Domhnall Gleeson as Jim Farrell and Saoirse Ronan as Ellis Lacey in Brooklyn. PHOTO COURTESY Fox Searchlight Pictures What a beautiful movie John Crowley has made in Brooklyn, the adaptation of Colm Toibin’s 2009 novel. This loving look back to early 1950’s America and one young Irish girl’s immigrant experience is a gorgeously rendered slice […]
Illinois Times
Posted inMusic
Captain Geech and the Shrimp Shack Shooters
Winners of the Rock Band award in our “Best of Springfield” poll for 2015, this band has steadily won a “Best of” category in music for the last several years. Considered the go-to popular band in central Illinois, there’s no doubt that bandmates J Bird Geech (drums, vocals), Peter Geech (lead vocals, rhythm guitar), Majeeda […]
Posted inOpinion
Rough week for Madigan
PHOTO BY ALAN SOLOMON/TNS “He seems so done with it all,” said one top Republican earlier last week about House Republican Leader Jim Durkin. “He hates this,” said a close Durkin pal not long afterward. The overtime session’s constant battles with the House Democrats and super-strict marching orders from Gov. Bruce Rauner were wearing Durkin […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Terrific triskelion
On Thursday, Nov. 12, from 5:30-7:30pm, join local authors Barb Olson, John Knoepfle and Sandy Baksys as they sign and read short bits from their new books – The Aloe of Evening (poems) by Knoepfle, On the Rez (short stories) by Olson and A Century of Lithuanians in Springfield (history) by Baksys. Held at the […]
Posted inArts & Culture
A classical concerto
This Saturday, relax and enjoy a solo concert by classical guitar virtuoso William Yelverton. His acclaims and accolades are large in scope, including being named a Prize Winner in the Guitar Foundation of America International Competition. His recent recording, Harpsichord Music on Guitar, has earned rave reviews by Guitar Review and Soundboard Magazine. Yelverton is […]
Posted inMusic
Music matters most
Mary and the Immaculate Rejections play a CD release show at Black Sheep Cafe on Sat., Nov. 14. Ah, November comes and I feel the sadness and sorrow in my bones, even with these wonderful, extra sunny days. That normal slowing down of fall combined with the time change just knocked me for a loop. […]
Posted inMusic
Enamel
With Kevin Wasmer (vocals, guitar) and Sam Ganci (drums) as the core of the band’s hard-hitting, melodic sound for several years, the recently recharged Enamel added Nick Beal (bass) and Tyler Landess (lead guitar, vocals) for a first show on Halloween after only five weeks of heavy-duty rehearsals. Nick and Sam are longtime members of […]
Posted inOpinion
How much ‘free speech’ can you buy?
Jim Hightower PHOTO BY LARRY D. MOORE In today’s so-called “democratic” election process, Big Money doesn’t talk, it roars – usually drowning out the people’s voice. Bizarrely, the Supreme Court decreed in its 2010 Citizens United ruling that money is a form of “free speech.” Thus, declared the learned justices, people and corporations are henceforth […]
Posted inOpinion
Prevailing wage debate rooted in ideology
PHOTO BY ALAN SOLOMON/TNS For months now, Gov. Bruce Rauner has said he won’t negotiate a state budget unless his “Turnaround Agenda” demands are met. In the meantime, he has slashed funding for the child care assistance program, homeless services have been decimated, mental health services are going without cash, universities are struggling and even […]
Posted inArts & Culture
flowerpoem #3
flowerpoem #3 the u.s. poet laureatesaid he liked the worddaffodil then recited apoem with that flowerwithin plus a lot of wordsunrelated he must havealso liked those well Ilike hollyhocks – theword and the flowerbut where have allthe hollyhocks goneoh favorite blossomof my childhood thedolly gowns we madethe bumble bees wetrapped inside freedthem anon but now […]
Posted inOpinion
My pick for the next Speaker of the House
Jim Hightower PHOTO BY LARRY D. MOORE If it were under the big top, it would be a hilarious clown show – with pratfalls, wild posturing, tumbling, juggling and a cacophony of comic chaos. But alas, it’s under the Capitol dome, so it’s just the Republican congressional caucus – bumbling, stumbling and crashing into each […]
Posted inOpinion
Republicans ‘winning,’ according to Rauner
PHOTO BY ALAN SOLOMON/TNS Gov. Bruce Rauner took it on the chin for several days in a row this month. The Paul Simon Public Policy Institute’s recent poll of southern Illinoisans showed Rauner’s approval rating absolutely tanking in a region he swept last year. Just 37 percent of voters in 18 southern counties approved of […]
