Viva Italia!
One step inside Angela’s, A Taste of Italy, and you feel a bit transported. In between dishing out stuffed peppers or slicing proscuitto from the glass case in the front of the two-room brick bungalow on MacArthur, owner Angela Fileccia Lichtenberger answers customer’s questions in her thick Italian accent. She chats with regulars about their…
Prison Uprising
Last Sunday a few dozen people from the Pleasant Grove Baptist Church gathered at the Sangamon County Jail on Ninth Street. They were waiting for Enos Brents to lead them to the prison gym, where they were going to baptize 20 male inmates. Normally, visitors must remove their earrings, said Brents, the assistant superintendent for…
If the mafia doesn’t exist. . .
The gangster film has made a resounding comeback this year with Road to Perdition and Martin Scorsese’s long-awaited Gangs of New York. The genre began in the silent era, but it made its first big splash in the early 1930s with the releases of Public Enemy, Little Caesar, and Scarface. All three are still highly…
Bye, George!
In the summer of 1997, Illinois Times published “Curious George,” a feature about George Ryan when he was running for governor. The feature detailed Ryan’s political past and lined it up with what he was proposing to do as governor. We predicted that Ryan would certainly make good on some of his numerous promises as…
Your Turn. . . 1-09-03
Stomp a Success Dear Illinois Times and Dusty Rhodes: Thank you for initially bringing the Duke Tumatoe story to light and for your continued interest in the events surrounding that story. Your coverage of my fund-raiser was the deciding factor in the success of this project. During the course of the evening my belief was…
The Governor-in-Law
On the last week of the old year, Governor-elect Rod Blagojevich swung through the state greeting friends at rallies and meetings to celebrate his coming inauguration. But one friend curiously absent from the celebrations was the man most responsible for getting Blagojevich elected–Richard Mell, alderman of Chicago’s 33rd ward. Mell is, of course, the father…
Movie Reviews
About Schmidt Warren Schmidt (Jack Nicholson) is dead inside. He’s been married 42 years and has worked for about as long at the Woodman of the World Insurance Company. At a retirement dinner thrown in his honor, he accepts his colleague’s tributes as if they were death sentences but endures them all, as he has…
Now Playing 1-09-03
What a week! Between the influx of Chicago political workers involved in the inaugural activities and 20 Elvis impersonators vying for the Midwest crown (plus the legions of fans to adore them), Springfield will be engorged with interesting characters. Let’s hope no one gets too confused and inaugurates an Elvis as governor, though from listening…
Made Just Right
The meat is loose. The bun is steamed. And the method is simple. Take a scoop of steamed hamburger that has simmered for hours in salt, pepper, and garlic, then place it on a bun with a bit of mustard, pickle relish, and onion. So what is it about the “Maid-Rite” sandwich that has kept…
Something right happens for the “Wrong Man”
Twenty-two years in prison is a long time, but a single weekend could be even longer when you’re waiting to see whether Governor George Ryan might pardon you on his way out the office door. Keith Harris, who appeared on our October 3 cover under the headline “The Wrong Man,” spent the past weekend “just…
Back From Iraq
Ask Sister Beth Murphy about her recent trip to Iraq and she’ll tell you about Hussein, a four-year-old boy who was hiding under his bed in a hospital room in Basrah. Hussein had neuroblastoma. During treatment he contracted hepatitis; his doctor said Hussein had only a few months to live. On Wednesday, Murphy, a Dominican…
Your Turn. . . 6-26-03
Showing God’s will in this moment of “darkness” To the editor, I read your profile of Stephen Brady [“Defender of the Faith” June 19], the Petersburg businessman who has become the world’s most effective force in removing sexual predators from the Catholic clergy, on the same day that the Catholic Bishops of the United States…
Backstage Pass
Last week the new theater season took off with Rich McCoy’s production of The Hobbit at the Springfield Theatre Centre. The show has three more performances this weekend, January 17-19. Jason Goodreau plays Bilbo Baggins. Goodreau has become one of the most visible talents onstage here, having performed in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat…
No nighttime daycare?
