SPlog

Stories & Beer | Mike ‘n’ Molly’s | Saturday | 4:30 p.m.(ish) | FREE Well golly, folks. It looks like it might be time for some more stories (okay, some poems too) and some more …

From the press release: City of Urbana Public Arts Program Announces 2013 Art at the Market workshops and performances at Urbana’s Market at the Square The City of Urbana Public Arts Program is pleased to …

Krannert Center for the Performing Arts presents Reduced Shakespeare Company: The Complete World of Sports (abridged) this Saturday, April 27, at 7:30 p.m.  Let the games begin! The self-proclaimed “bad boys of abridgement” are back …

The Art Theatre has launched their new website, found at the address of www.arttheater.coop. Change those bookmarks, folks, because their previous site has a different address. 2013 is the year of the website face lift. Congrats …

For those of you who love Stanley Kubrick’s brilliant film The Shining (and if you don’t, WTF?), you have just cause to celebrate this weekend at the Art. The mind-bending documentary Room 237, an examination …

Per this Facebook post last night, it appears as if local indie rock outfit Evil Tents are hanging it up. Here’s what frontman John Isberg posted: it’s been fun everyone, I hope you guys keep …

Buzzfeed picked up video footage of Tilda Swinton awesomely dancing around the Virginia Theatre with Ebertfest attendees last week. If you haven’t watched it already, I really dare you to attempt to without grinning from …

It hasn’t even been two years since I initially wrote about how damned good Maize is, a then new Mexican restaurant at the corner of First and Green. In that time, Armando and his crew …

Benefit Concert | April 28 | 8–11 p.m. | Canopy Club  Come hear great music and raise awareness and funds for the Mali Water Project! Support the cause of providing access to clean water for …

The final noon day concert will be held this Thursday at Chapel of St. John the Divine. Jonathan Young will be playing the final recital of the Noonday Organ Recital Series on Thursday. He will …

Come celebrate the release of Ezra’s House, Kate Fritz’s debut album of original and traditional music for fiddle, banjo, and guitar. Ezra’s House captures Kate’s journey of the last two years making music in Urbana, …

Must have been some last-minute planning for the organizers of Union Fest to announce the artists performing this year, but they finally did so yesterday. The show is set to take place Friday at the …

The Illinois Marathon will run through Champaign, Urbana, and Campustown beginning Friday night with the 5k. Saturday morning is the 10k, half marathon, and marathon. This event will affect traffic beginning on Thursday afternoon and …

WHAT CHINA ISN’T A Discussion of Diversity in an Outwardly-perceived Homogenous Country Parkland College in conjunction with the Center for East Asian and Pacific Studies will be presenting a forum on diversity in China on …

From the press release: Rabbi Rogerio Cukierman, Executive Director of the UIUC Hillel/Cohen Center, will discuss the role of prayer in activism, exploring the process of praying to be shocked and to deepen our thoughts …

Talk by Father Hilary Muheezangango, Executive Director COVE Alliance Fr. Hilary Muheezangango will give a presentation, “Peace and Education: The Way to a Transformed Community,” on Thursday, April 25, 7:00–8:00 p.m. with a reception at …

Each week at Smile Politely, we’ll be posting the Market Monday Menu at bacaro for all to see. This week looks particularly delicious and is six courses deep. Spring pea soup, crispy cauliflower, Valgiano EVOO …

On July 1, WILL-AM 580 will begin airing a midday news program, Here & Now, co-hosted by Champaign-Urbana native Jeremy Hobson, as it becomes NPR’s replacement for Talk of the Nation, which is ending production. …

From the press release: What: University YMCA’s Dump & Run environmental recycling program and annual garage sale. Who: University YMCA at the University of Illinois and International Student and Scholar Services. Where: May collections are …

A new Urbana coffee shop, Flying Machine Coffee, is looking to get off the ground. They’ve launched an Indiegogo campaign, where they’re looking to raise $6,000 to get this thing going. Here’s the description from …

Your local Boy Scouts council can vote to end the organization’s ban on gay scouts. We need 25,000 people to speak up for inclusion and equality in the next seven days. Tell your local BSA …

On Saturday, April 27, The Virginia Theatre will host Clements Comedy Cafe. On today’s episode, we’ll speak with Tony Clements and Champaign Park District Marketing & Development Director Laura Auteberry about this year’s event and …

Champaign Cycle will host the 4th Annual Community Used Bike Sale to benefit Habitat for Humanity of Champaign County, May 4, 10:00 a.m.–5:00 p.m. and May 5, 12 noon–4:00 p.m. 506 S. Country Fair Drive, …

