The Weekender: July 3–5
FRIDAY
Celebrate the "Sun": In the seventies, every community in the U.S. worth a damn had their own version of a classic rock band, mixing all the right components together to create one soulful, inspired mix. In Champaign, we had plenty. One of them, however, has decided to bring it back for a special reunion performance tonight at the Red Herring. Pravda recording artists, Big Daddy Sun, helped define the rock scene during the disco era. They will be reforming for one night, just a day before the country's big celebration. The band features Ron Cannon, one of the more instrumental players at Red Herring during its heyday, and one of the recent reasons that it's been so active as of late. Good chance to catch up on some of Champaign-Urbana's rock history.
Asada for your tummy: Much has been said already about Mas Amigos, the new Mexican restaurant in the revolving door that is 40 E. Springfield Ave, in Champaign (Piefull Delight, Murphy's Deli, etc). And while it's up for debate still, their Carne Asada is perhaps the best around. For $8.95, they serve you a more-than-sizeable portion of some of the best marinated skirt steak around. Stop in for dinner, and sip a cool margarita to beat the heat, that you know is coming back around,
No Mythical creatures, but still good rock: July 3 at Mike N' Molly's had been something of a tradition for local rock band Centaur, who used each pre-Independence day no-work-the-next-day night to drink as many beers as Murph would allow while turning it up past eleven for as long as they could. But this year, no Centaur. All is lost? Hell no! At least not with three great bands performing at Mike N' Molly's in beer garden. Come out early and catch Hathways, with downtown mainstays Dottie and the Rail, alongside The Duke of Uke and his Novelty Orchestra. Having a good time won't be hard.
SATURDAY
Protest, or celebrate — you choose: The Fourth of July Parade hits the streets of Urbana and Champaign once again at 1:05 p.m., starting on Lincoln and Illinois and wrapping around Florida Ave, until it transmorphigates (not a word, but fun) into Kirby Ave. before hooking a right on 4th St. to finish up in front of the Illini's football practice facility that cost way too much money and still hasn't produced enough wins to justify. America! Fuck yeah!
Lighting up the sky — somewhere else: OK. Seriously. Don't even bother with the local fireworks display. Traffic is terrible, and what's more, there are other more quaint celebrations where you still run the risk of being burnt by firework debris — and that's way more fun.
The name rings true: Fuck America, you know? Well, perhaps not officially, but head to 700 W. Illinois on Saturday to catch one of C-U's best underground punkers in We Must Dismantle All This, as part of a 4th of July show featuring six bands for the stupidly low price of $2. Yes. $2.
SUNDAY
Perfect pickin' time: Just twenty minutes southwest of here lies Pontious Farms, a small family-run corner of Piatt County with a blueberry patch worth literally hundreds of pounds of blueberries, and guess what? You can have 'em! At just $1.75 per pound, this is a family fun type of activity, or a great place for your third date. Just be prepared: you will be in the middle of a field with no shade. Wear sunscreen. Trust us.
Learn from a Master: If you aren't familiar yet with Bolokada Conde, you should be. He is considered to be one of the best hand drummers in the world, and he lives here, and he teaches lessons at the Capoeira Academy at 30 E. Springfield on Sundays to folks for $12. Seriously, we are in the presence of greatness.
Run it off, Johnson: Johnsonville, that is. You know you are going to eat too many bartwursts or tofu dogs this weekend. Take a run in Meadowbrook Park for a change, yeah? You could even get inspired and steal a sculpture or two, as well. We're sure Julia Rietz won't mind. Just make sure it's materials are worth under $300 to keep it at a misdemeanor crime. That's key.
Most Recent Culture Comments
Bobo was amazing; she threaded right through opponents in front of her like they weren’t there. I think the bout could have easily gone the other way if she hadn’t been skating for the Dames.
OHNO BOBO definitely made her mark with the Damgin’ Dames!! Great bout Friday night at Savoy Rec Center!!! TCDG is doing a great job bringing Flat Track Derby to the area! Keep up the good work and the crowds will come!
Mark, your first paragraph is mostly wrong. The second paragraph is true, though. Hulten has been a conflict of interest from Day One. The Champaign City Council made a big mistake in appointing him. The other two candidates were a lot better, a lot more intelligent, and far less biased.
