Marina V
Marina V Always on the move and in the groove, Russian-born, singer-songwriter-keyboardist Marina V stops in town to perform her expressive, original songs. As a high-schooler in Moscow, she won a contest that landed her in Springfield and she ended up at Illinois College in Jacksonville. After graduation, she played locally until making a break…
Daring “D Train” Worth the Ride
During its first weekend in release, Andrew Mogel and Jarrad Paul’s The D Train made $447, 524 at 1,009 locations. That breaks down to $444 per screen. This is no surprise as the film contains no superheroes or aliens and deals with flawed characters wrestling with genuine emotional issues. Yep, box office poison and yet…
Rare specimens
The nature dioramas at the Illinois State Museum I mentioned in my recent column about such displays “Making dead hyenas come alive”) do not offer the bravura displays of taxidermy that one sees at the Field Museum in Chicago. While Robert Larson, who painted the background murals for the big displays is well known at…
Produce to the people
I have a little more about Springfield’s first public market I mentioned in my piece about farmers markets, “Sustainable agriculture.” Produce and meats were sold in a building erected for the purpose on the square in 1832. Paul Angle reminds us that a larger market house was built in 1843 on Sixth Street between Washington…
Workers’ comp could see changes
Gov. Bruce Rauner wants state lawmakers to reform workers’ compensation, but the jury is still out on the last attempt at reform. The Illinois General Assembly last passed workers’ compensation reforms in 2011, but the effects of that reform package seem to be still developing. The 2011 reforms allowed employers to choose doctors to…
He’s back, and with an alias
Embattled entrepreneur Jeffrey Parsons has surfaced in Texas – as Jeffrey Allen. Rick McFarland, senior executive producer for KPRC television news in Houston, confirmed that a man who appeared in a news story broadcast Sunday identified himself to KPRC as Jeffrey Allen. In fact, the man who appears in the KPRC story is Jeffrey Parsons,…
One way is not the best way
In a 2014 column (“Why did the pedestrian not cross the road?”) I noted that merchants and property owners in downtown Springfield had been fretting out loud about automobile drivers – most of whom are speeding through the center of Old Springfield to get somewhere else – imperiling pedestrians in the form of shoppers, diners, tourists…
Moneyball
The first pitch was a swing and a miss, but after that, Democrats in the Illinois House were swinging for the fences, passing amendment after amendment to a budget bill funding many of their priorities. House Republicans were caught off-guard this week when Democrats introduced 16 floor amendments to House Bill 4141, an appropriations bill…
Dr. Zoo-little
On Saturday, May 9, Henson Robinson Zoo hosts Dr. Dolittle Day. The fun starts at 10 a.m. with Springfield Theatre Centre performances of selections from Dr. Dolittle, Jr.: The Musical. The rest of the day includes soda pop giveaways (while supplies last), face painting, snow cones, sand art, food, turtle races, vendors and more. Additionally,…
Not your grandfather’s 5k
According to the press release, “The Fat Ass 5K and Street Party for Charity is not your grandfather’s 5K. Unless your grandfather is cool. Then it’s totally his 5K.” The 3.2-mile race route is scattered with entertainment and surprises that include hip-hop dancers, a traditional German band, free haircuts (yes, you read that correctly), doughnuts,…
Music May-hem
Captain Geech & the Shrimp Shack Shooters entertain the folks downtown at the Fat Ass 5K and Street Party on Sat., May 9, from 11:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. As we roll on through lovely May-time in central Illinois, the music around town is mostly as marvelous and mellifluous as the much-anticipated burst of nature’s…
Rauner’s term limit tango
The new legislative “working groups” designed to hammer out compromises on Gov. Bruce Rauner’s “Turnaround Agenda” finally began meeting in secret last week. At least one of them got a bit heated. A working group tasked with writing ethics legislation hit a brick wall right off the bat when it came time to discuss Rauner’s…
Sleek Machina hindered by rusty plot
Domhnall Gleeson as Caleb, Alicia Vikander as Ava and Oscar Isaac as Nathan in Ex Machina. PHOTO COURTESY A24 Alex Garland’s Ex Machina is a film that revolves around appearances, all of them deceptive. But none more than the movie itself, as its promise of the new is nothing but a lie. Sporting a high-tech…
Letters to the editor 5/7/15
Living history and historic sites brought thousands of visitors and tourism dollars to central Illinois restaurants, shops and hotels last weekend, May 1-3, during the Lincoln funeral procession. HISTORY COMES ALIVE IS DEADThe Lincoln funeral procession has come and gone, and from my vantage point as curator of historic Edwards Place, it was a smashing…
Battling rape on campus
Polly Poskin, executive director of the Springfield-based Illinois Coalition Against Sexual Assault, hopes to see schools respond more compassionately toward rape victims. Photo BY PATRICK YEAGLE Julia Dixon only knew her attacker a few hours before her exciting new college experience became a nightmare. It was her second weekend at college, and Dixon, then age…
All the single m’ladies
I read your manners book and loved it. I just feel that for most men chivalry is dead. Maybe feminism killed it, and maybe men have just gotten lazy. Well, I was staying over at a (platonic) male friend’s house, keeping him company because he’s sick with cancer. Despite that, I woke up to him…
Cops on drugs? No problem
An officer fired for drug use says that Chief Kenny Winslow, center, and others in the Springfield Police Department used a substance banned by the FDA. The chief says he’s clean. PHOTO BY BRUCE RUSHTON The City of Springfield is asking a judge to overturn the decision of an arbitrator who has ruled that a…
Sustainable agriculture
PHOTO BY ERICKA HINE It’s farmers market time. I’ve washed and starched my reusable shopping bag and hope to be first in line to buy a fine lettuce that reliably voted for the Green Party until the day it was plucked from the soil and carefully strapped with a seat belt into the pickup for…
Let’s get growing!
