The nominees for the Oscar for Best Animated Short are (clockwise from upper left) “Bear Story,” “We Can’t Live without Cosmos,” “World of Tomorrow,” “Prologue,” and “Sanjay’s Super Team.” For the last ten years, the Oscar Nominated Short Films have been packaged and released to select theaters around the country. What began as an experiment […]
Illinois Times
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Music goings on
Melanie Delaney comes from Iowa way to play George Ranks on Sun., from 7 to 10 p.m. In the new record category, folk-based singer-songwriter Ben Bedford launched a Kickstarter project last week to fund his latest recording. The album, The Pilot and the Flying Machine, was recorded live in early January in the sanctuary of […]
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Fun DMC
Take the cover band concept of playing popular songs and combine it with a DJ-style song mashup to make an “oddly entertaining blend of musical alchemy”, and there you have the design behind Fun DMC. Combined artists include Journey and Metallica, Nelly and The Bee Gees, Run-D.M.C. and Avril Lavigne, Usher and Michael Jackson, LMFAO […]
Posted inArts & Culture
A children’s reggae musical
Three Little Birds is a modern-day fairytale for children ages four and up about the zany adventures of shy, 11-year-old Ziggy. The production is based on a children’s story of the same name penned by Cedella Marley, the first-born daughter of reggae artists Bob and Rita Marley. According to Cedella, “‘Three Little Birds’ is one […]
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Abraham Lincoln and the Todd women
The public is invited to commemorate the birth of Abraham Lincoln by attending the Eighth Annual Lincoln Lecture on Friday, Feb. 12, at 9 a.m. in the Trutter Center at Lincoln Land Community College. This year’s lecture, entitled “Abraham Lincoln and the Todd Women of Aristocracy Hill” will be presented by historian Erika Holst. Erika […]
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Coens’ Caesar gently skewers Hollywood
Josh Brolin as Eddie Mannix in Hail, Caesar. PHOTO COURTESY UNIVERSAL PICTURES The great thing about the Coen brothers’ films is that they not only entertain but challenge their audience, something wholly unique and altogether welcome where today’s American movies are concerned. Their latest, Hail, Caesar, is a case in point. On the surface it […]
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Americana attack
Hot Club of Cowtown performs for the Bedrock 66 Live! concert series on Sat., Feb. 13 at Casey’s Pub with Burr Oak String Band opening at 8 p.m. As we thaw through a snowy and cold week of February, live music keeps coming on hot and heavy to warm your bones and melt your mind. […]
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Old Smoke Band with Trina Madonia
Coming from nearby Bloomington to celebrate Old Abe’s birthday, Old Smoke Band invited Springfield’s own Trina Madonia to sing some lead and background vocals for the occasion. Starting out in 2013 as a duo called The Armadillo Brothers, the two soon grew into the Americana fivesome of Adam Humphreys (guitar, vocals), Jeremy Myers (guitar, vocals), […]
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A murderous meeting
Join the Lanphier High School Drama Club for a murder mystery involving a gathering of the world’s greatest mystery writers, all attending under aliases of famous authors. A poetry-spouting “Shakespeare” quickly captures the affections of “Shelley”, “Bronte” and “Alcott” but the romance is thwarted when “Poe” reveals a nasty bit of correspondence and authors suddenly […]
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Step into tradition
Start Black History Month off on the right foot and enjoy a spirited dance performance by Step Afrika!, the first professional dance company dedicated to the tradition of stepping. Stepping became popular in the United States in the early 1900s thanks to song-and-dance rituals practiced by African-American fraternities and sororities. Stepping is performed widely today […]
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Taxi Tehran
The fourth film in the 25th Annual Molly Schlich Film Series is 2015’s Taxi Tehran. When Iranian filmmaker Jafar Panahi is banned from making movies by the Iranian government, he poses as a taxi driver to film a movie about social challenges in Iran. The result is a comedy/drama that captures portraits of everyday people. […]
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Talking to Ry
The Sangamon Auditorium at UIS presents An Evening with Ry Cooder, Sharon White and Ricky Skaggs on Sunday, Jan. 31 at 7 p.m. Off we dash through the end of January, heading pell-mell into February like nobody’s business. Look out world; here comes the music, and there’s not a thing you need to do but […]
