Springfield joins global action for climate change
Glaciers that provide drinking water for hundreds of millions of people are disappearing more rapidly than originally predicted. According to the United Nations, 325 million people are already affected by drought, disease, floods, loss of livestock, decline of fish stock and loss of agricultural productivity. Ninety-eight per cent of the people who will be most…
Online IT, open mics and other stuff
Next week the Best of Springfield issue hits the streets and as always is highly anticipated, especially among the entertainment field participants. Let’s just remember we’re all winners here, but then again, it sure is nice to be number one. But I brought up that popular part of Illinois Times to mention a shining new…
Halloween join-along
Bring the kids in costume for this interactive, thrilling music and story concert with multi-award-winning artist, Dave Rudolf. Your goblins could be dancing on stage with Dave to “The Frankenstein Dance,” “The Ghoul Limbo,” or the “Monster Mash” as bubbles brew. Spooktacular’s sound effects, ghouls, and fun peaks at rated-g scary. Dave Rudolf’s Halloween Spooktacular…
Passionate, precise sound
Granddaughter of legendary Maria and Baron von Trapp, whose story inspired The Sound of Music, von Trapp’s online biography states it best. “No one leaves an Elisabeth von Trapp performance unchanged…audiences of all ages are drawn by the promise of her famous name…awed by the beauty of her voice and musical arrangements…their hearts touched forever…
Ashland employee sues village
He says he was smacked in the head, handcuffed to objects and left there, and his pants were pulled down in public. The alleged culprits? His boss and the local police chief. Dale Naylor, a former employee of Ashland’s public works department, leveled allegations of discrimination against his former employer in federal court in August…
Conservation Congress
After a five-year hiatus, the Illinois Department of Natural Resources will reconvene its Conservation Congress, a two-day conference that brings conservationists and recreation advocates together to discuss future opportunities for the agency and for the state. This weekend, on Oct. 24 and 25, anyone with a stake in conservation and recreation — from preservationists and…
BLAZING A NEW TRAIL
The Springfield Bicycle Club and the Springfield Park District will team up this weekend to celebrate the grand reopening of the Interurban Trail. The trail, a seven-mile asphalt trail that runs from the intersection of Wabash Avenue and MacArthur Boulevard in Springfield to Chatham, was rerouted and temporarily closed in some sections during construction on…
Capitol coal plant exceeds pollution limits
The state Capitol’s steam plant exceeded limits on some pollutants in 2007 from its coal-burning boilers, and it may still be polluting too much. Located on Klein Street north of the Capitol, the Capitol Complex Power Plant burns coal, oil and natural gas to heat and cool the Capitol complex. Despite its name, it does…
Censored!
Peter Phillips, director of Project Censored for 13 years, says he’s finished with reform. It’s impossible, he said in a recent interview, to try to get major news media outlets to deliver news stories that strengthen democracy. “I really think we’re beyond reforming corporate media,” said Phillips, a professor of sociology at Sonoma State University and…
MOVE OVER ABE
“Beatle Bob” Bartel doesn’t like to be called a fanatic. However, the Springfield resident does like adding to the extensive collection of Beatles memorabilia he and his wife Janice have amassed – around 5,000 pieces, he estimates. But the Bartels say they would like to do more with their artifacts.They are planning a museum dedicated…
Free cell phones and service
As many as 20,370 low-income households in Sangamon County could qualify for a free cell phone and 60 minutes of free monthly talk-time, according to a spokesperson with TracFone Wireless, Inc., a national prepaid cell phone provider. Jose Fuentes, TracFone’s director of government relations, announced earlier this month that the company would add Illinois to…
Spooky tours
Springfield Art Association opens the Edwards Place Home’s stately doors Thursday evening to offer nighttime guided tours to families. The old mansion’s 15 rooms full of Victorian furniture and history come to life with friendly ghosts and other surprises. Tours begin each half hour. The SAA has an artsy photo booth and children’s activities planned…
UIS, the educational city
I complained here recently that the University of Illinois at Springfield’s recently adopted master plan will make the future UIS campus the kind of sprawly, inchoate, inefficient place that alert urban planners everywhere are abandoning. (“Stuck in the ’70s.” Sept. 3). How backward-looking, I wrote. In fact, this vision of the future UIS is not…
Cranberry sherbet
After my husband’s mother died the year after we were married, he said he’d like to find or make cranberry sorbet, something she’d always made for Thanksgiving. It had always been one of Peter’s favorite parts of the meal, but now it would also be a way of remembering her. In those pre-Internet days, we…
Letters to the Editor 10/22/09
BEST STRIP “The idea of Obama,” in This Modern World by Tom Tomorrow [IT, Oct. 15] is not only the best strip of the year, it’s also the best political commentary of the year as well! I catch heat on Facebook, Myspace Blog, etc., because people still believe the idea of Obama and the actual Obama…
Hoffman in the hunt; Dillard gets a bounce
Underdog Democratic U.S. Senate candidate David Hoffman has a new poll which purports to show that he’s in the hunt, but the camp of Democratic primary rival Alexi Giannoulias says there’s no way the poll is accurate. Hoffman’s survey of 505 likely Democratic primary voters was conducted Oct. 2-4 by Hart Research Associates. The initial…
Believe the hype: Paranormal a true bone-rattler
Bearing the Steven Spielberg stamp of approval and the most effective viral ad campaign since The Blair Witch Project, the $15,000 independent horror feature Paranormal Activity, comes bearing the onus of huge expectations. Against all odds, this effective, economical flick lives up to expectations, delivering old-fashioned shocks, the sort that the usual gore-filled slasher flick…
Ragged Jack
Lyman Ellerman, a Riverton area native, moved to Nashville, Tenn., several years ago to pursue songwriting as a career. Though the persistent and vibrant songster has yet to score a major cut, the intense workout of songwriting on a daily basis honed his already sharp composing skills and increased his song output immensely. A natural…
Obama must get going on jobs
Five days before taking the oath of office, Barack Obama called on the millions of people who had actively campaigned for him to be the engine for real change in America: “I don’t want them to just sit around and wait for me to do something. I want them to be pushing their agendas.” He…
Odd pacing nearly trips up Wild Things
Director Spike Jonze knows he’s treading on sacred ground with his big-screen version of Maurice Sendak’s children’s classic, Where the Wild Things Are. This seminal tale is a favorite of children, ages 4 to 90. While the book itself is slight, its theme of hanging on to your youthful imagination is one that resonates with…
Wild and wacky
This rock musical about a Transylvanian transvestite and a naive couple ensnared in his erotically evil web bore the cult classic movie. Some of the same interactive features scintillate this stage production. The Rocky Horror Show-themed costumes are encouraged. Though outside props are prohibited to protect the theater, prop bags will be available for $5.…
