Reverend Raven & the Chain Smoking Altar Boys
Considered one of the finest traditional sounding, electric Chicago blues bands working the Midwest, the group, featuring the right Reverend on guitar and vocals, P.T. Pedersen SC on bass, Bobby Lee Sellers, Jr. on drums and vocals, Danny Moore on piano and organ, and Big Al Groth on saxophone, contains a couple hundred years’ worth…
clout (clothing) poem #1
clout (clothing) poem #1 may is here I’m missing myelderly friend jessie with hercrown of white hair and spritelyways lived on a farm in dorsetshe frequently quoted her mum(“ketchup is an insult to the cook”)(“men are a necessary nuisance”)one quote was an old english rhyme:“ne’er cast a clout till may be out”we debated its meaning…
Should Illinois release old and costly inmates?
In 2010, Illinois prisons held 223 C-Number inmates who had been there for more than 30 years. These inmates were a part of a sentencing scheme from a different era. C-Number inmates are prisoners who were sentenced before 1978 to indeterminate sentences – prison terms that only specify a range of years the inmate must…
Commemorating Springfield’s Lithuanians
Thousands in Springfield today are descended from the flood of Eastern European and Southern European immigrants who arrived during Sangamon County’s coal boom. Among those turn-of-the-century immigrants was my Lithuanian great aunt Marija Jomantiene, aka Mary Yamont, an impoverished 18-year-old farm girl who was mobbed as she arrived at the Springfield depot by Lithuanian miners…
Shadows too dim to see details
I have some vague recollections of the Dark Shadows soap opera. I remember NOT being allowed to watch it, that whenever I did sneak a peak around the corner into the living room that there was always a lot of fog on the screen and that my babysitter really, really liked this show. Upon seeing…
Madcap musical
Springfield Theatre Center presents a musical about Pippi, the stripper on the run, who is the new tenant at the exclusive Florida trailer park, Armadillo Acres. But she’s no ordinary tenant, and there are only laughs after Pippi comes between Dr. Phil-loving, agoraphobic Jeannie and her tollbooth collector husband. Music and lyrics by David Nehls.…
Springfield history in old newspaper photos
It’s like a long forgotten, 80-year-old scrapbook of our city. It shows a bustling downtown crowded with men wearing fedoras and women in fur coats, a family brewery preparing for the onslaught of business after Prohibition, a swimming hole packed on a busy summer day, and many more scenes of daily life in Springfield between…
Plentiful produce
The Old Capitol Farmers Market opens for the season on three downtown blocks beginning May 16. Join the mayor, Downtown Springfield, Inc., St. John’s Hospital representatives and the Chamber of Commerce in a ribbon cutting ceremony at 10 a.m. Frank Trompeter Quartet will play, Celebrity Chef Ashley Glatz Meyer will provide a demonstration, and free…
Attorney general questions Macoupin mine permit
While one of the state’s largest coal-mining companies prepares to go public, state regulators are examining whether one of the company’s mines near Carlinville has a proper pollution permit. St. Louis-based Foresight Energy plans to raise $300 million though an initial stock offering, the company announced last month. But regulators are raising questions about a…
Tiny bites of love for Mom
They’re tiny, oh-so-sophisticated, and utterly delicious: In other words, the perfect ending to a meal or a day of homage to mothers. When I first made petit fours (the name comes from the French words for “small ovens”), what surprised me most was how easy they were to make. True, petit fours aren’t something that…
Smith may give us an embarrassing circus
Call it “Blagojevich Lite,” or whatever else you want, but it became pretty darned clear last week that state Rep. Derrick Smith’s attorneys are planning the same sort of mockery of the system that Rod Blagojevich’s legal team did during those dark days after the former governor’s arrest. “While I have been troubled to experience…
How will retirements affect Springfield?
