Green Thoughts
The Shawnee Green Party will hold their fourth annual Independence Day celebration Friday, July 4 at noon in Carbondale's Town Square Pavilion. Various Greens will read from the Declaration of Independence as well as from the writings of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, Thomas Paine, John Adams, and Ben Franklin. Their words are probably far more radical than most present-day Americans realize.
George Washington, for one, signed the Treaty of Tripoli, which states, "As the Government of the United States of America is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion; as it has in itself no character of enmity against the laws, religion, or tranquillity [sic], of [Muslims]; and as the said States never have entered into any war or act of hostility against any [Mohammadian] nation, it is declared by the parties that no pretext arising from religious opinions shall ever produce an interruption of the harmony existing between the two countries."
Wow.
"At a time when many of our citizens, including all too many in our government, seem to have forgotten the principles upon which our Republic was founded, we try to do our best to remind ourselves about those principles," reads a Green Party press release from Rich Whitney. "Recall the vision. Renew the struggle to defend the Republic from its usurpers, and realize America's unfulfilled promise of liberty, justice, and opportunity for all."
The potluck picnic takes place at noon, with the readings to follow.
Later that evening, at 7 p.m. the Big Muddy Independent Media Center will screen Revolution. Directed by Hugh Hudson (Chariots of Fire, I Dreamed of Africa), the 1985 film stars Al Pacino, Donald Sutherland, Nastassja Kinski, and Annie Lennox. "Kind of a flop when it came out, some critics say it deserves a second look," Whitney first understates, then overstates. "It tells the story of the [American] Revolution from the standpoint of the ordinary working people of the day."...
Big Shows
The 2008 Du Quoin State Fair will run August 22 through September 1, and as always will feature a few cutting-edge grandstand performers along with a ton of country superstars.
Shows open with 2006 American Idol finalist Kellie Pickler Wednesday, August 27 with Bucky Covington, another Idol alum. Southern-rock band Sawyer Brown headlines Thursday, August 28. Alternative metal reigns Friday, August 29 with P.O.D. and Sevendust. Then it's back to country when Corbin Bleu performs with Justin Stein Saturday, August 30.
In addition the grandstand will feature horse, monster-truck, motorcycle, and auto racing, while a beer garden will feature dozens of shows by local talent.
For tickets or more information, log on to <http://www.DuQuoinStateFair.net> or call (618) 542-1535.
The Benton George Harrison Beatle Festival will culminate Saturday, October 4 at 8 p.m. in the East Gym of Benton Consolidated High School. The mainline concert will feature a performance by former Beatle Pete Best, who Ringo Starr replaced in 1962 just as the Beatles prepared to launch one of the most incredible chapters in music history. Best can be heard keeping time on Beatles Anthology cuts, as well as on seminal recordings the group made when backing British Elvis Presley soundalike Tony Sheridan. Best's group is called Best of the Beatles. Other local musicians, booked by Warren Batts-- a former guitarist for Bill Haley and the Comets as well as a native Southern Illinoisan -- will play as well.
The city may seem like an odd place for such a celebration, but the Quiet Beatle's sister, Louise Harrison, lived in Benton during the 1960s, and George came to visit her there right before the Beatles made their legendary appearances on The Ed Sullivan Show. While in Little Egypt, George reportedly camped in the Shawnee, sat in with local musicians, and got in some of the last quiet, fame-free moments he would ever experience. The house where he stayed with Louise is now the Hard Day's Nite Bed and Breakfast.
For more about Best, visit <http://www.PeteBest.com>. For more about A Hard Days' Nite and the Beatle Fest, visit <http://www.myspace.com/HardDaysNiteBnB> or <http://HardDaysNiteBnB.com>...
Gallery Work
The deadline to submit work in the Paducah Summer Festival's photo competition is Monday, July 7. The contest is open to all photographers. Contestants may submit as many as five photographs that have been completed in the last three years. Works generated in any photographic process including digital, color, or black-and-white will be accepted. All works must be framed and ready to hang and a fee of $5 per entry is required.
