The Weekender: June 12–14
The weather's heating up, and so are the deals...
FRIDAY
Something for your punk ass: Head out to the McKinley Foundation (809 S. Fifth St.) for the best punk that $5 can buy, from Massachusetts' O.F.C., Wisconsin's Class Conviction, Chicago's Evil Empire, and C-U's own We Must Dismantle All This! The show starts at 7 p.m.
Really. Go see this movie: OK, so the weather is great, and you should be in your garden and riding bikes and hiking in parks. Whatever. We get it. But The Hangover is playing at the Beverly and Savoy, and while we don't normally endorse these types of films playing at the big bad multiplexes, this one is laugh-out-loud-funny-as-shit good. Go see it. You will laugh, and that is just as good as sunshine.
OKCrazies: The Highdive, in a rare moment of awesomeness, is presenting what might arguably be the show of the Summer tonight, with Norman, Oklahoma's Starlight Mints and Headlights-tourmates and BFFs, Evangelicals. Expect everything from beautiful melodies to screeching guitars to years of pent up aggression from living in a state like Oklahoma. It oughtta be awesome. Doors at 7 p.m.

SATURDAY
Can you believe it's been 144 years already?: Celebrate Juneteenth at Douglass Park and the Douglass Branch Library (504 E. Grove St.) from noon to 3 p.m. There will be "games, contests, trivia, prizes, and refreshments," and it's all free.
Can you believe it's already the Second Saturday?: OK, so maybe not as relevant as Juneteeth above, but the UBA (that's Urbana Business Association to you) has developed a unique way to capitalize on all the downtown traffic on Saturday mornings with their "Second Saturday" promotion. Vendors will be lined up and ready to sell, and that should be a good way to fulfill what's just below...
Spend a couples sawbucks in downtown Urbana: Brian McKay of Art Mart Foods came up with a really great way to weather the economic storm and decided to share it with his neighbors. Instead of promoting his own business (which historically does quite well), he has developed Downtown Urbana 20/20, a new concept that suggests that local consumers spend $20 a week for the next 20 weeks in downtown Urbana. Think on it, and it won't take you long to recognize just how quickly that alone could stimulate the local economy in one shopping district of our fair cities. We're in! How about you?
Bruiser saves the day: Historically, the live music selection at downtown Champaign's Street Fest's are about as interesting and unique as a Sarah Palin stump speech. But things are evidently improving, and we'll let this week slide thanks to Bruce Rummenie and his band of swingin' hepcats. Yep. Brusier and the Virtues will be taking their 1940s-style jazz and swing influenced blues to the streets on Saturday and it's all free of charge. Take a look at the rest of the Summer schedule here.
SUNDAY
Hey whitey, wash all that bad Chief karma away: First Mennonite Church in Urbana is hosting a Native American Restorative Justice Study every Sunday in June and July from 11:15 a.m. to noon. This course "provides a bridge-building opportunity to express respect for our land's original occupants and their descendants."
We have lakes?: We do have lakes. Little ones, anyhow. Spend the day at Homer Lake just east of town, and remember why it's a good thing to be outside and lay on grass, just doin' nothing. Or maybe cast a line and catch a fish or twelve? To get there, take 74 East and get off at Ogden. Go south on IL-49 and take a right on Homer Lake Rd. If you can't find it from there, well, we can't do much else for you.
Wait. Did we insinuate something about the Park District?: Evidently, they don't consummately suck because on this day, you can get your ass movin' for real-style at Douglass Park to the Mary Clark Revue, one of the finest singers in all the land, who is so old school, you can't even find anything about her online. No lie. She'll be running through some of the greatest R&B and Motown songs ever recorded, and she'll be doing it live, and yes, for free. No excuses, except maybe that wrong turn you took getting to Homer Lake. Yeesh!
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 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.
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.
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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…