Buzz Magazine: Feb. 7, 2013

Champaign-Urbana’s community magazine FREE

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bob zimmerman

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mayor don gerard

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VOL11 NO5

February 7, 2013

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FEBRUARY 11 TO FEBRUARY 17

WHAT’S NEW: House made pizza Espresso bar Beer and wine tastings Fresh Meat Sandwiches Pastry and bread Classrooms

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Mayo r d o n g e rar d

food pantry

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Tut t l e brothers

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q & A with cory mcabee

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q & a with bob zimmerman

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Calendar

e d i to r ’s N ot e

Sama n t h a ba ka l l

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CU filmmaker and musician, and director of new film, Crazy & Thief.

Director of Out of Nowhere, a documentary about CU's music scene.

Your guide to this week's events in CU.

on readbuzz.com Arts & Entertainment: Check out Rachel Musial's new column about living a fashionable college lifestyle on a budget.

Movies & TV: New column alert! Be sure to look up Rock Docs, where Patrickexamines notable music documentaries. First up, Martin Scorsese’s No Direction Home.

Food & Drink: Missed out on Restaurant Week last week? Head on over to read-

buzz.com to get buzz’s Food & Drink writers’ recaps of four restaurants they tried, and a handful of interviews with the managers of Cream & Flutter, Minneci’s and Flat Top Grill.

Community: Check out stories from buzz long past! Click the Issu link on the side of our page to read buzz from as early as 2003!

Music: Check out a new Records We Missed on Goat’s World Music.

Welcome to the Interview Issue! This entire issue is filled with — you guessed it — interviews. Besides being a cool concept for a magazine, we also thought it would be a great way for our readers to get to know some of the most interesting, prominent and influential people in our twin cities. So read up, folks. This one’s a keeper.

I have to admit, this themed issue wasn’t an original thought. The jig’s up. It all started with me and my mom at the airport...

Really it doesn’t get more interesting than that. We were at the airport on our way to New York and I was perusing the shelves at the ubiquitous airport terminal-corner bookstore/magazine/candy aisle complete with neck pillows.

Everything is expensive, especially the snow globes and the magnets, but they do have a pretty choice-a-mundo selection of magazines that you can’t find on normal shelves. Naturally, I had time to kill while we were waiting for our flight, so I was taking my sweet time reading all these magazines because I wasn’t about to buy them. If I can read the whole thing in the flesh in the store, I’m going to do it. I imagine that I’m at the library and I haven’t done anything wrong.

While moving from the food/wedding magazine section to the economic section, I glanced over a sweet issue of Bloomberg Businessweek.

Typically the gaze of a certain Mitt Romney makes me divert my eyes, but this certain photo caught my attention. Blazoned across the front of the magazine, including partly over Mittens’ face, was The Interview Issue, in pink of all colors.

They had a pretty rad line-up of interviews in the issue as well, including Eric Holder, Dave Eggers, Mitt Romney (duh), Alan Greenspan and Rahm Emanuel. I didn’t read this one cover to cover, but I gleaned what I needed. And thus, our very own buzz-worthy interview issue was born.

Although, we don’t have the likes of some of Washington and Chicago’s finest, we do have the mayor of Champaign, which is, considering that Rahm is the mayor of Chicago, pretty much the same thing. He even played in a band, which I think makes him equally as cool as Chicago's Chief of Staff turned (first Jewish) mayor. Who knew! We are short on the presidential candidates and economists, though, but Dave Eggers went to Illinois, too, so that’s kind of related.

And he used to work at buzz, so by the transitive property, buzz was kind of a part of Bloomberg's issue. Pretty nifty.

We had a lot of interviews that we couldn’t print in the magazine, so be sure to check out the other ones we have online at readbuzz.com!

Troy and Abed in a Baaaaabbler!

HEADS UP!

likes, gripes & yikes

like

LIKES

hobbico E-fest

by Stephanie H. Kim As a kid, I always envied those who brought their robotic airplanes to recess. With the tap of a few buttons and the swift movement of the joystick controller, the airplane would glide in the air with such glorious, majestic spins.

This year, the eighth annual Hobbico E-Fest will take place Feb. 9 and 10 at the University of Illinois Track and Field Armory. The E-Fest is one of the largest indoor flying events in the world. Both days offer a fun-filled time where pilots show off their skills with indoor aerobatics that will leave you sitting on the edge of your seat!

At this event, feel no shame in whooping and hollering at the sight of electric, foam airplanes crashing into one another amidst a crowd of kids and their parents. But, if airplane carnage isn’t really your thing, there’s also time to watch airplanes maneuver ever so gracefully with spins and twirls you’d never see at recess. Forget your presuppositions about airplane tricks and leave them outside of the Armory, because you will be entering a whole different realm of skill, mastery and excitement once you enter.