I regularly commented at IP.com several moons ago, and I didn’t get the same impression of Gordy Hulten as the commenter above. While there were times when his conservative bias incapacitated his reading comprehension skills, for the most part he was a patient and kind moderator who…
“Glock 21, an IlliniPundit regular has described the new incarnation of the site as “dead blog walking”.“ Glock21 is an example of “brain-dead man walking.“ “The site had its strengths and weaknesses ...“ Mostly weaknesses, though. The main strength was tipping us off there are many, many…
Glock 21, an IlliniPundit regular has described the new incarnation of the site as “dead blog walking”. The activity and updates have come to a stand still. The site had its strengths and weaknesses, but was a good barometer of what the landed gentry were thinking. They…
If you liked last week’s SameSexSunday—you’ll love this week’s! http://bit.ly/91zLi0
“ChampaignPundit” is a pretty broken site—effectively, you can’t sign up for an account, because there’s no way to specify or change a password. That means you either do the email “reset my password” thing to get a temporary password every time you want to make a comment,…
I think the nutballs knew that all their crazy theories would be accepted and embraced. That parade argument was a great example. Never mind that unsafe conditions created a hazard to participants and bystanders—IT WAS A TERRIBLE DECISION TO CANCEL IT!@!!!!!!! Or at least that’s what the…
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Illinois has simply had no luck at all in these Mizzou games. None. I think maybe we’re do for a couple of bounces to go our way. If we get one or two (or sever or eight) breaks, I think it’s a win.
Jason, Savoy could easily join the CPL tax district, which is probably closer to most Savoy residents than the Tolono library is. But my impression is that Savoy residents as a whole don’t want to pay the cost of the CPL (Tolono’s library taxes are cheaper), even…
Sorry, but I am lagging behind on updates to the map. Also, some construction projects were delayed from their original start date. On a more positive note, I am putting together a map of haunted houses in Central Illinois. I have a few plotted already, and I…
I’ve never gotten the privilege of all the services CPL cardholders get. I just want to be able to go out of my way to drive to the CPL to check out books, pay fines, maybe buy some coffee, and enjoy the library. None of those activities…
These days, there is more to using a library than checking out books. At one time, paying into the Lincoln Trails system probably would cover the expenses incurred by other libraries in the system. Now, with Internet, videos, coffee shops, wireless Internet hubs, etc., I suspect the…
(speaking as a Savoy resident) By paying taxes to support a member of the LTLS, we are paying our “fair share” to use any LTLS library—Tolono, Champaign, Urbana, etc. This is how library systems work. The 6% of CPL’s circulation represented by Tolono users is NOT significant…
I read Timbo’s argument. I think the key word is “speculating.“
I would be interested to hear more about the “word on the street”—how are individual hauling companies fulfilling their promise to recycle?
Timbo makes a smart, sound argument. Reread it.
I joined on 09-09-09 after living here over a year, and having to listen to my dad tell me how his best friend is, like, #27 or something crazy like that, and how said friend never lived further than 50 feet from the Illini Inn while going…
And, I might add, no one is being prevented from using the Champaign library. They are just being asked to pay their fair share if they are going to use it as their primary library.
The equation is pretty simple here. If you want social services, then pay the taxes required to run those social services. These things only work if everyone puts in their fair share. As a heavy user of the Champaign Library, I say bravo to this new policy.
Curtis Orchard is always good for an hour or three, especially if you have rugrats.
What is the increased marginal cost of serving a resident of Savoy or Mahomet? I suspect negligible. What is the increased revenue to be realized by this new policy? I suspect very little. Aside from these financial aspects, what are the most probable results from this new…
Looks like you are also all members of the killer sideburns club.
Thanks for the article, Ben. I was not familiar with this band until now and even though I won’t be able to attend the show on Friday they are now on my radar. A *good* jam band is hard to find, and these folks appear to fill…
Nice article, love the Dead quote in the beginning. If they can get down here to Central FL I’ll definitely be heading out to the show. Some of my friends have finally stopped wincing when I say “jam band.“ I’ve now tried my best at more descriptive…
@Annie: Yeah, my bad. That was the best part! Drinking + memory exercises = fun @Rob: According to Ask the English Teacher, “My dictionary says ‘drunk’ is an archaic past tense of ‘drink.‘“ We’re all about the new grammar around here.
Katie, have the residents of Savoy and Tolono thought about having their taxes raised a little to help their public library expand? That’s a possibility for them. And then everybody wins.
good call on that Herring recording, Josh. Love that version of Exit Music….here’s a clip of the Cinco de Mayo show (from about six months prior). As I recall, this Shakedown went on for roughly a half hour, while getting into the Trampled Underfoot jam in the…
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I’ll agree that Gordy tolerated a lot of crap, but his patience wasn’t infinite—hence the banning of the nutcase übertea Wayne Johnson, exactly the kind of guy who gives libertarians the reputation for droolin’ batshittery they have. Gordy was also unwilling to pretend that gaybaiting was a…