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Late Night Eats
By Gabrielle
Wiegand
It’s 10:30
p.m., you desperately need a break from studying, or maybe
you’re just beginning to study. You need something to fortify
yourself for the hours of cramming ahead, but what’s open?
You can never go wrong by relying
on Denny’s. There are two Denny’s in Springfield; the closest
location to campus is 2905 Stevenson Drive.
 Open
24 hours a day, seven days a week, Denny’s offers classic
burgers and sandwiches, entrees such as T-bone steak, chicken
fingers, country fried steak, and an excellent breakfast menu.
It includes my personal favorite, Eggs Over My Hammy (a ham and
scrambled egg sandwich with Swiss and American cheese on grilled
sourdough), or something even more artery-clogging- the Meat
Lover’s Skillet (diced ham, bacon and sausage over seasoned
country-fried potatoes, topped with shredded Cheddar cheese and
two eggs).
For something a little less
greasy, but still full of baked, wonderful late night goodness,
try Perkins. Located on 3429 Freedom Drive (right off Veterans
Parkway), Perkins is open Sunday-Thursday, 7 a.m.-12 a.m. and 24
hrs. a day Friday and Saturday.
Perkins has full breakfast, lunch
and dinner menus that are served all day long. The bread bowl
salads (BLT chicken breast, chicken Caesar, or chef salad in a
bowl made out of bread) are particularly tasty. Perkins also
boasts an extensive dessert menu, consisting of cheesecake,
chocolate cream éclairs, chocolate walnut brownies, cinnamon
rolls, sticky buns, fudge brownie supremes, ice cream sundaes,
malts and shakes. You can also partake of Perkins’ bakery. It
offers a variety of pies, cookies, and muffins that are
available for take-out.
Similar to Perkins is Bakers
Square, located at 3434 Freedom Drive. Open Sunday-Thursday
from 7 a.m.-11 p.m. and Friday and Saturday until midnight,
Bakers Square has one of the most extensive pie menus I have
ever seen.
With almost 30 different types of
pies, you are sure to find something you will like. They also
have a Frequent Pie-er Club. After you purchase 6 pies the 7th
is free (but seriously, don’t eat the full pie all by yourself,
you’ll get sick… political philosophy can’t be that bad).
Bakers Square has several excellent, down-home entrees like pot
roasts and chicken pot pie. They serve signature pitas and a
honey Dijon chicken focaccia sandwich that is my personal
favorite.
 Steak
‘N Shake is another excellent choice for a midnight meal. The
location closest to campus is at 3184 S. Dirksen Parkway, which
is open 24 hours a day with the exception of Monday when it
closes for cleaning at 10 p.m. You can’t go wrong with an
original steakburger, fries and a strawberry milkshake. They
also have an assortment of melts and entrees.
But my number one pick for a late
night food run would be La Bambas. Located at 1731 S. MacArthur
Blvd., La Bambas is open from 10:30 a.m.-2 a.m. every day. As
the name would suggest, it serves Mexican food and their
specialty is burritos “as big as your head” (ok, maybe not
really as big as a person’s head but they are seriously HUGE).
They also have fabulous nachos, since after all there is nothing
like liquid cheese to satisfy your hunger and simultaneously
motivate you to study. Yum yum.
Illinois Symphony Orchestra opens
season with American Masters
By Brian
Mackey
The Illinois Symphony Orchestra
began its Masterworks Series at Sangamon Auditorium last
Saturday, Sept. 11, 2004. Music Director Karen Lynne Deal led
the orchestra in a solid performance of the work of three
legendary American composers.
The concert began with only 15
musicians on stage. Aaron Copland’s “Fanfare for the Common
Man” is a spare but powerful piece for brass and percussion.
The limited instrumentation leaves musicians more exposed than
usual and demands coordinated precision in phrasing. Though
there were a few attacks that lacked this necessary precision,
it was more than made up for by the clarity and warmth of the
brass tone that is at the heart of the fanfare.
After the Copland work, the
woodwind and string sections joined the brass and percussion on
stage. Deal asked the audience to stand and share a moment of
silence in remembrance of Sept. 11, 2001. The orchestra then
played Luigi Zaninelli’s arrangement of the “Star Spangled
Banner.” It was one of the most beautiful and contemplative
versions of the national anthem I have ever heard.
Then, as the audience took their
seats, piano soloist Sara Davis Buechner took the stage for
George Gershwin’s “Concerto in F.” At times, the relatively
large orchestra threatened to overpower the solo piano, but
those moments were rare. Indeed, the size of the orchestra made
slower, softer passages all the more lush.
Buechner is a nimble and
technically adept pianist. She did a masterful job staying on
top of the complex, shifting syncopation with which Gershwin
torments those who would dare perform his music. The audience
responded to Buechner with a standing ovation.
The concert concluded with
Charles Ives’ “Symphony No. 2.” Ives is less well known than
Copland, Gershwin, and other famous American composers like
Leonard Bernstein and Samuel Barber. His music is also somewhat
less “accessible.” In this era of declining orchestra
attendance, adventurous programming deserves recognition.
Ives composed most of his pieces
in the decades around the turn of the 20th century, but did not
hear them performed for more than 40 years. Musically, he was a
man ahead of his time. Ives thinks nothing of changing musical
form and era at the drop of a hat. One moment you think you
might be listening to a Sousa march; four notes later, it sounds
more like the impressionist work of Debussy.
With imagination, one can also
regard Ives’ work as a precursor to the sampling that has become
a staple of popular music. In this piece, Ives quotes
extensively from American folk tunes, jumping from his own
melody to a few notes of “America the Beautiful” and “Camptown
Races.” The numerous soloists in this work all hit their marks;
their performances made Ives’ “Symphony No. 2” the highlight of
the concert.