The Springfield Civic Garden Club brings knowledge, expertise and May flowers to the livestock section of Illinois State Fairgrounds Sale Barn 26 this Saturday, May 9, from 8 a.m. until noon. This year’s sale has the theme of “Let’s Get Growing!” and will feature perennials such as hostas, daylilies and grasses, plus herbs, trees and…
Editor’s note 5/7/15
Gov. Bruce Rauner was front and center at the Lincoln funeral reenactment events last weekend, proclaiming his admiration for Abraham Lincoln and his ties to Springfield where, the governor said, Lincoln grew up. This is the governor who is proposing major funding cuts for state history programs and elimination of the Illinois Historic Preservation Agency.…
Miranda rights at the SPD
CARTOON BY CHRIS BRITT
ISDS: A corporate cluster bomb
The Powers That Be are very unhappy with you and me. They’re also very unhappy with senators like Elizabeth Warren, activist groups like Public Citizen, unions like the Communications Workers of America and… well, with the majority of us Americans who oppose the establishment’s latest free-trade scam. Despite its benign name, the Trans-Pacific Partnership is…
An agenda for the new mayor and city council
“As goes the leadership of the top 100 cities, so goes the country’s economic future,” suggests Jim Clifton, Gallop CEO, in The Coming JOBS War. “Fixing America’s biggest problems and re-winning the world can only be accomplished one city at a time. A natural order is already present… cities have a self-organized, unelected group of talented…
Southtown gets a Kickstart
Dumb Records co-owners Brian Galecki, left, and Cory VanMeter, right. PHOTO BY GINNY LEE Over the years there have been many attempts to revitalize Springfield’s long-dilapidated Southtown neighborhood, including having it designated by the city council “a housing and urban redevelopment area” back in 2006 under Mayor Tim Davlin. But it has taken a gaggle…
Frank’s Discount Lounge Act
Remember those entertainment relics called “lounge singers” who could somewhat sleazily, but mostly cheesily, easily charm the pants off a mannequin? Bill Murray famously portrayed one in the 70s on Saturday Night Live and Lord only knows how many made an honest living doing it for real in days gone by. Now Frank Trompeter, renowned…
The spears of spring
Asparagus polonaise PHOTO BY PETER GLATZ Yes, I know that asparagus is available in groceries these days pretty much year round, but it’s still something best enjoyed in spring, just plucked as it shoots from the earth in nearby fields. Grocery asparagus that’s been stored for long periods and shipped thousands of miles may be…
lincoln poem # 15
what a weekend all us lincoln loverslocal and out-of-towners unitedthe effort was worth it people wererespectful from where we were onfourth street stood silent as the hearsewent by its black ostrich pompadourssix horses pompadoured too ornateharness the band with museum-loanedtrumpets how different history wouldhave been had he lived how we nowneed lincoln-hearted people in powerto put…
No time to talk
Gov. Bruce Rauner PHOTO BY ANTHONY SOUFFLE/TNS Last week was a turbulent one in the media for Gov. Bruce Rauner. He dodged questions from journalists, took questions from union adversaries, and held a press conference for an empty room. Rauner’s administration has been careful about limiting media access literally from day one. But one longtime…
When guns are outlawed
Curses, foiled again• A funeral procession thwarted a man’s attempt to rob a 79-year-old woman in San Antonio, Texas. “We were going really, really slow, so as we passed this bus stop, there was this elderly lady, (and) a gentleman was knocking her around and was pulling on her purse,” witness Robert Garcia said. “Before…