The E-Fest begins Saturday, Feb. 9, at 7:30 a.m. and closes at 3 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 10. Tickets are $5, with free admittance for children younger than 12. So whether you and/or your kids are fanatics of airplanes or you wish to live out a part of childhood you never experienced, now is the chance to claim this golden opportunity. Check out the official Hobbico E-Fest website for more details: http://www.hobbico-efest.com/index.html

Jasmine Lee

Food & Drink Editor

Jasmine Lee, Food & Drink Editor » Cappuccinos: My mom’s favorite coffee drink is a cappuccino, and despite her consistent ordering of it at any coffee shop she frequents, I’d never really been one to order one. Why should I, when I could have a latte or a syruped chai? As Tom Hanks puts it in You’ve Got Mail, “The whole purpose of places like Starbucks is for people with no decision-making ability whatsoever to make six decisions just to buy one cup of coffee. Short, tall, light, dark, caf, decaf, low-fat, non-fat, etc. So people who don’t know what the hell they’re doing or who on earth they are, can, for only $2.95, get not just a cup of coffee but an absolutely defining sense of self. Tall. Decaf. Cappuccino,” and I, thank you very much, prided myself on my stable identity. Also, I had heard somewhere that the integrity of a cappuccino’s foam gets ruined if you order anything other than a small eight-ounce, and since I like my coffees in the double digit ounces, I went “meh.” But then! My friend and I went to the heart of Urbana for dinner, and since we had some time to waste before she had to attend a dance concert, we huddled into Espresso Royale for some much needed coffee. She got a cappuccino and I took advantage of my free drink card and ordered an indulgent soy gingerbread chai latte. She asked me if I wanted to try hers, I said yes, took a sip, and immediately fell in love. Why oh why had I turned my nose up at the combination of my two favorite things (espresso and heaps of steamed milk)? Especially since cappuccinos come with pretty designs in the foam? But for no longer!

My now go-to order at the coffee shop is a medium skim cappuccino. I have no regrets.

Gripes

Thomas thoren Community GRIPES Thomas Thoren, Community Editor Editor

» All the shooting in northwest buzz staff

Cover Design Chelsea Choi Editor in Chief Samantha Bakall Managing Editor Nick Martin Art Director Michael Zhang Assistant Art Director: Tyler Schmidt Copy Chief Jordan Ramos Photography Editor Zach Dalzell Image Editor Zach Dalzell Photographers Qi Yu, Jenny Na, William Shi Designers Chelsea Choi, Dane Georges Music Editor Evan Lyman Food & Drink Editor Jasmine Lee Movies & tv Editor Joyce Famakinwa Arts & entertainment Editor Jessica Bourque Community Editor Tom Thoren CU Calendar D.J. Dennis Copy Editors Karl Schroeder, Neal Christensen Distribution Brandi and Steve Wills student sales manager Molly Lannon CLASSIFIED SALES MANAGER Deb Sosnowski AD DIRECTOR Travis Truitt Publisher Lilyan J. Levant

TALK TO BUZZ On the Web www.readbuzz.com Email buzz@readbuzz.com Write 512 E. Green St., Champaign, IL 61820 CALL 217.337.3801

We reserve the right to edit submissions. buzz will not publish a letter without the verbal consent of the writer prior to publication date. buzz Magazine is a student-run publication of Illini Media Company and does not necessarily represent, in whole or in part, the views of the University of Illinois administration, faculty or students. © Illini Media Company 2013

Champaign: I have family only a block from most of this, so everyone needs to cool it.

» The line of students who wait for Chipotle to open: You do realize there are other things to eat at 11 a.m., right? Without fail, I always see a line of students impatiently waiting for this place to open as if there aren’t restaurants lining the very same street. When you’re on Green Street, you don’t even have to wait outside this one place if it’s Mexican you’re craving for ... breakfast? Odd choice, but okay, I’ll also eat some weird stuff for breakfast when I’m running out of groceries. Nobody eats lunch that early, either, but if you insist, then you should just grow up and go to Maize when it opens at the same time. That’s where you should eat all of your meals anyway. » People hanging onto the Chief: Give it up already.

There hasn’t been any hope of this since he left, so you may as well focus your energy on selecting a new mascot. But no, you bitterly cling to the past and insult any efforts to create the future.

February 7-13, 2013 buzz 3

movies & TV Week of Friday, Feb. 8– Thursday, Feb. 14, 2013 2013 Oscar Shorts: Live Action (NR) Fri: 4:30, 7:00 PM Sat: 2:00, 4:30, 7:00 PM 2013 Oscar Shorts: Animated (NR) Fri: 9:30 PM | Sat: 11:30 AM, 9:30 PM

oNE ON ONE

with Cory MCabee

A conversation with the Crazy & Thief Director

By Adlai Stevenson

Back to the Future (PG) 35mm print Fri & Sat: 11:59 PM | Sun: 11:30 AM Wed & Thu: 10:00 PM FEBRUARY DOCS FEST: Chasing Ice (PG-13) Sun: 2:00 PM | Wed: 5:00 PM Thu: 7:30 PM The Central Park Five (NR) Wed: 7:30 PM | Thu: 5:00 PM How to Survive a Plague (NR) Mon: 5:00 PM | Tue: 7:30 PM Searching for Sugar Man (PG-13) Sun: 4:30, 7:00 PM | Tue: 10:00 PM Wed: 2:30 PM Bill W. (NR) Mon: 7:30 PM | Tue: 5:00 PM 126 W. Church St. Champaign

Take the CUMTD Bus www.theCUart.com Cory McAbee looking pensive, used with permission by Cory McAbee

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4 buzz February 7-13, 2013

F

ilmmaker and musician Cory McAbee BUZZ recently dropped by Champaign-Urbana THURSDAY for a social gathering at FEBRUARY 7 Crane Alley and a free screeningcorp of note...keep his most this recent Crazy & Thief, samefilm, size always named one of the top 10 undistributed films by 1 X 5.417 movie website Indiewire. A man of multiple talents, he is humble in person and his easygoing 1/8th page nature invites good conversation. Buzz had the lucky opportunity to ask him a few questions NO BUZZ during his stay in CU.AD 12/27 OR 1/3 » buzz: Two of your films were shown at the Sundance Film Festival and are available on Hulu right now. How has the distribution process been for your films over the years? » McAbee: American Astronaut came out in 2001 so it took 12 years just to get that online kind of distribution. The whole time we were doing it ourselves, me and the producers, so we were able to get distribution as long as we did it!

