SUPPORT SLIDERS & THE TROOPS
The voice of the song “Riding with Private Malone” and a face of Operation Troop Aid, country music star David Ball will be in Springfield this Saturday, July 30, to help raise money for soldiers stationed overseas. Ball is the second feature that night at Robin Roberts Stadium, where the Sliders will play a 5:05…
Illinois starts work on health care reform
Looking forward to seeing her son one evening, Maurine Magliocco of Springfield got a call saying he had fallen ill and wasn’t going to come. He was debating going to the emergency room. Even though Peter Magliocco, a 28-year-old, had his own insurance, he didn’t think he could afford the trip. As a concerned mother,…
Friends benefits from strong finish
Will Gluck’s Friends with Benefits is two – count ’em – two movies in one. The first is a lighthearted, “hip” urban comedy that tries hard to please but falls flat due to a fatal case of the cutesies and two performers who fail to deliver a single comedic moment between them. The other is…
BUDGET BUDDIES
Are you having trouble making ends meet? Do you often find your bank account empty toward the end of each pay period? If so, there is help available, in the form of a free budget counseling session with ClearPoint Credit Counseling Solutions. The nonprofit’s Springfield branch is moving to 1999 Wabash Avenue. The new location…
‘I see a whole lot of opportunity here’
Henrik Rasmussen calls himself a “Springfielder by choice.” A native of Denmark, Rasmussen moved his family to Springfield in 2009, seeking opportunity, freedom and space to innovate. Now a U.S. citizen, Rasmussen is launching his own public affairs consulting firm in Springfield on Aug. 1, after seven years at another consulting firm. Addressing the crowd…
Perseverance and optimism separate Buck from the herd
At first meeting, some might dismiss Buck Brannaman as a cowboy who specializes in corn-porn philosophy. Phrases like “I help horses with people problems,” trip over his lips as others might take a breath. But once you get to know him – and you’ll want to become acquainted with even more by the end of…
Electric jazz
Local five-piece Grammy-nominated band David Cain & Senses performs a free concert that includes video and animation at the Hoogland to raise money for the center through donations. Senses might be categorized as playing new wave, ambient, or contemporary jazz music. The concert is titled Soundadelic, but front man and vocalist/saxophonist David Cain always seems…
A right-wing jobs program for America
Here’s the core economic problem we’re facing today: Unemployment and underemployment are rampant and entrenched throughout America, stifling any hope for real recovery and threatening the very survival of the essential middle class that holds our society together. The solution? Our ideologically pure, laissez-fairyland leaders in Washington and various state capitals, along with corporate-funded think…
Sushi rice salad
It’s fun to roll your own. Sushi, that is. But it takes a bit of practice. I make sushi rolls, called makizushi, occasionally, and it always takes a couple to get the hang of it again. More often, I make this rice salad. It has the flavors and textures that make sushi so popular, and…
Springfield idol
As a child, Springfield’s own Elizabeth Eckert was a finalist on Ed McMahan’s television contest, “Next Big Star,” and later sang her way to the Hollywood rounds on “American Idol” season seven. If that doesn’t tell you how much talent she has, nothing will; she out-performed hundreds-of-thousands. Recently she collaborated with renowned Atlanta producer Brad…
The Third Thursday artists
Paris, Florence, Berlin, Rome, New York, Athens – when famed art-related cities of the world come up in conversation, Springfield, Ill., is not generally on the list. That’s not likely to change soon, but recently a fresh movement in the local art scene awakened a dormant spirit of cooperation and inspiration for area visual artists…
Steak and potato salad
Here’s a salad for meat and potatoes folks. While it’s certainly possible to grill steak and cook potatoes just for this dish, I almost always prepare extra when making a steak dinner to have for this salad a few days later. This recipe is loosely based on a steak salad I ordered at Chicago’s venerable…
Letters to the Editor 07/28/11
KATHIE PAYTON’S SISTER REPLIESThis letter is written in rebuttal to the article “I killed my mom,” which appeared in Illinois Times July 21. We feel the article is unfair, inaccurate and one-sided. The opening line “after a life of abuse” is untrue. There may have been some instances of verbal abuse, however it is greatly…
Anti-urban urban renewal
The downtown headquarters building of the Horace Mann Educators Corp. is getting its first major fix-up since it opened in 1972. Whatever its merits as a work of design, the building certainly was well built. In the years since it opened, Springfield’s city government has had to be remodeled after courts found it suffered from…
Activist youth gets involved in Ward 6
A new graduate of Springfield Southeast High School, Nathan Piper, says he’s tired of hearing his peers talk about how much they want to leave Springfield, specifically his part of town, Ward 6. “Going to Southeast, we had a lot of Ward 6 students … and a lot of them said ‘our area of town…
Don’t turn out lights on bulb innovation
In a close vote, the House recently passed a provision that undercuts one of the most successful environmental programs of the decade – one that requires all light bulbs – including the incandescent – to achieve higher efficiency levels. The amendment, which was tacked on to the Energy and Water Development Appropriations Act of 2012,…
Succulent salads for dog days
“If you can’t stand the heat, get out of the kitchen.” –Harry Truman Or at least minimize the heat. Kitchens today are far cooler than in Truman’s time, not least because of air conditioning. And it’s hard to imagine the inferno that earlier kitchens would have been. The heat generated by cast iron stoves or…
What Dave Littrell sees now
Fans of the local band music scene would be hard pressed to not be familiar with the Station, one of our most prolific and consistent groups of the last decade in the area and on the road. Dave Littrell, the driving force behind the instrumental-based and jamband-styled music of the Station now embraces another avenue…
Ol’ Red Shed
Sometime in 2006 Kristofer “Coondog” Kunzeman (guitar, lead vocals) looked to memories of his granddad’s traditional country and bluegrass band for inspiration after the demise of his latest metal/punk group. Fellow bandmate David Lawson got a doghouse bass and soon Quincy Watson joined on mandolin to help build the Ol’ Red Shed. Area pickers such…
The science lab at the Statehouse
Some people think there’s a lot of crud in the Statehouse. For more than 50 years, there was. From at least 1917 to 1970, the Illinois Department of Public Health’s (DPH) main diagnostic lab was housed there. Its staff examined saliva, blood and bodily excretions for contagious diseases. Today, it’s hard to believe that such…
Meat me in Taylorville
Taylorville Main Street hosts a state championship BBQ cook-off sanctioned by the Kansas City BBQ Society and a backyard BBQ for amateurs. Friday night meet the pro cookers as they prep for the next day, enjoy some barbecue, and hear at 7 p.m. the Screamin’ Vatos, with the sounds of Santana. Saturday, besides the great…
Celebrating 35 years of fun ways to learn
Sometimes learning looks different than a standard textbook, classroom or exam. Instead it might take the shape of a miniature tugboat or an easel, or perhaps something else altogether. That’s really up to the students to discover. At Funshop, an early childhood education program supported in part by the Springfield Park District, the “students” are…
personalpoem #6
I wonder if I will gointo old age still thinkingabout things such as theopposite of “inept” is “apt”