Gov. Pat Quinn’s pension proposal has led to an increase in state employees applying for retirement, which could negatively affect Springfield businesses. According to the State Employees Retirement System, more than 4,000 workers have applied to retire during this fiscal year, which is an increase of 40 percent from last year. Of the 4,000 who…
Growing up in the Cultural Revolution
I thought I knew the story of Wenguang Huang, who will be the commencement speaker at the University of Illinois Springfield May 12. After all, I’ve known Wen for 21 years, first as my student at UIS and later as a dear family friend. He met my extended family, picked apples in my husband’s orchard…
The stench of Bentonville spreads to Mexico – and back
Wal-Mart has long boasted of its “Always Low Prices,” but now it has confirmed that it also has “Always low morals.” The bottom line has always been THE line for Wal-Mart executives, and sinking to the ethical bottom to enhance that line has not only been tolerated, but legitimized as a proven path to executive…
Street feat
Becoming one of the most popular parties in Springfield, the Fat Ass 5K and Street Party fills downtown May 11-12. This is a race where winning is good, but enjoying yourself is even better. Stations are set up along the race route where participants can indulge in goodies such as donuts, ice cream and beer.…
A double shot of urban-type feel
“Everyone wanted it to have an ‘urban’ type feel,” said one focus group participant to the State Journal-Register about the new supermarket that Niemann Foods Inc. plans to build at Second and Carpenter, “although it’s in a neighborhood.” The County Market’s potential shoppers were talking about Starbucks and a deli counter. A surer way to…
Write wingers
Necrophilia is legal in Illinois, and the legislature is cracking down. Who knew? The Belleville News-Democrat and St. Louis Post-Dispatch in February broke the news that state Rep. Daniel Beiser, D-Alton, is sponsoring a measure outlawing posthumous hanky-panky, which attracted attention as far away as England, where the Daily Mail published a blurb. But there…
Street smart
Another UIS Broadway Series takes place at Sangamon Auditorium, UIS, May 15 at 7:30 p.m. The contemporary musical, In the Heights, received four 2008 Tony Awards and a Grammy Award the same year for Best Musical Show Album. The production is set in the Washington Heights neighborhood in New York City. Residents try to make sense…
Coal curriculum
Illinois is a coal state – the eighth-largest producer of coal in the nation at 33.2 million tons in 2010, according to the U.S. Department of Energy. The Illinois Geological Survey estimates Illinois coal holds more energy potential than all of Saudi Arabia’s and Kuwait’s oil reserves combined. It makes sense that the state would…
Mused and abused
After my girlfriend and I split up, I wrote a creative nonfiction piece about our breakup (changing some identifying details). I published it on a popular blog and linked to it on Facebook. We’re back together, and things are great; however, she saw the story and was humiliated. I explained that what I wrote was…
Letters to the Editor 5/10/12
NO POT OF GOLD I read with interest the article on the city infrastructure written by Bruce Rushton [see “Plan? What plan? Still no fix for city infrastructure,” May 3]. The city inherited problems caused by streets that were constructed without adequate bases and under-designed because the amount of traffic was underestimated for various reasons and…
Javier Mendoza and Reis Kloeckener
These St. Louis performers are making a splash in the music business as young and ready up and comers. Reis made a quick transition from singing in church and school choirs to becoming a 2012 American Idol contestant. According to The Hollywood Gossip of Feb. 3, after hearing Reis at the St. Louis audition, judge…
Lawmakers vote to keep supermax prison open
A panel of state lawmakers voted last week to keep the state’s “supermax” prison open, but the costly facility’s ultimate fate rests with the governor. The Commission on Government Forecasting and Accountability (COGFA) met on May 1 to vote on several facility closures meant to save the state millions of dollars. Among the facilities on…
The month of Maybes
I once received a gift from the brilliant guitarist and songwriter Jim Schniepp, co-founder of the local, lovely band Backwards Day with Illinois Times contributor Scott Faingold. The present was a homemade calendar with the name of each month slightly skewed, making May the month of Maybe. I was never quite sure what Jim meant,…
Police probed in Jerome
Steve Stirmell, a Jerome police officer who is the son of Jerome Mayor HarryStirmell, is under investigation by the Sangamon County state’s attorney and thestate attorney general, according to numerous sources. The nature of the investigation isn’t clear. But a source who spoke on condition ofanonymity says that Steven Stirmell has been removed from active…