[Laughs.] But the way it was posted on Hulu was through Sundance. They have this thing where they give this really great deal for any film that premiered at the festival. They’ll help you get distribution and they did that with us. They’ve been really supportive over the years. » buzz: Organizations like Hulu are relatively new for film, which has been going through some major changes as an industry. Does that cross your mind a lot? » CM: Yeah, a lot of things have changed. There are much more movies than ever before and that changes everything. Films are now more disposable than they’ve ever been. The greatest movies of recent times, people won’t talk about

in five years. All the great movies that we talk about are from before this point we’ve reached, like films from the ‘70s. But they’re still making great films. When’s the last time someone talked about The Pianist? That was an amazing film, but it just came out, won the awards, got on DVD, woof — on to the next thing. There are no greats that you hang onto until the next generation. And the way people distribute films now. People never used to watch films on computers, but films can reach a wider audience now because of that, which I’m very excited about. » buzz: Has your filmmaking process changed with each film? Has financing and technical approaches been a concern of yours? » CM: Yes, to both of those. Definitely the financial situation changes, the technical approach changes, but it also depends on how you want to address the film. The American Astronaut was shot on 35 mm and there were always lights to deal with; other problems there could be restricting. It was big and fun, but you stayed within the storyboard and the guidelines. For Crazy & Thief, there was no money at all and the technology actually helped the film — the kids, I wanted them to act normal. I wrote a 30-minute script and we ended up making an hour-long film. The fact that there weren’t big cameras or crews, just two people with cameras, the kids were able to act naturally. And we were able to go to places where we’d normally need permits. We shot in Penn Station, and normally you have to get the government to do that, but we just went with it. It was simple, we made it for less than a grand, and it hits its mark, too. It would’ve been forced and dishonest had there been a crew. » buzz: You’ve traveled the world with your films and music — what is your working schedule like?

Or is there even a schedule? » CM: Well, I’m going on tour to pay the rent.

[Laughs.] I’m going out to Australia to talk about making a werewolf film and doing a bunch of shows there. And then when I come back, I’ll ... hit the road with Mike Silverman, who had a role in The American Astronaut. He has a show called That 1 Guy and it’s an amazing thing. It’s this big, metal plumbing pipe with bass strings and violin strings on it, and it’s hooked up to computers and loops. It’s very funky. But there’s no typical year.

And even though I’m on tour to pay the rent, it’s also going to help future projects because I’ll be out performing and rallying the troops. There are a lot of reasons for me to do it. » buzz: You were a musician before you made American Astronaut, your first feature film. Do you have a devotion to any medium or is it open for you? » CM: I like all of them. I like movies, writing, drawing. They all kind of come from the same reflex, although they’re all different in a way.

When you’re writing or drawing, it’s generally solitary; when you’re working on a film, it’s social. And when you’re performing, it’s a party.

They’re all different, but it all kind of starts from the same place. » buzz: What’s that influence? » CM: Usually, to fill a need. When I’m working on my Captain Ahab stuff now or when we made spaceship paintings for The American Astronaut, they’re to fill a need, to create something. That’s the biggest inspiration for it. » buzz: Do you like watching your movies with an audience? » CM: Yeah, I always do. Nearly every chance has been with audiences and every audience is different. A perfect example is a scene in The American Astronaut when the old man tells the old joke in the bar. I’ve seen audiences bust up and clap after the joke’s over, but two hours later a new audience would come in and sit uncomfortably waiting for it to end. They would just hate it. [Laughs]. Sometimes, you’ll get the people you can please all in one room and then all of those who hate you in the next batch. So there’s a different chemistry with every body of people. » buzz: Have you developed thick skin from years of touring? » CM: It’s definitely needed, I still don’t have thick skin. If you work at a restaurant where everyone tells you you’re great but then someone insults you, that’ll be the person you think about for the rest of the week. We’re all sensitive. » buzz: Is there a particular way you deal or respond to criticism? » CM: You can’t really use criticism when a film’s done, and I don’t think you can use it on future ones. You’ve got to be true to a project and if people like it, that’s great; if they don’t, then they’re idiots. [Laughs]. I’m kidding, but you have to be realistic. Do what feels right. » buzz: What about your stress level while making a film? » CM: I think it’s generally fun. The only stressful thing, I think, is disagreeing with the people you work with. Other than that, things could fall apart and we can still have a great time. I used to get stressed out at screenings, though. With American Astronaut on 35 mm, there were so many problems all the time. I went to Moscow with the movie and they didn’t have the frame ratio plate in, so onscreen you could see mics sticking down over the tip of sets and beneath the actors, and everyone was sitting there wondering if it was some weird art decision or something. [Laughs]. I was thinking ‘Oh, this is awful!’ the whole time. And with digital projection, there are different problems. Sometimes, audio will drift or it will freeze. Going to screenings like those has been stressful.