***
There was one sour note at an
otherwise wonderful event: before the concert, while people were
still finding their seats, the ISO projected a 15-minute
infomercial on an upcoming fundraiser. Artists described
painted violins that are to be auctioned to benefit ISO
children’s programs.
The cause is worthy, but
forcing the film on patrons in the auditorium before the concert
was an idea whose time should never have come. Some of us,
perhaps naively, regard performance spaces as sacrosanct.
Fifteen minutes of commercials may be standard practice before
movies but the quiet time preceding the symphony should remain
just that. Leave the commercials in the lobby.
Joel Feldman exhibit brings
woodcut art to campus
By Gabrielle
Wiegand
The opening
event of the UIS Visual Arts Gallery fall season is “Joel
Feldman: Woodcuts 1985-2003.” Feldman does a range of
different kinds of art; however, he is best known for his
woodcutting. This type of art is done by carving an image on a
quarter inch piece of plywood then making a print of the
etching. According to Feldman, woodcutting is a very basic type
of art-making with roots in playing card manufacturing in the
old West. Feldman’s work is all hand-printed and manually cut.
“You as the viewer can make what you will of it,” he said.
According to Feldman, printmaking has a long history of social
commentary, and his work is no exception. He is particularly
interested in the misuse of power.
Feldman,
“starts with a political or social intent but (he) allows the
work to go where it will.” In his art, Feldman frequently uses
animals instead of humans because of their “flexibility.” He
says it stretches the viewer’s imagination. “My work is a
smorgasbord in which you can start with dessert and order the
meal in any order you want,” said Feldman.
There
are nine of Feldman’s works on display in the gallery. The most
recent is entitled “Origins of Democracy” and was completed in
2003. Feldman said it is a “visual smorgasbord the viewer can
play with.” This print, like all of Feldman’s work, allows for
multiple interpretations by the viewer.
There
are also two works from Feldman’s woodcutting series on Aesop’s
fables. The first is entitled “Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing” and
was done in 1993. The second is “Wolf and Crane” and was
completed in 1995. Both carvings are so elaborate and detailed
that the animals practically jump off the print at the viewer.
“A
Journey in Six Parts” is a series of prints that Feldman
collaborated with paper maker Rick Hungerford on. The hand-made
paper was cut and sent to Feldman by Hungerford with coloring
already on the page. Feldman enhanced the existing images while
adding his one with his carvings.
 This
exhibit might help to rekindle interest in printmaking at UIS.
Feldman was invited to look at the art department’s printmaking
equipment, which is no longer in use. He said he was
“pleasantly surprised to see what good equipment UIS has in
(our) printmaking facilities.” In his opinion, “UIS is equipped
to do virtually anything (we) want with the exception of very
large prints.” Mike Miller, assistant professor of drawing and
painting, said UIS hopes to offer a printmaking class in the
Spring 2005 semester.
Feldman
is currently a professor at Southern Illinois University’s
school of art and design. He has received a Visual Arts
Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts as well as
two Artist Grants from the Illinois Arts Council. Several
institutions such as the Brooklyn Museum and the Portland Art
Museum display Feldman’s work.
His
exhibit went on display at the UIS gallery September 1 and will
remain through September 30. .
The
Visual Arts Gallery is located in the UIS Health and Sciences
Building, Room 201 and is open Monday-Thursday from 11 a.m. to 6
p.m.
The British Are Coming
By Brian
Mackey
The rear-guard of the British
Invasion is coming to Springfield. Teen-idol Davy Jones,
formerly of the mid ‘60s rock group and television series “The
Monkees,” will perform this Saturday night at Sangamon
Auditorium.
 The
Monkees hits included “I’m a Believer,” “(I’m Not Your) Steppin’
Stone,” “Daydream Believer,” “Last Train to Clarksville,” and
“Pleasant Valley Sunday.”
Originally airing on NBC between 1966 and 1968, “The Monkees”
television series featured Jones, Micky Dolenz, Michael Nesmith
and Peter Tork as a band trying to get along in L.A. A comedy
with musical interludes, the show actually warrants a rare,
appropriate use of the adjective “madcap.”
At the time, some critics derided The Monkees as being a
made-for-TV derivative of The Beatles. While it is hard to
imagine how any quartet of British men could escape that
comparison in the mid ‘60s, the Monkees may have been ahead
of their time.
They were assembled by television casting directors. In that
sense, The Monkees may have been the first boy band. Fifteen
years before the launch of MTV, the show also featured music
videos, often only tangentially related to the plot of an
episode.
Trained in improvisational comedy and musicianship before
beginning filming on the series (Nesmith and Tork were already
professional musicians), The Monkees sang all of their own
parts. While they were initially disappointed at not being
allowed to play instruments, the situation changed by their
third album.
The Monkees recorded over a dozen albums, but not always with
the original four members. The most recent album featuring the
full quartet is “Justus,” from 1996. The band has seen personnel
come and go. For a while, it was just Micky Dolenz, though
reunion tours have brought all four members together.
Jones was an actor before the creation of The Monkees; his roles
included The Artful Dodger in “Oliver!” and Jesus Christ in “Godspell.”
He also continues to train and ride racehorses, winning his
first race—as a jockey—in 1996.
The performance is at Sangamon Auditorium on Saturday, Sept. 19,
and will begin at 8:00 p.m. Tickets range from $30 to $45. For
more information, contact the Sangamon Auditorium Box Office at
217-206-6160 or www.sangamonauditorium.org.
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