Visual middle steals Monsters’ thunder
While Warner Brothers has stumbled badly in creating its own shared universe of superhero movies and Universal Pictures’ efforts to do the same with its famous stable of monsters is getting a reboot, Legendary Pictures has been quietly constructing a series of interlocking movies – a la Marvel Films’ game-changing, juggernaut franchises – that is…
Community must engage with police
There is a way forward with criminal justice: examine what works, and strengthen it; examine what doesn’t work, and change it. Law enforcement and the community share the responsibility and share the consequences, so they need to work together on this examination, strengthening and change. The community cannot simply wash its hands of its problems,…
Springfield, the entertainment capital, 1800s-style
Springfield residents are entertained at our various venues: the Hoogland, the Muni Opera and the Legacy Theater. Shows also come to the Bank of Springfield Center, what Bob Hope during a performance there in 1979 called a “gorgeous garage.” But during the 1800s, Springfield was a mecca of theaters, opera houses, halls, saloons and stores…
Statues, Lincoln and football
I like kitsch as much as anyone, but I’m not digging the Lincoln-and-some-guy statue freshly installed at the entrance to Abe World. It’s not an uncommon reaction to the works of J. Seward Johnson, whose family made zillions via the Johnson & Johnson Co. while leaving him to follow his artistic bliss. Critics say the…
Help identify author of death threats
As the spring legislative session nears its end, I want to take a moment to look back on one of the scariest times of the year with the hope that one of you might recognize something and help bring a deranged person to justice. You may have seen a brief news story about it, but…
Letters to the Editor
PROUD OF PRIDEFESTI remember the very early days of PrideFest in Springfield (“PrideFest draws thousands,” May 23). The LGBTQ community in Springfield is brave, determined and has been a role model to LGBTQ communities throughout the state. Springfield, Bloomington, Decatur and Peoria are proud! Rick GarciaVia illinoistimes.comPROFITS BEFORE PEOPLEIn your recent article on cuts at…
Editor’s Note
As the General Assembly rushes to wind up its session by voting on legalizing sports betting, casino expansion, recreational marijuana and a big capital bill, comes the news that some Illinois legislators may be profiting from an industry they regulate. Shocking, we know. According to reporting by ProPublica and WBEZ Chicago, Senate Minority Leader Bill…
47th anniversary concert
In celebration of their years of singing together, Pastor Jerry Jones and The Fantastic Jones Family will perform a 47th anniversary concert at Fresh Visions Community Church, along with gospel vocal group Maurice Yancey and One Accord of Newport News, Virginia. The Jones’ family’s gospel roots go back to the earlier days of New Hope…
Illinois State Museum
A feature of the Illinois State Museum’s summer program is a series of five search activities which will enable families to have a fuller experience of the exhibits in which they are interested. A new search will be available every two weeks throughout the summer. Once each search is completed, children will receive a stamp…
Autism didn’t stop him
The job description for a nurse is full of things that people with autism have difficulty doing. But to Elijah “Eli” Hernandez, difficult does not mean impossible. “There were plenty of times where I thought, ‘I don’t think I can do this’” including the period where he was homeless, Hernandez said. “But what’s important is…
A big box checked off
A dilapidated Springfield housing development cleared a hurdle this month with the award of tax credits by the Illinois Housing Development Authority. It is, project backers say, the biggest step toward making Poplar Place an asset instead of a blight that has attracted nationwide attention via a recent series of articles in Governing magazine, which…
Baseball’s salesman
The Legendary Harry Caray: Baseball’s Greatest Salesman, by Don Zminda. Bowman and Littlefield, 2019. A Chicago White Sox, Chicago Cub and St. Louis Cardinal fan walk into a bar. They cannot agree on very much when it comes to baseball but they share one common belief. The years when Harry Caray was announcing their games…
DOLLAR GENERAL WINS
Let’s say you want to build something but the land isn’t properly zoned. For Dollar General, that hasn’t been a problem for a store at the intersection of 11th and Ash streets, where construction began a month before the city council on May 21 approved a rezone from industrial uses. Mayor Jim Langfelder, who allowed…
PROMENADING
For now, at least, Springfield has given up on a grand promenade leading down Capitol Avenue to the hallowed dome where legislators work their magic. The state and feds initially forked over more than $10 million to put fake-brick paving on the street between South 12th and Fifth streets and install some plants and sculptures…
Brightburn a tepid, missed opportunity
When you have to write stories on a consistent basis for the same character, you’re bound to run out of ideas. After cranking out tales for Batman, Spider-Man and their respective stable of characters for over 20 years, DC Comics and Marvel Comics both ran into this problem and handled it in similar ways. The…
May into June Music
With the Memorial Day holiday behind us, this weekend of “May into June” shows the full colors of a full slate of fun-filled things a-happening, exclaiming the summer season is fully here. Sadly, we start this week off with a death in our musical family, as Dave Wright, a lifelong supporter of roots music -…
Secret Society ReUnion
Plenty of previously popular local bands have reunited, but it’s hard to imagine a more anticipated and requested reunion than this one from Secret Society. The group started out bucking contemporary music trends in 1989 when Doug Kirk (bass), Brian Curtis (keyboards), Howard Freitag (guitar) and Jim Engel (drums) “got together and started a prog…
tolkien poem #3
years ago in a snowstorm I chased a car all the way across town because the license plate said ELROND I finally trapped the King of the Elves in his driveway invited him to our Lothlorien Banquet the following night he politely declined just yesterday I spotted a plate MDL ERTH I didn’t chase that…
Mail order hits and misses
Once upon a time, in the early years of my life, before downloads and streaming, there were record clubs and book clubs. The now-defunct Columbia House Record Club gave me my first opportunity to screw up my credit rating. Seduced by the offer of eight tapes for only a penny (I’m talking eight-tracks here –…