A 35-year-old ordinance could affect 162 home daycare providers in Springfield and the parents who depend on them–if the city decides to enforce it. Recently the city has held planning and zoning meetings to address one citizen’s complaint about a home daycare business. The citizen had already singled out a statute regarding home businesses, which…
Picnics in the park
No meal says the Fourth of July quite like a picnic. Spreading out a well-worn blanket on a patch of green grass and dining on cold fried chicken is as much of a time-honored tradition as fireworks and cherry pie. As the season for the ultimate in outdoor dining jumps into high gear next holiday…
The continuing saga of Brady and the Bishop
For the past seven years, Stephen Brady and his Petersburg-based organization, Roman Catholic Faithful, have waged a very public battle against Daniel Ryan, the former bishop of the Springfield diocese. Brady took advantage of a lawsuit claiming Ryan had protected a pedophile priest to air various salacious allegations against Ryan himself. Now Brady is making…
All The King’s Men
The strains of “C.C. Rider” cut through the room, as the crowd screams and turns en masse to view the Elvis impersonator bounding into the room. On his way to the stage, Pratt waves at his fans, stops to kiss an excited middle-aged woman, and points to someone in the crowd and laughs, all under…
Counting Crimes
Last week, Sangamon County Sheriff Neil Williamson amended his agency’s crime statistics report for 2002 to include the murder of Dan DeFraties, a Springfield man who last March was robbed, abducted from the gas station where he worked, and brutally beaten to death by the side of a road. The fact that this particular roadside…
The Highway Side
What you missed: Private eye Nick Acropolis is sent to McKinley to investigate the case of a trucker charged with smuggling cocaine. A truck stop waitress then hires him to look for her missing son, Billy. Nick stumbles upon his original client’s truck. The police have emptied a secret compartment, but Nick finds four small…
Movie Reviews
Far From Heaven Much has been made of Todd Haynes’ Far From Heaven, his homage to the films of 1950s director Douglas Sirk. Coming to prominence in 1954 with Magnificent Obsession and followed by All That Heaven Allows and Written on the Wind, Sirk dared to peek beneath the veneer of the American Dream, exposing…
Now Playing 1-16-03
Hey, we’ve got a new guv, hotshots out of work, a war brewing, and snow on the ground. But what do we care? There is music and dancing, drinking and cavorting to be done. On with it! What would you expect from a band called Southern Bitch? How about some Lynyrd Skynyrd licks, a Jason…
Backstage pass
Summer has started on a high note, with some memorable performances so far: Cynda Wrightsman’s “Lizzie Curry” in New Salem’s 110 in the Shade was heartbreaking and moving; and Titanic at the Muni boasted many powerful singers. Now comes Muni Opera’s second show of the season: Big, the Broadway musical based on the hit 1987…
Trading Spaces
Perhaps it was just too good to be true. For months, the little house at 830 South College Street known as “the Space” has been home to a casual collection of worthy causes such as the Heartland Peace Center, the Springfield Green Party, and the Springfield Independent Media Center. The Space was established by the…
PR to the rescue
Last year, when Springfield voters overwhelmingly rejected a property-tax increase meant to benefit the public schools, District 186 officials began to realize they’d lost what little respect they had in the community. It didn’t help when, after their defeat at the polls, they immediately laid off teachers and librarians, cutting programs district-wide. Then they raised…
Med district maneuvers
Within the next 30 days, Mayor Karen Hasara will begin appointing members to the commission that will oversee the Illinois Medical District in Springfield. The district became official on January 3, when former Governor George Ryan signed legislation drafted to create it. The district was formed to develop Springfield’s medical industry, bounded by 11th and…
Ack! This coffee is burned!
For most people, coffee is a friendly acquaintance to be greeted each morning like the office receptionist. Hello, how are you, just a cup or two, and they’re ready to get on with their day. For me, coffee represents the longest intimate relationship of my life. I love the smell, I love the taste, and…
Bards of the Sangamo 6-26-03
First Light It’s not sunup at Lincoln Greens, the skies are dark and gray. But I’m poised to start my work, on bunkers and fairways. The mowers sweep across the greens, the fairways and the tees. Their eerie lights, their ghost-like shapes, might startle some–not me! You lucky folks who sleep ’till eight, and work…
Now Playing 6-26-03
Could somebody please tell me where June went? It flew by like a hummingbird, noisy and fast. Maybe it was all the fine entertainment that helped the middle month slip by. But no more moaning, we’re a forward-looking bunch, planning a wonderful, exciting weekend for the end of June, rolling toward the big Fourth of…
Knoepfle 6-26-03
tory island morning gray morning and a gray sky a sky patched with trailings of light a soft wind weaving the sea under it high hills of donegal carved on the east horizon dark gray hills and darker grays and a puff of white cloud hanging there over errigal ©John Knoepfle 2003
True blue
Last week, in the hours leading up to a City Council meeting with no feature attraction on the agenda, a rumor percolated through the Springfield Police Department that Mayor Tim Davlin would announce his pick for police chief that night. This rumor was so persistent that then-Sergeant Don Kliment found himself feeling downright dejected. “The…
Your Turn. . . 1-16-03
Support your local cinema To the editor, I was a bit surprised to see that Illinois Times “Night & Day: What’s Happening In The Capital City” section [January 9] was encouraging your readers to drive to Bloomington-Normal to see the movie Frida, a film that is scheduled to open at the White Oaks in Springfield…
Movie Reviews
Charlie’s Angels: Full Throttle I tried. I really tried to get into the world of Charlie’s Angels: Full Throttle, a place were the laws of physics don’t apply and hot babes survive massive car crashes and explosions without a hair out of place. I did my best to believe director McG is fashioning a new…
Bitter Harvest
Growing up in a fifth-generation farm family, 36-year-old Matt Ewing always knew his eventual career goal. A love of farming persisted even during the seven years he lived out of a suitcase on the pro golfing circuit. Golf was off-farm income, or an expense, depending on how his game was going. In the fall, when…
