SPlog

SiouxGeonz over at Urbana-Champaign Cycling Ventures gives a quick rundown on the startling pair of crashes yesterday between motorists and cyclists: I’m rather afraid that since most people drive, the question will not be “What …

Cynthia over at The Sandwich Life had a great post yesterday with a scan from a vintage C-U ‘zine that included local luminaries of the time picking their favorite musical occurrences from 1982. Here’s a …

I’ve been eating the hell out of some gazpacho lately. It’s a perfect summer soup because it’s meant to be room temperature or cold, and it’s very adaptable for those of you creative chefs out …

From the News-Gazette: A 29-year-old bicyclist has died from injuries he received early Thursday after being hit by a pickup truck in Urbana. Urbana police Lt. Bryant Seraphin said George Weisiger of Urbana was pronounced …

I’m a die hard Beck fan, over on my CD shelf I have over 10 different albums, plus EPs and all sort of other random goodness. I used to say he could fart on a …

U of I President Joseph White sent out an email to all U of I staffers today earlier today detailing the local projects earmarked in the $31 billion capital spending plan approved by Gov. Quinn …

There’s a nice pair of conjoined articles in the News-Gazette this morning, indicating that at least some local officials are considering options for the Safe Haven Tent Community that extend beyond shutting them down completely. …

Jamestown, New York musician Christopher Bell is playing a house show in Urbana tonight at 8 p.m. The venue is known as the Anthill, and it’s located at 107 N. Coler. Here’s the Craigslist announcement. …

Seriously, it’s okay to come right out and say it.. Wilco is not only boring and overrated, but they are basically a bad late-’70s adult contemporary band … right? It’s okay to say you don’t …

Fun fun in the beer garden. Darling Disarm started out the night. Elsinore is playing a couple new songs these days, here is one of them. Ryan Groff gives the crowd an encore by covering …

As I read yesterday’s well-written, detailed, sympathetic article in the News-Gazette entitled “Champaign County no stranger to economic disparity and despair,” by Shelley Smithson and Pam G. Dempsey, I had to double-check my browser to …

You can read Part 1 here to get yourself up to speed. July 6 — Dosey Doe Coffeehouse, Conroe, Texas With our New Orleans pseudo-vacation over with, we made our way to Texas. We had …

Just a heads-up, Mike ‘n Molly’s will be hosting performances by Sangamon, Royce, and Jessica Jolly on Saturday, July 11th.  Hopefully, most of you will be making your way downtown for the day of festivities, …

Ed. note: We’ve been talking about the Safe Haven tent community a lot lately, as Heather Dillon’s excellent three-part series concluded on Tuesday, and she provided a SPlog update on Wednesday. Unfortunately, the powers that …

You can see Secretly Canadian’s Catfish Haven for free at Mike ‘n Molly’s on Tuesday, July 28, courtesy of Smile Politely. The show starts at 8 p.m. in the beer garden. They’re bringing along The …

Good Night and Good Morning are on a two-week tour through the South, and they sent the first of what will hopefully be several dispatches from the road: July 1 — Lemp Neighborhood Arts, St. …

From today’s News Gazette — http://www.news-gazette.com/news/living/2009/07/08/host_of_code_violations_found_at_catholic_worker_house Safe Haven is seeking land to move to, and is asking supporters to reach out to local news media through letters to the editor, opinion pieces, blogging, etc.

Disappointing. Nothing has changed. And now that we have 60 Democrats in the Senate …  there’s no additional “HOPE” that there will be “CHANGE.” Yes indeedy, your new president is not quite sure about this …

Sherry Helfer of Savoy was riding her bicycle yesterday morning on County Road 600N, just west of US 45 south of Tolono, when she was knocked down by a green SUV. The driver of the …

This may interest some of our local bicyclists:

Holiday in Honduras Aspxyiate the dinnerparty inhaling punctuation oncea Clintonalways your beaches areour Smother the referendumnonbinding not unnegativeenough for the contracargo kicker jetset We have waiters generalson the forked payrolls Americas graduates whowork for the …

Yeah — that’s not a typo, or a mistake. Welcome to scoopsville: At Ellnora: The Guitar Festival at Krannert Center, this fall, Kim and Kelley Deal will be joining the Dessner twins (two sets of …

The flier says it all: be there tomorrow, 7/8/09, or miss out on one of the best nights of the summer!

