Torch Tuesday Tonight: Femcee Classic with Def Jam artist K’La
Torch Tuesday at Bar None (in association with Wize Guys Productions) continues to prove its mettle as the preeminent regional showcase for hip-hop with Femcee Classic – a program of female artists, including Keyshia B, T- Roni, Lady T, KF along with up-and-coming Def Jam recording artist K’La, whose most recent single is a collaboration…
Between The Cracks: Honey///Suck tonight at Black Sheep Cafe
Once again, Faingold at Large proudly presents Between the Cracks – the recurring feature designed to shine a light onto Springfield-area bands, and all in their own words, to boot. Join us, won’t you? There’s gold between them thar cracks! Today’s BTC flashlight shines on spoken word / noise project Honey///Suck who will be performing tonight along with several…
Illinois Symphony Orchestra tomorrow night w/ guest soloist Julie Albers
Cellist Julie Albers will perform with ISO Saturday “Powerful Promise” is the fitting title of the program of beautiful music on offer tomorrow at Sangamon Auditorium. The Illinois Symphony Orchestra, under the direction of Alastair Willis, will perform the seasonally appropriate “Spring’s Promise” as well as Sympony No. 1 by Brahms, and will be joined by…
Editor’s Note 3/20/14
Now that Bruce Rauner is the Republican nominee for governor, battle lines are drawn and stakes are high for the fall election. Gov. Pat Quinn will begin staking out ground in his March 26 budget address, making the case that allowing the temporary income tax hike to expire without a replacement, as Rauner advocates, would…
Women and voting
Celebrating Women’s History Month, the American Association of University Women and University of Illinois at Springfield History Department present a roundtable of historians, elected officials and political scientists to discuss women’s right to vote and the challenges facing or faced by female candidates. Participants include Naomi Lynn, former UIS chancellor; Holly Kent, UIS history professor;…
Save the wails
Are guys scared of politically active women? My boyfriend of two months just broke up with me over my support for animal rights, and I’ve generally had difficulty keeping boyfriends because of this. This boyfriend was bothered by two incidents. In the first, I got into an argument about zoos with one of his friends…
Experience Pilsen, Chicago’s lively Latino neighborhood
The History of Mole Poblano from the National Museum of Mexican Art’s permanent collection. RIght: The untitled Virgen de Guadalupe, attributed to Miguel Cabrera, from the museum’s permanent collection. Photo BY Kathleen Culbert-Aguilar Right: Photo BY Michael Tropea The authentic Mexican cuisine, colorful outdoor murals, turn-of-the-century architecture and thriving art scene make Pilsen one of…
GPS tracking a privacy concern
When Springfield-based attorney Mark Wykoff’s client was pulled over with methamphetamine in his vehicle, he probably didn’t know that police had attached a GPS tracking device to his car. But they had. At the time he was pulled over in December 2011, the U.S. Supreme Court’s unanimous decision and opinion made in January 2012, United…
COMMUNITY GARDENS
Enos Park Neighborhood Garden is expanding. Photo BY TOM HANDY We’re not going to jinx ourselves by saying that winter is over, but we’re hoping the last of the snow has already melted for this season. The warmer weather has us eager to start our gardens, and the prospect of fresh, delicious produce chock full…
Let the sunshine in
PHOTOSHOP ILLUSTRATION BY JOE COPLEY Mayor Mike Houston calls the shots at Springfield city council meetings. And hizzoner wasn’t much interested in following rules or listening to anyone when nine people signed up to speak about Hunter Lake, the city’s proposed alternate water source, at the March 4 council meeting. “There’ll be a three-minute limit…
First day of spring poem
First day of spring poem My snowdrops are up, shivering, but visited by honeybees, and so I offer you my mother’s love poem to my dad, written in 1924, whiletheir May marriage was pending. Because of Youby Vera Wardner (not yet Dougan) This year, because I know you,Spring is lovelier than it ever was before:The…
Letters to the Editor 3/20/14
Sunshine Week, March 16-22 this year, is a national initiative to promote a dialogue about the importance of open government and freedom of information. Participants include news media, civic groups, libraries, nonprofits, schools and others interested in the public’s right to know what its government is doing, and why. PUBLIC REMARKS CUT OFF The Open…
Springfield leaders are in pension denial
