GREG MILLS IS BILLY FALCONBERGER, Second City E.T.C. It’s not surprising that Greg Mills’s one-man show has three subtitles, all of them tired imitations of Second City’s threadbare tradition of pun-filled names: “Quarter Pounder With Jesus or Leggo My Ego or Sacre Bleu Balls.” The one thing you leave Mills’s show knowing for sure is […]
Tag: Vol. 30 No. 35
Issue of May. 31 – Jun. 6, 2001
Posted inArts & Culture
Ray Brookhouse’s McHenry, Illinois
McHenry, Illinois A former resort destination on the Fox River, McHenry used to be referred to as the “superboonies” on Chicago TV (often reporting snowmobile accidents or tornadoes). These days it’s a hodgepodge of farms, industrial parks, and subdivisions. You’ll know you’ve arrived when the Chicago radio stations start to fizzle out and you see […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Neil Michael Hagerty
NEIL MICHAEL HAGERTY Although Royal Trux guitarist Neil Hagerty has insisted that none of the songs on his recent solo debut, Neil Michael Hagerty (Drag City), are autobiographical, more than a few lines seem self-referential. “When it comes down to going nowhere / I cover more miles than any other man,” he sings in a […]
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Big Jay McNeely
BIG JAY McNEELY Many jazz purists have never forgiven Big Jay McNeely for what he did to the tenor saxophone. Born in Los Angeles in 1927, McNeely came of age on Central Avenue–the incubator that nurtured Dexter Gordon, Charles Mingus, and many other jazz giants–and in the mid-40s pursued conservatory-style training and played in a […]
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George Harrison Slept Here
A B and B in Benton, Illinois, makes the most of its heritage.
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Twin Peaks at La Salle-Peru, Illinois
La Salle-Peru, Illinois La Salle and Peru are so close together and so closely linked that they’re usually called the twin cities. “Twin Peaks” is more like it. This part of the Illinois valley doesn’t look like the town on the TV show, but it shares a similar feeling of mysterious foreboding, of malevolent spirits […]
Posted inNews & Politics
News of the Weird
Lead Stories Last month in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, 27-year-old Brandon Clifford pleaded guilty to trying to lure an underage girl for a sexual encounter via the Internet. According to the prosecutor, Clifford’s perversion of choice was “Asian ball busting,” having someone kick him in the testicles. Clifford had been fired from his job as an […]
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On Exhibit: The Mountain Bike’s Primitive Ancestors
The oldest modern bicycle Michigan’s Three Oaks Spokes Bicycle Museum has in its collection is an Elliot Hickory safety bike from 1892. It features equal-sized spoked hickory wheels, pneumatic tires, a chain drive, and an elliptical chain ring, something Japanese manufacturers reintroduced on bicycles in the late 1970s. The bike once belonged to local resident […]
Posted inNews & Politics
Seeds of Doubt
Genetically modified crops work for struggling farmers like Jim Hasser, but soon there may be little profit in raising “Frankenfood.”
Posted inArts & Culture
Biking Southwest Wisconsin
Southwest Wisconsin Southwest Wisconsin took advantage of the rails-to-trails conversion craze of the 70s. As a result, the lush countryside is crosshatched with bike paths well suited for touring. Amenity-rich Sparta forms the hub of three good routes: the Elroy-Sparta Trail, the La Crosse River Trail, and the Great River Trail. Maps are available from […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Printers Row Book Fair
More than 170 booksellers will have displays on South Dearborn between Congress and Polk for the 17th annual Printers Row Book Fair, which features dozens of readings, performances, and panel discussions (and coincides with BookExpo America, the book industry’s annual trade show). Many of the booksellers will host their own author appearances as well. The […]