OLD MAIN
Sometimes stuff just breaks. That’s the assessment from the city of Springfield, which shut down Fifth Street in downtown last week after a 10-inch water main burst, heaving the street that cracked open from curb to curb, with water shooting upward through the fault like an upside-down waterfall. “This was a big one,” says Tom…
Devine fiber-bearer
The public, especially families, are invited to the Springfield Riverside Alpacafest Nov. 12-13 at the Illinois State Fairgrounds. All weekend you can watch the competitive show as over 150 alpacas from Illinois and surrounding states are judged. See and pet an alpaca and visit with the folks raising them. Browse the vendors selling alpaca products…
’Tis the season for shopping ‘local first’
This week the Capital Area Independent Business Alliance launches its second annual SHOP LOCAL FIRST HOLIDAY SWEEPSTAKES. More than half of the 200-plus businesses that belong to the alliance are participating in the six-week “register to win” campaign. Each week 20 lucky “local first” shoppers will each win more than $75 in gifts and prizes…
vachel lindsay poem #1
today we crossed the lindsay bridgetoday we crossed the lindsay bridgetoday we crossed the lindsay bridgewe were among the firstthe streetlamps are so sleek and blackthe streetlamps are so sleek and blackthe streetlamps are so sleek and blackthey surely must be versedwe thought we ought to tender thanksto those who worked so hardto thus repair…
Controversial detective returns to police work
Paul Carpenter is back on the job at the Springfield Police Department. But a defense attorney familiar with Carpenter’s record questions whether the veteran officer, who was fired then reinstated with back pay pursuant to an arbitrator’s order issued in August, can be an effective cop. “I think it would be very difficult for him,”…
How did Jade and her baby die?
Karen Fitzgerald, a freelance writer living in Pleasant Plains, made substantial contributions to this report. Jade Ostermeier was barely grown up – a hippie at heart, she wrote on her Facebook page: Im a pretty out there kinda girl.Taking life as it comes.Music gets me through the day.Im 17 Marc Fagan, Ostermeier’s boyfriend, was wild…
From Rhodes to Fulks
We students of the area music scene often talk around town of the wonderful dilemma actually occurring in Springfield. This strange quandary forces live music goers to make a distinct and difficult choice in entertainment opportunities. This Friday is one of those evenings. Sonny Rhodes, the legendary and longtime Texas bluesman, stops by the Knights…
The disuniting of America
In the Bible, Paul doesn’t say that money is the root of all evil – rather, it is the love of money that he warns against. In recent years, the insidious love of mammon (in the form of greed and excess) has not merely been tolerated in our country, but celebrated and even exalted into…
Murphy and crew deliver in Tower Heist
The caper movie is one of Hollywood’s most durable genres. If done right, it provides audiences with not only thrills but a vicarious rush as we witness a group of mismatched crooks connive their way to instant riches. The best in recent years, Ocean’s Eleven, The Italian Job and Inception among them, have employed elaborate…
Contemporary interpretations
Best Christmas music artist of all time with 27 million albums sold, platinum-selling Mannheim Steamroller opens up the holiday season in Springfield with a November concert at Sangamon Auditorium, UIS. The concert features multimedia images and synchronized lighting and special effects in harmony with the enchanting contemporary and classic sounds that Mannheim Steamroller by Chip…
Cool dish, no ice cream maker required
Growing up in the Midwest, there wasn’t a holiday that didn’t get a little merrier courtesy of a scoop of homemade ice cream. Aside from the Cool Whip-topped pumpkin variety, there wasn’t a pie baked in the twelve-month cycle that didn’t receive the hand-cranked a la mode treatment. Christmas was no exception. Sure, 12 inches…
Giving back
Here’s something you can do to show your support for veterans this year on Veterans Day, Nov. 11. Fifth Street Renaissance is holding a collection at the construction site of their new shelter. The 16-bed facility will offer transitional, independent living for homeless and disabled veterans. The center needs items that anyone would need to…
Mushroom-farro tart
This tart is sophisticated and gorgeous – a perfect substitute for vegetarians at Thanksgiving tables who’ll eschew dressings made with sausage, oysters, etc.; and/or stuffed inside the turkey. And it’s so delicious it’ll seduce the most outspoken non-vegetarians. Farro and spelt are ancient grains related to wheat. Spelt is available at Food Fantasies and in…
Pumpkin mac and cheese