Arts & Entertainment

seriously funny

Jesse and Justin Tuttle explain how they created a stand-up comedy scene in CU

by Nick Martin

In

the past four years, CU has become one of the biggest hubs of stand-up comedy in the Midwest. This is more or less due to the work of two men named Jesse and Justin Tuttle.

Every Wednesday at Memphis on Main, the Tuttles, two comedian twin brothers, produce the most popular stand-up show in town. They book a wide range of talent, pack the bar to full capacity, set up a stage and, perhaps most importantly of all, get up and tell some jokes.

Their hard work has brought national headliners into town (including Kyle Kinane), received attention from some unlikely admirers (including Champaign Mayor Don Gerard) and made CU one of the best places to tell jokes in Illinois.

Buzz got a chance to talk to the Tuttles about their comedy and how they constructed a comedy scene. If you haven’t checked out CU Comedy yet, do yourself a favor and go to Memphis on Main at 9 p.m. this (and every) Wednesday.

On Feb. 13, the Tuttles are featuring for Brett Erickson, house-comic of the Jukebox Comedy Club in Peoria, Ill., and undoubtedly one of Illinois’ best comics. Read the interview, then go check out a show!

» buzz: How’d you guys first get into stand-up? » Justin Tuttle: I was into George Carlin since I was 15, I just never thought I could do something like that. » Jesse Tuttle: I was writing comedy articles on a Myspace blog and getting some feedback on those.

So I started writing before performing. A lot of our original bits were just these stories adapted. » Justin: We went over to the Jukebox Comedy Club in Peoria. Before the show, they had an open mic and half the comics were just tanking. I thought, 'Wow, this is really chaotic and awkward and odd ... I love it.' » Jesse: We went up for a while in Peoria before we went up in CU, because we didn’t want anyone in our hometown to see us until we were OK. Justin: All we did for the first two years was a two-person act. I don’t think I did any solo sets for that time, which became a problem because we were doing Jesse’s bits, and I didn’t always agree with what I was saying, and he didn’t really want to change it, so we realized it’d be much easier if we just started doing solo stuff. » buzz: What were your first jokes about? » Jesse: Zombies and Billy Mays. It was right when Billy Mays died, and he was trying to be a pitchman for Hell.

» buzz: What was stand-up like in CU before Memphis? When did you start running Wednesday shows? » Justin: There were a few mainstays when we started coming to Memphis. However, there was no crowd. This was around 2009. » Jesse: Then the guy running the mic moved out of state and they needed somebody else to run it.

We’d only been doing stand-up for five months, so really we had no right running a show­, but we were really passionate about it ... Plus, we needed the stage time. I remember Justin hated the idea at first. » Justin: It was a year-and-a-half to two years before the shows even got decent. » Jesse: The worst show now would have been the best show then. There was maybe one good set a week and it was the same six or seven people every week for a long time. The occasional young person who’d get interested for a month or so. None of the current regulars, really. » buzz: How did you decide to do something different? » Justin: When we first started Memphis, the shows always started 20 minutes late. People went way over. Everybody was kind of just messing around. So, we started watching other shows, pointing out what we didn’t like, and started to doing the opposite. In

Justin Tuttle killing at Memphis on Main, used with permission by the Tuttle Bros.

the city, shows are three hours and the audience is mostly stand-ups. A quick show, tight ship, and no host doing three minutes in between each guy. » Jesse: Hosts are outdated. We started timing it and realized hosts were doing 20-25 minutes a night. Audiences don’t want to watch someone keep getting up and dicking around every five minutes.

People just want content. Give them content.

(Continued on Page 9)

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food & drink

Giving Food and Time

Wesley Evening Food Pantry is doing good

by Jenny Na

A

ccording to Donna Camp, director of volunteers for Wesley Evening Food Pantry, on the third Thursday of every month from 5-7:30 p.m., all it takes is a person to say, "I need food," and that person will receive it. »buzz: Can you tell us a little about Wesley? How you are unique from other pantries? And why did you start in the first place? »Donna Camp: Wesley Evening Food Pantry started in the fall of 2006 because at that time there were no food pantries in Champaign County that had regular evening hours. The number of people who need emergency food assistance and are working is really much greater than most of us realize. So, even though there were more than 30 pantries in the area, there was a huge need for a pantry that had evening hours so that people could come after work and get help. »buzz: How has the pantry grown and changed in the years it has been operating? »DC: We’ve grown from serving 100-200 people a night to serving 1,300-1,900 people a night. I guess the other thing that I haven’t mentioned is that we are 100 percent client choice; we don’t pack things in advance. We let people choose their own groceries. That is something that we’ve let people do since the beginning. But, one of the challenges that we’ve embraced is how to continue to make that possible, even while serving so many people. It would be easier and require fewer volunteers if we packed bags for people, but we think it’s really important that people get to choose their own groceries. So, making contacts with other groups that would be willing to provide volunteers has been very important. »buzz: What is the most rewarding part of running the pantry? »DC: For me, it’s getting to talk with the people that we serve, hearing their stories, hoping that our interaction with them will be a positive one.

So, making people feel comfortable and trying to relieve some of the feelings of shame or discomfort that they may have when asking for help. »buzz: What are you most proud of that the pantry has accomplished?