With News-Gazette hosting their first “Tweet Up” at Esquire this Thursday, perhaps we should stage an intervention, or suggest a change in venue for the person in charge of their tweeting? Mistakes happen, but four …

Courtesy of the American Farmer blog: The largest tractor in the world Big Bud arrived in Rantoul, Illinois this week. It’s final destination will be the I & I Historic Farm Days in Penfield, Illinois …

3,000 words in yesterday’s News-Gazette about the life and death of Toto Kaiyewu: http://www.news-gazette.com/news/local/2009/07/05/examining_events_that_led_up_to_toto_kaiyewus_death The article paints a picture of a disturbed young man on the losing end of a struggle with mental illness, basically …

Patriotism took a hit today in C-U. And while something tells us that we’ll all live — bummer for the kids who decorated their bikes to participate.

… including the First National Bank of Danville: http://www.fdic.gov/news/news/press/2009/pr09117.html “The First National Bank of Danville, Danville, Illinois, was closed today by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, which appointed the Federal Deposit Insurance …

What better way to celebrate freedom and independence from our Old World oppressors than by having a few regional brews? Here are the interesting beers on tap this weekend around town: BLIND PIG On tap: …

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Day 1: Monday, June 22 It’s understandable to think us ambitious to try to book six consecutive nights of shows in three Midwestern states with three acoustic acts, but we did it, we’re already half …

He was drunk. He just liked the sign. Here.

These are all kids from the same neighborhood I’m from – Beverly. Uh, Tom Dart. Five foot three, probably like 120 pounds. Little, little runty, pardon my French, motherfucker. Son of a bitch. White guy. …

An e-mail from Greg Boardman reads: To kick off Public Enemies we are planning a great time at Boardman’s! Three to five 1920-1930’s automobiles will be parked curbside in front of the theatre tonight. The …

In 1993, not long after graduating from UIUC, the self-styled “most dangerous man in comics” Hart D. Fisher filmed the impressionistic horror film The Garbage Man in C-U before hightailing it to California. As of …

Fives of people COULD be wrong. 88’s strange attempt to populate a campus bar inside a mausoleum has failed. The bar’s website announced yesterday that they’re closed until further notice. Now, in addition to no …

I’ve been remiss in my Going Slowly updates, and it’s been more than a month since we checked in with Tara and Tyler, who are moseying their way across a good part of the globe …

Prussia will be playing with Ohtis, New Ruins, Junk Culture, and Common Loon at the Canopy Club this Thursday; showtime is 9 p.m. and there’s a $5 cover. “Sometimes Someone Different” by Prussia

Rachel Schiff, classical guitarist, will be appearing at the Indi Go Gallery on July 1st, 2nd and 3rd at 7 p.m and 9 p.m.  Each performance will be approximately 30-40 minutes in length and will …

We see it as [a] pattern of behavior of treating American Indians as second-class citizens, both on this campus and in the community,” said John McKinn, assistant director of American Indian Studies at the UI. …

I have heard from a reasonably reliable source that a contingent of soccer fans will be gathering at the Esquire at 1 p.m. on Sunday afternoon to watch the US play Brazil in the final …

The Brews, Blues, and BBQ Fest is going on Friday night and Saturday in downtown Urbana, so you could stop by Crane Alley for a nightcap following your daycap. If that’s not your thing and …

The fun-loving folks in Man Made Blast caused quite a stir around these parts with their interview a couple of weeks ago, and now that things have settled down, see what you think of “Mountain.” …

A small group of local homeless people have been camping out on a vacant lot adjacent to the Catholic Worker House (317 S. Randolph St.) in Champaign since early June. Since Champaign’s zoning ordinance prohibits …

Jeff Jordan quit the Illini basketball team today. The press release suggests he wants to focus on books. That’s nice and all, but my personal opinion is that Jeff could compete for a starting position …

Tonight at the Iron Post, Pittsburgh’s Weird Paul Rock Band, featuring lo-fi veteran Paul Petroskey, and Champaign-Urbana’s Duke of Uke and His Novelty Orchestra and Paul Kotheimer will converge at 8 p.m. to offer an …