This year's judge is Chris Walker, a professor in Auburn University's Department of Communication and Journalism. Walker will award $1,800 in cash prizes, including $500 for first place, $400 for second place, $300 for third place, $200 for fourth place, and four $100 honorable mentions.
The festival photography exhibit takes place July 18 through August 30 at Tribeca Mexican Cuisine. A reception, juror critique, and awards presentation takes place Saturday July 19 at 3 p.m.
For submission information, contest rules, and more, visit <http://www.PaducahPhoto.com>...
I Shall Be Released
Cabaret Decadance has a new CD out, Dangerous, available at local record stores. The CD consists of vampy jazz, cocktail blues, faux showtunes, and circus polkas, and are all overlaid (so to speak) with coy sexual innuendos, only slightly subtle sadomasochistic inferences, and an intentionally surreal atmosphere. In places, in fact, the music on Dangerous resembles any number of classic Disney soundtracks, a tone utterly subverted by lyrics a-dripping with double and occasionally just single entendres.
The disc can't quite capture the mania of Cabaret Decadance's live show, where a half-dozen or more burlesque dancers add a wild visual context to the songs. Furthermore, the vocalists on Dangerous are neither as consistent as they should be when they use foreign accents nor as percussive in their phrasing as they might wish.
But the interplay between John McCall's keyboards and Gwen King's woodwinds nicely accents the campy atmosphere, while singers Bridget Shepherd, Clare McCall, and Pat York blend their voices both beautifully and creatively. Drummer Andrew Santiago keeps the whole, insanely finger-popping affair lurching forward.
Two Bourbon Knights, Mortimer Bustos and Patrick Rollinson, join in on the fun on "That's as Far as I Go," a salacious barroom anthem for the ages...
Paducah native and former Carbondale musician Kent McDaniel's band performed at the 2007 Custer Street Fail in Evanston, and recorded the show for a new CD, Live at Custer Street, which appends two studio tracks. The set mixes classic blues numbers like "I'm Ready" and "Boom Boom" with McDaniel's more folksy originals.
For these reasons it's not as successful as McDaniel's solo disc, About Time-- McDaniel's voice is more suited to the laid-back country blues of a J.J. Cale-type number than to a scorcher like "Pride and Joy," and in any event topping the definitive versions of, say, "The Thrill Is Gone" is simply impossible. His originals, however, like "Jimmy Stu" and the bouncy "All the Alligators," provide far better showcases.
Catch up with McDaniel at <http://www.kriya-records.com> and <http://www.myspace.com/ClearSailingl>...
The Bourbon Knights are recording their fourth CD at Misunderstudio. Vocalist Patrick Rollinson says the sessions are going great...
WriteNow
Springhouse, the journal of local history, literature, and arcana, always features a few interesting pieces, and the new edition is no exception. John J. Dunphy has two articles, one about an armada made entirely out of recycled materials that is sailing down the Mississippi River from its northernmost point to New Orleans, and another about the Ku Klux Klan's history in Alton. The latter is an inspiring story about the city. Even during times when the hate group flourished nationally, Dunphy notes, Alton's reactions to the KKK ranged from lack of enthusiasm to organized resistance, preventing the white supremacist organization from gaining more than a token foothold in Alton.
For this issue, editor Gary DeNeal also unearthed John Herbert Hays's Journal of the Southern Illinois Historical Society article, "Carbondale Amuses Itself, 1865 to 1900." Modern readers will will think his writing style charmingly quaint, and find much of the activities Hays documents-- ice-cream socials, jelly joints, and the like-- hard to recognize in today's Carbondale. But it's interesting to note that Carbondale once had a city baseball team and an opera house, among other desirable amenities, that are no longer. The article also discusses the humble genesis of SIU athletics.
Meanwhile, those who need seasonal culinary ideas should peruse Dixie Terry's muffin, pie, brownie, and grilling recipes.
Pick up Springhouse in local bookstores, and visit it online at <http://www.SpringhouseMagazine.com>...
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