»DC: I am happy that we have never run out of food.

Anyone who has come and needed food has received it. And that has been difficult since we don’t know how many people are going to be here on a particular night. »buzz: How does the pantry address broader global hunger/food issues? »DC: We try to educate the community about hunger and food insecurity issues. Many people don’t realize that families where both adults are working could have food insecurity issues. So, that’s just an educational piece. We also have, for the clients themselves while they’re waiting, other community resources available, because if they’ve reached a place where they need emergency food, they probably have some other needs in their family. We also try to advocate with legislatures when there are bills before either state or national legislatures that can impact food security. We also try to provide easy ways for clients to advocate for themselves as well. So, for instance, a few months ago we gave people an opportunity to write things they wanted to tell their legislatures on paper plates, and then we mailed the paper plates to the legislatures. It’s important that we make it easier for people to have their voices heard. »buzz: What do you hope for the food pantry in the future? »DC: It would be lovely if we went out of business because there wasn’t any need for emergency food.

I don’t think that is likely, but there may be hope.

More realistically it would be to get other groups or organizations involved as partners. For us to be able to stay in business and continue to serve the number of people that we are serving, we need partners.

Finding other organizations that are willing to sponsor a month’s worth of groceries is really helpful.

Getting involved with volunteering and helping with fundraising are what our biggest needs are. »buzz: Can you let me know how you guys pay for groceries and how much it costs on average per month? »DC: Ninety-five percent of our food comes from Eastern Illinois Food Bank, so it’s much less expensive than if we were trying to purchase it at a regular grocery store or open source. Average food costs are between $5,000 and $10,000 a month. And all

BE AWAKE. DON’T BE A DRONE! ONE-WAY STREETS APPLY TO CYCLISTS, TOO.

U of I students help set up the Wesley Evening Food Pantry. Photograph by William Shi

of that is from money that we raise from donations. »buzz: How do you choose which foods to order for the food pantry? »DC: Top priority is that the food is nutritious.

So, making sure that there are foods with protein, which is expensive and difficult for people to get on their own, and fruits and vegetables, which are actually the thing that we want the most, and are important for nutrition. And whenever we can get them, we order whole grains, usually in the form of cereals and bread, from Eastern Illinois Food Bank. »buzz: How do you get word out to prospective clients? Have you found that to be difficult at all? »DC: It is a little difficult because so many people who come for food only come once or twice. There are families who are working, so they aren’t necessarily connected to the social service network in town. So, we do periodically send reminders to First Call for Help, the department of human services, Empty Tomb, places like that which might refer people who need help. But often the people that we are targeting aren’t already connected to those organizations, so they find out more by

word of mouth or from articles like this. Whenever there’s an article or something on the radio or TV about the pantry, for the next month we have more people come and say that they heard about us from the media. »buzz: How can those who are interested get involved? »DC: Almost all of the volunteer needs are on the third Thursday of the month or the Wednesday before. Coming and volunteering on Thursdays is when volunteers can interact with clients.

We need somewhere between 100-150 people on that day in time slots that range from 3:159:30pm. Most of these require a one-time training. Unloading the truck and setup on Wednesday do not require training, just the ability to be able to lift a case of food. »buzz: How can someone who is interested in donating do so? »DC: They can donate online at wesleypantry.org.

Every $6.50 donated will feed an individual for a week. Any organizations that are interested in doing fundraisers can contact me, Donna Camp, at dcamp@wesleypantry.org

BE AWARE. BE ALERT. BE SEEN. CUmtd.com

6 buzz February 7-13, 2013

MUSIC

ONE ON ONE

WITH BOB ZIMMERMAN

Director of Out of Nowhere

Bob Zimmerman and REO Speedwagon in Downtown Champaign. Used with permisssion by Bob Zimmerman

B

efore there was The Highdive, Cowboy Monkey, Canopy Club or even Mike ‘N’ Molly’s as we know it, the CU music scene thrived in campus bars. Cover bands played nightly and sold records, and REO Speedwagon made it big but still flew their plane to out of town shows so they could make it back in time for the last call at Red Lion. This is the music scene portrayed through the interviews Bob Zimmerman conducted for his documentary Out of Nowhere. The film chronicles the tales

of musicians and everyone else involved in the scene here in Champaign from the 1960s on.

Buzz got a chance to sit down with Bob and talk about some of the things helped and continue to help our local music scene. »buzz: How did you become involved with the music scene? »Bob Zimmerman: If you go back into the '70s, when I first got into it, I was working for bands like StarCastle and just different local bands. Go back

to those days, I was kind of involved in that way.

I’m not a musician or anything, but I knew a lot of the musicians around town and just saw a lot of the music scene from way back then growing up. »buzz: What gave you the idea to make a documentary about it? »BZ: It’s something I’d thought about for a long time cause I knew just how good the music scene has been and I always thought it’d be a good story, and other people have always talked about the music scene and how it’d be a good story, so in 2010 there was a band that was having a reunion, The Finchley Boys, and they were playing downtown Champaign. They got together after like 30 years and I thought this would be a good time to start. And I did. And I just spent two years tracking down different bands. »buzz: What’s the coolest thing you learned making the film? »BZ: How nice a lot of the musicians really are.

