating – women not being honest about their age. I think the women doing this include the woman I started seeing, whom I otherwise like a lot. She listed her age as 55 but recently…
Waste more, tax more
Curses, foiled againPolice accused Jeremiah Scales of selling synthetic marijuana from his girlfriend’s house in Bloomington, Ind., after a nearby sign announcing “Drugs This Way” alerted them. “Our detectives did some surveillance, as well as some buys,” police Sgt. Pam Gladish said, noting that comings and goings at all hours stood out in the otherwise…
Editor’s Note 7/10/14
While central Illinois is glowing about this year’s fine corn and bean crops, some farmers, along with the fertilizer industry and government policymakers, are looking for ways to keep more of their expensive fertilizers on the farm and out of the Gulf of Mexico. Nutrients, mostly from agricultural sources, cause a large and growing “dead…
Elvis-like energy
PHOTO BY DONNA LOUNSDBERRY The Muni’s 2014 season got off to a great start with The Sound of Music and now presents its second show, the musical comedy All Shook Up, opening Friday, July 11. Directed by Anna Bussing, All Shook Up features the music of Elvis Presley including his songs “Jailhouse Rock,” “Love Me…
Sweet on sweet corn
Are there any sights, sounds and smells more evocative of a Midwest summer than those of fresh corn on the cob waiting to be shucked? The leaves are still crisp and green; the aroma’s corny and delicious; the husks squeak when they’re ripped away to reveal the tender kernels. For anyone who’s ever grown and…
City wins lawsuit
The city of Springfield has prevailed in a lawsuit brought by Calvin Christian, who had claimed that the city’s towing-fee ordinance was unconstitutional. Christian sued after he was arrested more than two years ago by city police who reported that he came to their attention by playing his car stereo at excessive volume. He was…
Illinois Supreme Court rules in favor of retirees
In a sweeping 6-1 decision, the Illinois Supreme Court last week struck down an attempt to force government retirees to pay more for their subsidized state health insurance. And while nothing is ever certain when it comes to the judiciary, the Court made it pretty darned clear that Illinois’ new pension reform law is going…
Unionizing moms and dads
Pamela Harris won her case, and the U.S. Supreme Court won another skirmish in its war against the liberal consensus. What Illinois’ disabled and dependent citizens won is less clear. Chicago-area resident Pamela Harris is the mother who cares at home for her 25-year-old son who’s had severe intellectual and developmental disabilities from birth, with…
Letters to the Editor 7/10/14
SKETCHY FACTS I am writing in response to Chris Britt’s cartoon (“Church of Hobby Lobby”) in the July 3 edition of Illinois Times. I enjoy editorial cartoons as much as anyone does. Should not the facts be straight even in a cartoon? Britt shows a sign that says, “Trampling of Women’s Reproductive Rights.” The case,…
Snowpiercer chilling
Chris Evans in Snowpiercer. Joon-ho Bong’s Snowpiercer is the sort of film in which the director asks you to buy into his premise and trust that the trip he’s taking you on will be worthy of your time. To be sure, it’s the sort of movie that can be picked apart if everyday logic was…
A lackluster report card
A shaky governance structure and lack of planning is affecting the bottom line at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum, according to a consultant’s report. The institution lacks a strategic plan that establishes priorities, according to the June 25 report prepared by Karen Witter, a consultant who worked under a contract with the institution’s…
HELP WANTED
Looking for work? There are apparently more than 800 jobs available in Springfield, if you have the right qualifications. The Illinois Department of Employment Security operates a job search website called Illinois Joblink, containing thousands of available jobs around the state. For the five-mile radius around Springfield, the Joblink website shows 843 spots at companies…
Divine drama
PHOTO COURTESY HOOGLAND CENTER FOR THE ARTS Agnes of God is being presented at the Hoogland Center for the Arts in Theater III. You may remember the gripping film with Meg Tilly and Ann Bancroft. The stage drama follows the same storyline about a novice nun who gives birth and insists that the dead child…
Tasting, tasting 1, 2, 3
Jonathon Edwards As we move into our second year of mostly local artists as our Taste of Downtown entertainment, look for more jazz, soul, funk, Latin, blues and less Americana roots-styles. In a very nice grouping of area favorites, the Downtown Springfield, Inc. folks are catering the music to fit the food: so eat, listen,…
Science to solve tomorrow’s problems
Cover: Deeptha Murali (left), B.K. Sharma (center) and Jennifer Deluhery (right) show off the reactor used to extract useful fuel from plastics that might otherwise end up in a landfill. PHOTO BY L. BRIAN STAUFFER It looks like an overgrown garbage disposal from a kitchen sink, but the large metal cylinder sitting in B.K. Sharma’s…
HE’S BACK
Father Thomas Donovan, perhaps the planet’s best-known practitioner of non-sexual self-bondage, is back at work as a priest, this time at St. Peter Parish in Quincy. Donovan got himself in a bind in November 2012, when he called 911 from the rectory of St. Aloysius here in Springfield to request help in freeing himself from…
Koch boys killing democracy
The Koch boys, Charles and David, live in their own little world. It’s a special world, enshrouded in a rarefied atmosphere created by the fumes emanating from their family’s enormous stockpiles of wealth. Thus, the two brothers have always felt very special, and they also expect those of us in the down-to-Earth world to treat…
Meal and music
Taste of Downtown is calling your taste buds to come on out and play. Eat some spectacular food such as Kimchi pork tacos, maple bacon on a stick or fried oyster po’ boys, cooked up from some of the best local restaurants in town, while listening to some amazing music. Downtown Springfield, Inc. once again…