From the press release: The 34th annual Take Back the Night march and rally to end sexual violence will be tonight, Thursday, April 18. Take Back the Night is an event aimed at raising awareness …

Central High School Children’s Theater will present Into The Woods April 17–20 at 7:00 p.m. and at 2:30 p.m. on April 21 in the Decker Theater. The cost is $5 for children 10 and under, $7 for students, …

Jane E. Brody, personal health columnist for the New York Times, will be speaking at the Beckman Institute Auditorium at 6 p.m. on Monday, April 29, as the keynote for a symposium sponsored by the …

Come out and support some good old-fashioned local theatre and see some young performers shine as Urbana Middle School and Broadway on Vine present an exciting production of Once Upon a Mattress. In this production, …

The Christie Clinic Illinois Marathon announced today that additional registrations will be accepted today. Here is your last chance to sign up. They write on the event website: Additional registrations available At 5:00 p.m. on …

From the press release: The City of Urbana’s Market at the Square is pleased to announce that its 2013 season will get underway Saturday, May 4, at 7 a.m. The Market, which is located at …

This Thursday’s Noonday Organ Recital at the Chapel will feature organist Michael Keeley. He will be performing three interesting and ambitious selections. He will begin with Dismas Variations (1980) by McNeil Robinson (b. 1943). This …

Urbana High School Theatre is set to present HONK!, a musical comedy version of the classic story of The Ugly Duckling. The show will be performed in the UHS Cobb Auditorium May 1 through 4 …

Fox News in St. Louis, where Schnucks Markets is based, reports that credit and debit card information was hacked in 79 of the grocery chain’s one hundred stores between December and March, including stores in …

A new local WILL-TV special, Ebert Remembered, airing at 8:00 p.m. Thursday, April 18, will highlight excerpts of WILL-TV interviews with Roger Ebert in which he talks about his childhood in Urbana, his experience at …

The 43rd annual Taste of Champaign-Urbana is gearing up for another mouth-watering year and is currently accepting food vendor applications! Taking place June 21–23 at West Side Park, this event draws nearly 35,000 patrons from …

Market Wire has released a list via MySummerCamps.com of the best cities for summer camps in the U.S. (and one non-U.S. city as Toronto sneaks in). Champaign ranks #3, which is pretty astounding considering the …

From the press release: With music by Kurt Weill and book by the famous German playwright Bertolt Brecht, The Threepenny Opera is a revolutionary part of the 20th-century musical theatre genre. Director Tom Mitchell, conductor …

Tonight on Smile Politely Radio, Jeff Brandt, proprietor of Exile on Main Street (and keeper of the vinyl album arts), joins us on the show to talk about one of the most anticipated events of …

There is some serious shit going down around Campustown, and it involves more high-rise apartment complexes going up at the cost of businesses. This is the rendering of a 16-story skyrise apartment complex set to …

From the press release: The City of Urbana invites the public to a special exhibition of traditional Chinese landscape paintings by artist Liu Jungang of the city of Shenzen, Gaungdong Province, China.  Mr. Liu is …

Tonight from 6:00 to 8:30 p.m. at the Hilton Garden Inn, Girl Scouts of Central Illinois presents their 22nd annual Women of Distinction award celebration, honoring outstanding female leaders residing in Champaign, Ford, Iroquois, and …

The Noonday Organ Recital Series at the Chapel of St. John the Divine continue this Thursday with a recital by Kevin chunko.  This Thursday’s  Recital will feature the Prelude and Fuge in a minor, BWV …

The University YMCA announces the opening reception of Art @ the Y’s upcoming exhibit “Forms” works by emerging artists Heather Gode, Jessica Rojas, and Kristina Sandefur, all from the School of Art & Design at …

Well, here we go again. More claims of bad behavior by a C-U official at a public event. And a hearing has been set.

As part of the annual Boneyard Arts Festival, the University of Illinois will hold its first Visiting Writers Reading, featuring students from the PhD in Creative Writing program at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, and special guest Frank …

This Friday, April 12, at The Canopy Club in Urbana we present some of the best comedians in the country! Headlined by national touring comics Collin A. Bullock and Shane Copland, and featuring local comedians …

Acclaimed stand-up comedian Hannibal Buress is performing tomorrow, April 10th at 8 p.m., in the Illini Union. Here’s a short description of Buress and his work from the listing on the IU calendar: Hannibal Buress …

Join musical group Maha Karuna for a celebration of life and spirit through an evening of Kirtan! A devotional chanting practice from the tradition of Bhakti Yoga, Kirtan is a kind of nondenominational ‘call and …

As The Guardian points out, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign has made the “World’s Top 100 Universities 2013” in terms of reputation rankings. Pretty impressive to be listed #24 worldwide on a poll like …