There it stood, a three-foot-tall Christmas tree marking the entrance to a litter-strewn encampment in a wooded area near a railroad line on Springfield’s north side. The tree was decorated with about a dozen ornaments, with a dirty pink jacket serving as a skirt. A few steps down a hill from the tree was a […]
Springfield IL
Posted inArts & Culture
Tonight: Fare thee well, A. D.
A. D. Carson has been a leading member of Springfield’s literary, educational and musical communities for years. He published the novel Cold in 2011, followed by The City, a book of shorter pieces, this past October. Carson has been writer-in-residence at Benedictine University and an English teacher at Springfield High School. He is also a […]
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Friday at Donnie’s: Springfield Renaissance
This Friday July 5th marks the first of several events under the Springfield Renaissance umbrella. Presented by the not-for-profit Illinois Independent Arts Association, the shows have been created with an eye toward “supporting the young music community through arts and entertainment,” according to IIAA board member Eric Heyen, who hopes that this will be the […]
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Strange sonic rumblings at the Pharmacy (tonight)
I once took two different women to see the same band a month or so apart. It was a group whose music I really enjoyed, but I suppose it would generally be considered difficult– noisy, discordant and exploratory, fusing elements of avant-garde jazz and punk rock in a theatrical way that was as much about […]
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Tonight: Torch Tuesday hosts out-of-town talent
Double A from Madison, WI Torch Tuesday at Bar None continues to expand tonight, presenting three artists from Madison WI. Check out video from DB Cooper, Double A and Michael Medall below and come out later on for the most consistent hip-hop party in town. The show starts at 9PM at Bar None, corner of […]
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Champaign Hip-Hop artist 12K: Mixtape Release Party tonight!
12K Tonight, Champaign-based rapper / producer 12K will hold the release party for his new PSA mixtape as Torch Tuesday continues to diversify and bring in hip-hop artists from all around the region. Listen to his stuff here: Also appearing tonight will be Champaign’s Jay Moses, Woods G from Decatur, and Springfield’s well-loved NovelT. The show […]
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Spring Breakers: Great and Terrible
In The Wizard of Oz (1939), a young farm girl from Kansas wishes for excitement and gets more than she bargained for when a cyclone lands her in Oz, a bizarre alternate reality populated by odd, often hostile creatures. In Spring Breakers, currently playing in Springfield at AMC’s Parkway 8, four young college girls wish for […]
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New Video from Torch Tuesday
Over the past year or so, Torch Tuesday at Bar None has steadily transformed from a rap-oriented open mic night into a varied and exciting place for all elements of hip-hop culture — not just MCs and DJs but poets, visual artists, photographers, fashion designers, and more –to gather and find expression. There’s a lot […]
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Sensorium
In a 1981 case study conducted at the University of Kansas, researchers described the experiences of a woman with the neurological condition called chromesthesia, which caused her to experience sound as a visual color experience as well as an auditory sensation. Chromesthetics describe every sound they hear as triggering a simultaneous visual component. It is […]
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Pharmacy Guest Artist: Heather Brammeier
This is the fourth in a series of posts leading up to this evening’s (Saturday, March 9) group exhibit of work by members of local art collective The Pharmacy. Installation Sketch 1 by Heather Brammeier It’s basically a painting in space, says Heather Brammeier of the installation work she plans to show at tonight’s Pharmacy […]
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Pharmacy Member Artist: Jeff Williams
This is the third in a series of posts leading up to tomorrow’s (March 9) group exhibit of work by members of local art collective The Pharmacy. Last August, I had the privilege of interviewing post-punk musician, artist, bicyclist, Springfield icon and Pharmacy member Jeff Williams for an Illinois Times cover story, which you can […]
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Comedy Tonight!
No Name Comix Illinois, like so many great ideas, came into existence out of necessity. There were no places in Springfield to get stage time, says comedian, founder and First Thursday Comedy Showcase host Derek Bennet. We were having to drive for everything. The other thing was, everywhere we went we saw these really hilarious […]