Even people you might think of like REO Speedwagon, or somebody like that, they’re just a lot of the musicians are really down to earth and a lot of people in the music scene even today like Ryan Groff [of Elsinore] are just really helpful people and they really enjoy what they’re doing. »buzz: REO Speedwagon are probably the most popular band to come out Champaign, do you agree? »BZ: Oh yes, definitely. Definitely put the town on the map. »buzz: How important were they as part of the scene here when they were rising? »BZ: I would say without REO Speedwagon, we probably wouldn’t have had the music scene we did. We probably would’ve had the music scene but with them making it and having the first recording contract, it just inspired a lot of people to try to do what they were doing. »buzz: To what degree do you think the music scene here is dependent on students?

OR

BY MADDIE REHAYEM

»BZ: It’s definitely a big part and it always has been. It used to be back in the '60s and '70s the campus was where you go. It wasn’t downtown Champaign or anything — it was campus. And you always have a continuous flow. Without the students and the continuous flow of new people all the time, I don’t think we’d have near the same [scene]. »buzz: In the film, there’s discussion of the “bar band scene,” which more or less doesn’t exist anymore, at least in campus bars. That could be a reason why the music scene has kind of moved off campus. Why do you think that doesn’t really exist anymore? »BZ: Well, we used to have the Red Lion down here and there was just bar after bar with bands every night playing. If the University doesn’t want to have that down here or people like Cody [Sokolski, of Delta Kings] who’s put a lot of stuff in downtown Champaign, they’ve really developed that area. »buzz: What happened to the Red Lion? You interviewed a lot of people and they talk about it in the film, but it’s really changed since then. It’s not the place to see live music anymore. »BZ: The only time we’ve been in there was when REO Speedwagon played — when I did the interview. They went in after the show at the Virginia Theatre and played two songs. They went back to the Red Lion. It was pretty cool.

You can see some of the video in the movie where the mayor’s on stage. That was at the Red Lion. I think the Red Lion back then was really the place to go. It was one of the places to go like Mabel’s was later, and I don’t know if there’s really a place now like that where if you wanted to see some really good bands you’d go to the Red Lion or you’d go to Mabel’s and earlier it was Chance the Czar but that was back in the '60s. So the Red Lion (CONTINUED ON PG 11)

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February 7-13, 2013 buzz 7

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oNE ON ONE

February 7 - 13, 2013

with Don Gerard Champaign City Mayor by day, punk rock star by night

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by Sarah Kidwell

thursday 7

Live music & karaoke Champaign-Urbana

Live music & karaoke Symphony Orchestra:

Mayor of Champaign Don Gerard. Photo by Qi Yu.

B

eing mayor requires an immense amount of time, responsibility and commitment, but Don Gerard has been rockin’ ever since taking office on April 15, 2011. Although becoming a public official has made him quite famous, Gerard already acquired his fair share of fame in the Champaign music scene during the 1980s and ‘90s.

Gerard played for a variety of bands such as The Farmboys, The Bowery Boys, and Steve Pride and His Blood Kin. Eventually, he landed a spot in The Moon Seven Times, releasing three albums on Roadrunner Records. Even though his days of playing with Sheryl Crow and recording in John Mellencamp’s studio have come to an end, Gerard has refocused his energy on bettering the community, and now he’s taken some time out of his day Wednesday to tell us what he’s all about. »buzz: Don, you’ve been mayor of Champaign for almost two years now. How would you describe the daily life of the mayor in such a busy city? »Don Gerard: It’s kind of a cliché. I really do start every day and I kind of giggle that I’m in this position, that I’m the “mayor,” that I’m actually representing this city and I’m actually in this position.

But I’m usually looking and thinking throughout my day of ways that I’m going to make the community better. Again, it sounds like a cliché, but you kind of really get into that mindset where, no matter what your experiences are or where you’re going, you’re noticing things, you’re hearing people talk, you’re talking to people. As I go through the day, I still work my day job here at the University, 30 to 40 hours a week. But then I’ll meet somebody for lunch or I’ll meet somebody after work, meet with the school district, or whatever it may be. But it really is funny because I’m the “mayor” now; I’m not just Don anymore.

When I go someplace, I’m the mayor and I’m really proud to do that, and I enjoy it. »buzz: In August of 2011, MTV named you as one of

8 buzz February 7-13, 2013

the “Top Five Musicians with Political Credit.” How did this awesome recognition make you feel? »DG: I was shocked! At first I thought it was a joke, and I thought somebody was having me on because I was amongst the lead singer from bands like Midnight Oil, Sonny Bono, The President of Haiti, and it just didn’t seem like it was real.

So I actually contacted the writer and I said, 'I just have to ask,' and he said, 'You know, I stumbled across this and started looking into your musical background, and it’s really impressive.' It came out very quickly after I was elected, so it’s a great story, and it really is cool. I couldn’t believe it, and when I was younger, if you would’ve said to me, “Hey, you wanna play guitar with REO Speedwagon?” I would have been like, 'Um, I’m a punk rocker, no way, those old farts.' But I did have the opportunity. They came here and they played at the Red Lion, which is the club that they played at in the ‘60s, a little tiny club, and they played “Gloria” and I got up there and got a guitar and played with them. It was so much fun, and I realized that these guys love what they’re doing, and lots of people love them, and that’s sort of like the moment where I felt like I really grew up because all of my punk rock ideals kind of just melted away.

