PHOTO COURTESY SANGAMON VALLEY COLLECTION It was the lodestone of my childhood summers. The Illinois State Fair was something I looked forward to almost as soon as the previous year’s fair ended. But after our annual Fourth of July picnic, I could think of little else, planning for it carefully as the fair inched closer […]
Peoria
Posted inNews
Shell game
A Texas-based energy company wants to take over several coal plants in Illinois, but environmental groups claim the company is planning to skip pollution controls and use a shell company to avoid taking on any risk. Dynegy Inc. of Houston, Texas, is planning to acquire five coal plants in central and southern Illinois from Ameren […]
Posted inMusic
Hip-hop heroes
I must admit to being rather ignorant of rap and hip-hop music styles. I’ve heard certain artists and felt the influence of the genre in contemporary music, but overall I’ve not listened deep into the catalogue of this fairly new variety of music. All through the history of popular music the improvisation and musicality of […]
Posted inMusic
Dizolver
The music tandem team of Mark Packenham (bass, backing vocals) and Zac Broaddus (lead guitar, backing vocals) began working together in 2000, spanning a myriad of bands in their journey through the Springfield rock music scene. Pat Pierceall (drums, backing vocals) joined the guys in 2006 in an original group called Digdowndeep, and with a […]
Posted inMusic
Suit & Tie Guy
This mysterious character lives in Chillicothe, Ill. quietly plotting intricate and intense electronic music while blithely being behind the mask of the ubiquitous suit and tie. Along with his personal recorded output (Sacred Earth 2012 is the latest on 1320 Records), Suit & Tie Guy also records other bands (Black Magic Johnson for one) and […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Stories, song, supper
“Heroes of the Civil War” is the theme of this year’s Prairieland Chautauqua, a four-day fest of stories, songs and suppers under the big tent in Jacksonville Community Park. Organizers are bringing in talent from Illinois, New York and Ohio to portray famous men and women of the Civil War, and others who will discuss […]
Posted inNews
Paper and perks, top issues for city clerk candidates
Democrat Frank Kunz, 3rd Ward alderman and candidate for mayor of Springfield, says “everything just moves quicker” at the city clerk’s office since Cecilia Tumulty took the helm in 2003. Kunz began his career as alderman in 1999, the same year as Tumulty. He says she has made information a lot easier to come by […]
Posted inNews
Parking war
Parking in Springfield is cheap. Visitors from Chicago sometimes joke that it’s cheaper to get a parking ticket here than to simply pay the meter in their city. But that could change with a proposed ordinance under consideration by the city council. On Jan. 25, the council considered a measure to double Springfield’s fine for […]