For decades Illinois politicians ignored the state’s mounting pension debt. Now, with a state crisis that’s reeling out of control, Illinoisans are experiencing what happens when politicians put their heads in the sand. Unfortunately, Springfield residents now find themselves headed in the same direction, but at the local level. The city’s pension shortfall has jumped to…
On rumors and Rutherford
Way back in 1992, I did a story about Dan Rutherford’s first run for the Illinois House of Representatives. The House Democrats back then were quietly spreading rumors about Rutherford’s private life, hoping that the conservative, rural district would refuse to support someone who they said seemed to be gay. It was a classic “barber…
Gambling expansion proposal downsized
Following Gov. Pat Quinn’s 2012 veto of a bill to expand gambling in Illinois, a Chicago-area lawmaker is ready to try again, this time with a pair of scaled-down proposals. Rep. Robert Rita, D-Blue Island, announced last week he would file two amendments to an existing bill in the Illinois General Assembly, presenting two distinct…
Litterbuggery
Curses, foiled again• Stephen Furr, 48, denied breaking into a Boston home and stealing copper pipe from a boiler, even after police found him hiding beneath the basement stairs with a pipe cutter (described as “a burglarious tool”) and copper pipe appearing to have been cut from the boiler. The homeowners called police after the…
Fantastic fun
You know him and you love him and now a version of Shrek you probably haven’t seen is coming to the Hoogland Center for the Arts. Shrek the Musical runs March 21-23 and 28-30. Based on the Oscar-winning DreamWorks film that you also love, the laughs and music take to the stage. If you’re not…
Stoney LaRue
An integral member of the “Red Dirt” music movement that shot out of southeastern Oklahoma several years ago to set the rock-country-roots world on fire, Stoney LaRue is well known for his fiery and energetic live shows. From living with Cody Canada and Jason Boland in the infamous “Yellow House” in Stillwater, those late night…
Employment Policies Institute flimflam
In L. Frank Baum’s novel, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, the wizard turns out to be a big phony – just an eccentric old guy sitting behind a curtain, using his booming voice to spew nonsense in a vain effort to fool people. But now, a century after Baum’s fictional Oz, a real-life incarnation of…
Home and away
“When I was a boy, I thought Washington Park was a magical place.” PHOTO BY DAVID HINE “He went to places of lost happiness, and increased his misery by beholding the old faces no more, and the old days vanished.” That was Edgar Lee Masters, writing in Vachel Lindsay: A Poet in America about the…
Bach’s birthday
In honor of Bach’s birthday (Bach was born March 31, 1685), four local talented musicians will perform a baroque concert at Blessed Sacrament Church on the evening of Friday, March 21. Oboist Krista Steller is a member of the Sangamon Woodwind Consort and Jacksonville Symphony and teaches private oboe lessons. Jody Kienzler is a mezzo-soprano…
Flour power
For years I’ve been asked why I always specify unbleached all-purpose white flour in my recipes. And for years, my answer has been the same, “Yes, you can substitute bleached for unbleached flour. But why would you want to?” Today my answer is the same, with a minor exception. Growing up in an organic-centered household,…
Springtime is a-coming
The Blue Gs and The Station perform at Donnie’s Homespun on Friday night at the Acoustic Power Outage show. Whether the weather acts like it or not, spring is officially here. At this point, even calling the season “spring,” however the weather, is a relief, if not an actual respite. Fortunately, there’s plenty of good…
What is Madigan planning for the income tax?
House Speaker Michael Madigan hoto BY PATRICK YEAGLE UPDATE: On Thursday afternoon, Madigan announced a plan to tax personal income over $1 million at an extra 3 percent, bringing the effective rate for people earning more than $1 million to 8 percent. Individuals with income under $1 million would continue to pay the current…
The soda sin tax
Illinoisans could end up paying a tax on their sugary drinks that would fund education about the risks of obesity. State Sen. Mattie Hunter, D-Chicago, is sponsoring a bill she introduced in February that would impose a penny-per-ounce sugary drink tax. The tax would apply to every ounce of “sugar-sweetened beverages,” such as soda, energy…
A rousing Rise of an Empire
Eva Green as Artemisia in 300: Rise of an Empire. PHOTO COURTESY Warner Bros. Pictures I was one of the few who wasn’t completely taken in by Zack Snyder’s 300. While the aesthetic he employed – digital backgrounds, bleeding colors and darkly accented characters that suggested a comic book on acid – was gripping, the…