Originally from the famed Nashville, Tenn., Loveless Café, this decadent mac and cheese recipe has evolved through several adaptations. The pumpkin doesn’t overwhelm the cheeses; rather it adds a slightly sweet mellowness that may have you wondering if you’ll ever be satisfied with regular mac and cheese again. Though I generally eschew processed cheese products…
Thanksgiving is for vegetarians, too
There’s no other holiday so intimately connected with a single food as Thanksgiving. That food is turkey. It’s estimated that more than 49 million turkeys will be on Thanksgiving tables this year. But what about vegetarians, especially when they’re celebrating the holiday with omnivores like me? Since they usually can’t make it home for a…
Six stress-free tips for holiday entertaining
1. Stock a ’Holiday Party Pantry’Find a place in your home (a cupboard, closet, or a few shelves) where you can collect basic elements to help you pull together a great celebration, even at the last minute. Think platters and large serving bowls for a start, often on sale before the season. Then add colorful…
Letters to the Editor 11/10/11
FAREWELL TROUT LILY I would like to add my voice to those who are bidding a sad farewell to the Trout Lily Cafe. I know of no other place that has served the community the way this unique cafe has. It provided us with so much more than food and drink. It was a gathering…
City plans to test gravel pits
For years, debate has raged about whether gravel pits near Riverton contain enough water to see Springfield through a drought. Now, hydrological testing might settle the question. Mayor Mike Houston has asked the city council to approve $287,500 for testing to determine the potential for the city-owned gravel pit, which includes a lake of more…
Coroner’s office switches pathologists amid accusations of politics
Sangamon County coroner Cinda Edwards says politics have nothing to do with her decision to stop using Dr. John Ralston to conduct autopsies. But Ralston and others aren’t so sure, given that the doctor’s wife may run for coroner in next year’s election. Ralston says he found out that Edwards will no longer use him…
Three strikes and you’re in
I have no idea what the American Dream means to the 63 persons from 25 nations who were welcomed into the fraternity of the free and the brave in October ceremonies at the Old Capitol. In my version of it, it means being able to order affordable restaurant dishes from south of the border whose…
HY-VEE LOVE FEST
No one is predicting pitchforks and torches at a neighborhood meeting called by Hy-Vee to explain the Iowa-based company’s proposal for a supermarket at the site of the vacant Kmart building on MacArthur Boulevard. “I don’t recall that I’ve heard any complaints about the project,” said Paul O’Shea, planning and design coordinator for the city…
Bobby Conn
Based out of Chicago, Bobby Conn considers music to be a vehicle for entertainment and puts on a wild and woolly show to prove it. Along with this valuable contribution to stage antics, he backs it up with really, really good music. Accompanied by his wife, the lovely and talented Monica BouBou and an incredibly…
Acorn-planting day at Lincoln Memorial Garden
“The creation of a thousand forests is in one acorn.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson If one acorn can create a thousand forests, Springfield’s Harriet Knudson had enough acorns in 1936 for a million forests. “There were so many that I had to put them out on the back porch. There wasn’t room for them in…
Another big company threatens to leave
In an exclusive interview last week, CME Group Executive Chairman Terry Duffy said he’s more than ready to leave Illinois if he doesn’t get what he believes is a “fair” tax deal from the General Assembly. The company owns the Chicago Board of Trade and several other firms. It’s a very big wheel in this…
Colorful musical
Elizabeth Eckert and Matthew Vala (pictured) take the lead in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat during six performances at the Hoogland Center for the Arts. The popular Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice musical is based on the biblical story of Joseph and his multi-colored coat. The production features a multitude of musical genres from…
Harold and Kumar 3 a ribald Christmas gift
You know what you’re getting where a Harold and Kumar movie is concerned. There’ll be drug jokes, sex gags, gratuitous nudity, Neil Patrick Harris lampooning his image and undeniable chemistry between the series’ two stars, John Cho and Kal Penn. Obviously, these films are pitched towards teens and young adults, who salvaged these characters from…
The Pharmacy offers a unique prescription for local art
“We want this to be a nice opening like you’d find in New York or up in Chicago,” enthuses local artist Andrew Woolbright, describing the debut exhibit this Friday (11.11.11) of The Pharmacy, a collective studio and gallery for Springfield artists. “Café Andiamo is going to cater the entire event, and there’s going to be…