We were just rockin’! »buzz: This is random, but what is one thing that you always have to have in your fridge at home? »DG: Um, bread and butter pickles, and grape jelly. I don’t know why, but I always have pickles in my fridge! There was a time where it would have been beer, and we had the joke of when we knew someone was on their way to getting married if they had vegetables in their beer drawer. »buzz: So what do you like to do in your spare time? Do you still play? »DG: I do! … I’ve played a number of times; I like to just do a little bit now. My daughter has taken up guitar and ukulele and she’s a better musician than I will be, or ever was already. I’m really proud of her.

»buzz: Recalling your days being in a band, what was your most crazy night? »DG: Well, my birthday is on Halloween [laughs], and I was in this band, probably all of 19, and we had to play at a Halloween party at a fraternity. We were a substantially original band so it was kind of a big deal. … We played at a fraternity at Knox College in Galesburg, and one of the guys in the band said something along the lines of, “Hey, it’s our drummer’s birthday!” And we were playing in this frat house, so my back was facing a window, and then he said, “Go around back and he’ll give you a kiss!” So we played some more songs, and I turned around and there was actually a line of five girls [laughs] and it was Halloween so they were all in fun costumes and stuff. It was kind of silly, and it sort of made me feel like, “Eh, I’ll do this rock 'n’ roll thing, this is pretty cool.” I think at the end of the evening I was making out with the girl dressed like a Playboy Bunny when they dragged me off because we had to go back home. … But it was just one of those things where you sort of say something and you’d think that they (the girls) would think it was funny or stupid or whatever, but no, they actually did it because they were like, “Wow, these guys are like rock stars!” So now I use those powers for good! [Laughs.] »buzz: What do you want people to remember you as? »DG: Well, we’ll go back to being an Eagle Scout.

When you’re in Boy Scouts they pare things down into really simple thoughts, and one of them is to leave the campsite a little cleaner than you found it. I would really like people to say, “He was a nobody from nowhere, everybody was worried that he wasn’t going to know what he was doing, but it wasn’t so bad.” That things are better, things are better from when I took office to whenever I move on, and I think they’re already better. I’ve been blessed to have some really substantial accomplishments in the first two years.

Krannert Uncorked with Almost “A” Quintet Krannert Center for Performing Arts 5pm East Coast Chamber Orchestra Krannert Center for Performing Arts 7:30pm Chillax with DJ Belly and Matt Harsh Radio Maria 10pm

Miscellaneous Cosmopolitan Club University YMCA 7pm

friday 8 Miscellaneous Bebe Miller Company: Tracing History Krannert Center for Performing Arts 7:30pm

Saturday 9

Northern Lights Krannert Center for Performing Arts 7:30pm

monday 11 Live music & karaoke Hootenanny Rosebowl Tavern, 8pm Lounge Night Radio Maria, 10pm Abe Froman Project Mike N Molly’s, 8:30pm

tuesday 12 Live music & karaoke The Band of Scots Guards and the Pipes, Drums, and Highland Dancers of the Black Watch Krannert Center for Performing Arts 7:30pm

Miscellaneous Tuesday Night Trivia Jupiter’s at the Crossing 7pm

Live music & karaoke wednesday 13 Sweet Honey in the Rock: A 2013 Sesquicentennial of the Emancipation Proclamation Event Krannert Center for Performing Arts 7:30pm Salsa Night with DJ Juan Radio Maria 10:30pm

sunday 10 Food & festivals Industry Night Radio Maria 10pm

Food & festivals Caribbean Grill Lunch to Go Refinery, 11am

Live music & karaoke Irish Music Session Dublin O’Neil’s, 8:30pm Open Decks with DJ Belly Radio Maria, 10pm

Movies & theater No Child...

Krannert Center for Performing Arts 7:30pm

The question is not where this page is, constable, but when?

THIS WEEK

2013(FEb7)3qUARTER(bUzz)

(Continued from Page 5) » buzz: When did the comics start getting good?

Was it because there was finally an audience to perform for, or something different? » Justin: It’s kind of a chicken-egg thing. » Jesse: It’s an ego thing, too. When one person started getting good, everyone else wanted to get better to keep pace. You don’t want to watch three people kill and then go up and bomb. Everybody’s busting out good stuff — you want to be able to follow it. » Justin: The whole Central Illinois is really increasing in quality, too. Peoria scene is blowing up — they have half a dozen or so guys who are really getting it. Bloomington, too. The scenes are all growing at the same time. Everyone takes it serious. » buzz: How did you guys build the audience? » Justin: It took three years to build the audience. One person tries a set, maybe brings five friends. Then two of the friends start coming back whether the original person is there or not. It’s a one-person-at-a-time build. There’s sort of a punk rock vibe because it just grew so slowly, almost entirely by the word of mouth. » Jesse: Also, the CU Comedy thing helped a lot. It’s not just a few people doing something in a bar. We branded it. It became Champaign-Urbana Comedy.

