Visitors and residents hungry for good music and good food in Springfield are sure to find some of both this weekend at the 11th annual Taste of Downtown. The popular event is presented this year in conjunction with the Sangamon Valley Roots Revival/Miller Lite Live American Music Show on Saturday, July 10. Springfield boasts more […]
Culture
Posted inArts & Culture
Steal these ideas
“To this place, and the kindness of these people, I owe everything.” Abraham Lincoln uttered those words in his famous farewell speech to Springfield almost 150 years ago. Since then, Springfield has undergone numerous transformations, riding the tide of change while retaining the pioneer spirit that settled this area in 1818. As the 21st century […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Hero of Hotel Rwanda campaigns for truth about genocide
Just when we thought Rwanda had reinvented itself into a genuine success story in Africa, and that Rwandan president Paul Kagame had become a star of international leadership, along comes the hero of Hotel Rwanda to tell us it isn’t necessarily so. Paul Rusesabagina, portrayed in the 2004 film Hotel Rwanda by actor Don Cheadle, […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Dancing without the stars
It’s chilly in the packed parking lot of the Eagles Club on Springfield’s far east side. But inside the club’s cavernous concrete ballroom more than 100 novice dancers are shedding sweaters and mopping their brows. “Tee, ay—n-g-o! Tee, ay—n-g-o!” barks Pat Lyttaker as she leads a multigenerational crowd through the basic steps of the tango. […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Tourist town
Illinois Bureau of Tourism Deputy Director Jan Kostner refuses to dwell on the poor economy and its effect on tourism. In mid-February, as she delivered the annual State of the State of Tourism Address to more than 500 tourism professionals at the Illinois Governor’s Conference on Tourism, Kostner instead infused confidence into the state’s $2 […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Behind the scenes at Shen Yun, a controversial practice: Falun Gong
Promotional flyers for Shen Yun — a multimillion-dollar stage production set for Feb. 9 at Sangamon Auditorium — are lavish, four-color photo montages of elaborately costumed dancers, whirling banners and glowing quotes from reviewers. But way down at the bottom of the back page, in tiny type, is the name of one of the show’s […]
Posted inArts & Culture
College sowing seeds for a local slam poetry movement
Local youths may be familiar with the confrontation and spectacle of mainstream hip hop, where the words flow effortlessly with messages of violence, money and sex. Less familiar is a close cousin, slam poetry, which also has smooth lyrical moves, but uses them to deliver appeals to social justice, racial understanding and cultural identity. There […]
Posted inOpinion
CROSSING LINES HITS SPRINGFIELD
Last May we introduced readers to Indira Somani, a Springfield native who co-produced Crossing Lines, an award-winning film that looks at Somani’s life as a second-generation Indian and how she connected to her roots after her father’s death [see “Crossing Lines, the documentary,” May 27, 2009]. At 7 p.m. Oct. 15, Crossing Lines makes its […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Vote for the BESTS OF SPRINGFIELD
Thanks to the 1700 who’ve already voted in the BEST OF SPRINGFIELD 2009 poll. The online voting remains open until midnight, Wednesday September 30 … but there’s no time like the present to let your voice be heard. (The paper ballot in the paper must be received in our office by close of business on […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Urbana’s grand stage
Mike Ross, director of Urbana’s Krannert Centerfor the Performing Arts, is hard-pressed to name his favorite place to be inside the University of Illinois’ celebrated arts space. Ross could pluck Foellinger Great Hall from the list, the center’s largest performing space. He could choose the lobby, home to the opening performances of the biennial guitar […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Adults invade Facebook
I had seven e-mails from an older gentleman who is the president of a highly respected nonprofit asking me to become his friend on Facebook. It was so unnerving I joined Facebook just to make the e-mails stop. Facebook is no longer hip since CEOs, everybody’s mother and geezers started signing on. Adults have invaded […]
Posted inArts & Culture
To Japan and back
Untitled Document One need only look at the roof of the Dana-Thomas House, with its upturned corners, to see Japan’s influence on architect Frank Lloyd Wright. “Even though [Wright] hadn’t been in Japan, he was already very aware and had been studying Japanese architecture for about 10 years before he built the Dana-Thomas House,” says […]
