Angry young man becomes grumpy geezer
Untitled Document The problem with the phrases “angry young man” and “pub rock,” both of which seem to be mandatory in any discussion of Graham Parker, is not that they’re obsolete but instead that they’re meaningless. “Pub rock” was stupid from the outset, a tautological catch-all for the sort of music you might hear in…
Cube takes it up a notch
Untitled Document Are We Done Yet? Running time 1:33 Rated PG ShowPlace East, Parkway Pointe Ice Cube’s Are We There Yet? is on my list of the worst movies of 2005. Cube’s awkward attempt to transform himself into a cuddly comic unfortunately managed to gross more than $80 million, making a sequel inevitable. Surprisingly, follow-up film…
Welcome to spring
Untitled Document I’m a firm believer in signs from the universe. Nothing is a coincidence. We meet people for a reason, even if they cause us pain and heartache. We fall in love when we least expect it, and we gravitate to certain parts of the world, sometimes without explanation. Thank goodness for Mother Nature,…
People’s poetry
Untitled Document newsquirkpoem #1 seems there’s an adult-size naked jesus made of chocolate in the big apple this holy weekwe’re all invited on sunday tolick it and eat it or should we sayhim he is at the roger smith hotelgallery some groups are not finding this palatable the nutrition chart says our sweet messiah…
The way back home
Untitled Document Dorothy Milford was feeding quarters into a washing machine when the Laundromat television brought her startling news: A massive hurricane had devastated New Orleans, flooding hundreds of homes. She froze for a moment, absorbing the terrible news. Then came the aftershock: Katrina had hit days earlier; Milford just hadn’t heard about it. She…
Ignoring Paris
Untitled Document Stop the presses! There’s been a stunning breakthrough in news coverage by America’s establishment media. In a bold journalistic experiment, the Associated Press, which feeds stories 24/7 to thousands of media outlets, recently did the unthinkable: It imposed a one-week ban on any stories about Paris Hilton. Yes, the media phenomenon was to…
Moon men
Untitled Document The trek up the concrete steps to the University of Illinois-Springfield’s rooftop observatory is a lesson in endurance. At the top, the open sky awaits. An old sign hanging on the deck greets would-be stargazers with the NASA motto, the Latin phrase per aspera ad astra — “through adversity to the stars.” Charles…
Letters to the Editor
Untitled Document We welcome letters. Please include your full name, address, and telephone number. We edit all letters. Send them to Letters, Illinois Times, P.O. Box 5256, Springfield, IL 62705; fax 217-753-3958; e-mail editor@illinoistimes.com. TAKE RESPONSIBILITY FOR YOUR HEALTH There is indeed a major health-insurance problem in the U.S., as your article…
Degrees of separation
Untitled Document The Bush side of the presidents’ family receives nearly all of the attention from historians; the Walker side, by comparison, is almost anonymous to history. But the mostly forgotten Walkers of central Illinois merit consideration if the heritage of the two-presidents Bush is to be more comprehensively assessed. George E. and Harriet Walker,…
Scapegoats?
Untitled Document With scores of city employees facing discipline for an alleged work stoppage during the mid-February winter storm, at least a dozen snowplow drivers say they’re being made scapegoats for the city’s bungled handling of the snow removal. Some 30 or 40 “truck driver laborers,” or TDLs — some with lengthy and unblemished work…
Voice of the people
Untitled Document Gov. Rod Blagojevich insists that his proposed $6 billion gross-receipts tax on business doesn’t break his campaign promise last year not to increase income or sales taxes, but a recent poll finds that voters think otherwise. The very last question of the 45-question poll, in which voters were told both positive and negative…
Through the wringer
Untitled Document After more than two years of trying, a minority-owned firm last week signed a trucking agreement with KBV-Springfield, the company that is building Springfield’s new 200-megawatt coal-fired power generator. Starting in 2004, Walter Hale, owner of Econo Materials and Testing Labs of Illinois Inc., wrote several letters to KBV, expressing his desire to…
The Graduate goes to work
Untitled Document Indie-rock group The Graduate was formed about a year-and-a-half ago from the remains of two central-Illinois bands, Best of Winter and Jack. After a few gigs here in town at such all-ages hotspots as Bread Stretchers and Club 10, The Graduate hit the road hard, playing dates across the States. Within four months…
That’s all she wrote
Untitled Document At the end of the film Venus, which stars Peter O’Toole as a decrepit actor holding off his final curtain, Vanessa Redgrave delivers a bleak line: “When you die, everyone wants to be your friend.” Though I knew Molly Ivins forever — since the Kennedy administration — I would never claim that I…
Giving a voice to our grief
Untitled Document Harry Mark Petrakis’ newest collection consists of eight short stories and a novella. The short stories are vintage Petrakis, rooted in Chicago’s Greek community, spare and eloquent in the telling — and often with surprising endings. In “Beauty’s Daughter,” which takes place on Halsted Street, a mother’s brief happiness with a lover changes…
Marky hits the mark
Untitled Document Stardom has finally come to Mark Wahlberg, a decade after he proved his skills as an actor. Wahlberg has come a long way since his dubious entrance into show business with Marky Mark and the Funky Bunch, and I’m sure he would like to forget that chapter in his life. (I would.) His…
Carrying the cross through Springfield
Untitled Document American Christians these days focus almost exclusively on the hope of Easter, but little attention is paid to the events of Good Friday that led up to it. Yet a growing body of theologians is rethinking the death of Jesus. Christian Century put the emerging debate in these terms: “Does the cross belong on…
Ramp it up
Untitled Document I’ve just been to a Rampfest — an evening in one of Chicago’s trendiest venues, the large space filled to overflowing with people sniffing, eating, and talking about ramps. The decorations consisted of vases filled with ramps, their beautiful lily-of-the-valley-like leaves spilling from the tops and the purple stems, white bulbs, and roots…
Davlin vs. Strom
Untitled Document On economic development . . . Of the three mayoral debates held so far this campaign season, two of them — one co-sponsored by Downtown Springfield Inc., another by the Greater Springfield Area Chamber of Commerce — focused heavily on business issues in the capital city. Although insiders say Ald. Bruce Strom may…