It sort of made it legit; it lets us promote all the shows and other types of comedy, not just our stuff. Also, remember, this was before Facebook, or sort of as Facebook was blowing up. That sounds weird that it was only 2009-2010, but it was a thing and then became the thing. Facebook and the events made it so much easier to get people to come to the shows » Justin: Besides word of mouth, Facebook is how we completely built the show. We didn’t flyer or do radio ads or anything. Plus, the performers got better. If the show’s good the whole way through and it stays short (never more than 90 minutes) people want to come back. But hey, I think the audience is still growing. Every week, somebody tells us its the first time they’ve seen us. » buzz: Why do you think people keep coming to shows every week? What about the CU scene is so dynamic right now? » Justin: At a Wednesday show, there’s no two people on stage that sound the same. There’s so many distinct voices and styles, every main performer sounds different from the next. It’s so different, it’s kinda like a circus act — if you don’t like the high wire, you’ll like the trapeze. » Jesse: It’s hard to like stand-up and not find somebody on the show to like. » buzz: How would you describe your personal styles? » Jesse: I like pies in the face and dick jokes. But really, jokes are what make me laugh the most. Jokes and wordplay. Sometimes I’ll switch up a word or get multiple meanings from the same word. I find that stuff really fun. » Justin: I’m trying to get away from bits with hopes of telling more stories. There’s jokes in between, but I want to be able to tell a funny experience I’ve had and make it interesting. I want the story to be funny more than the jokes.

The best is talking about dumb stuff I did five to six years ago to show how I realize it’s stupid now, but its still hilarious.

If you want to check out CU Comedy, go to the free weekly show at 9 p.m. every Wednesday at Memphis on Main, and don’t forget about Brett Erickson on Feb. 13!

KR ANNERT CENTER FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS

TH FEB 7

THESE SPONSORS MAKE GOOD STUFF HAPPEN:

11:30am Bebe Miller: Tracing History

// Marquee

ECCO—East Coast Chamber Orchestra

4pm

// Marquee

Claudia Reich & Gary Olsen

5pm

Bebe Miller: Tracing History

Krannert Uncorked with Almost “A” Quintet, jazz // Marquee

7:30pm

ECCO—East Coast Chamber Orchestra // Marquee

Bebe Miller: Tracing History and Bebe Miller Company: A History

FR FEB 8

11:30am Bebe Miller: Tracing History

// Marquee

4pm

Bebe Miller: Tracing History

// Marquee

7:30pm

Bebe Miller Company: A History

7:30pm

UI Symphony Orchestra

// Marquee

In remembrance of Virginia R. Ivens, Endowed Sponsorship Jerald Wray & Dirk Mol

// School of Music

SA FEB 9

7:30pm

SWEET HONEY IN THE ROCK®: A 2013 Sesquicentennial of the Emancipation Proclamation Event // Kranner t Center; the Offices of the President, Chancellor, and Provost; and the Office of Diversity, Equity, and Access

The Band of the Scots Guards and the Pipes, Drums, and Highland Dancers of the Black Watch Susan & Michael Haney

SU FEB 10

7:30pm

Champaign-Urbana Symphony Orchestra: Northern Lights // Champaign-Urbana Symphony Orchestra TU FEB 12

7:30pm

The Band of the Scots Guards and the Pipes, Drums, and Highland Dancers of the Black Watch // Marquee WE FEB 13

7pm

Student Playwrights Outreach Theatre (SPOT) // Depar tment of Theatre

7:30pm

No Child . . .

// Depar tment of Theatre

TH FEB 14

5pm

Krannert Uncorked featuring Theatre of Love // Marquee

7:30pm

No Child . . .

// Depar tment of Theatre

Say what you mean. When your words matter, select a note card that sets the tone. Cats peek or cavort, a bird grasps a delicate branch, or Sabuda’s sunflowers pop. Send thanks, good wishes, or whatever’s on your mind with distinctive boxed sets from Promenade.

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40 North and Krannert Center —working together to put Champaign County’s culture on the map.

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Premature snapulator

(Continued from pg 7) was just a place you went and there was bands seven nights a week, and a lot of good bands. »buzz: Maybe a modern equivalent would be a bar like Mike ‘N’ Molly’s? »BZ: Mike ‘N’ Molly’s and maybe The Highdive, but it’s still not a place you go every night. I think we’ve gotten to, with computers and YouTube, that people don’t have that same ... they could stay home and watch music. Back then, it was just part of life. You had some radio stations and we had three TV stations around here, so you’d go to bars and go to concerts to hear live music.

It was really different. »buzz: Your film is called Out of Nowhere, but at the end, it comes to the conclusion that it really isn’t nowhere — it’s a great place for music. Do you think, though, that with technology it has become less of a nowhere that it maybe has been? »BZ: Probably everywhere has — not just Champaign — but everywhere has probably become that way. What happened was, I can’t remember the record company, put a promo out and it was “They Came Out of Nowhere” and a lot of people then were like, “This is Champaign!

This isn’t nowhere!” And so that’s how I got the idea for the movie, but it’s definitely less than what it used to be. And then a lot of that Out of Nowhere goes back to if you want to get recording contracts, the guy from Head East had told me that they stayed in central Illinois and ended up going to St. Louis area, but they didn’t go to the east coast and they didn’t go to the west coast, so if you’re not around here, it was tougher to get recording contracts, which you don’t have to worry about as much these days. The whole music scene’s changed on that, record companies, etc. »buzz: Do you think it’s more of a “nowhere” to outsiders? »BZ: It’s fly-over country. A lot of people think of central Illinois or Illinois in general, you know, but yeah — if you weren’t from here a lot of people used to think they had to get to California. I didn’t really go into it in the movie, but there was just so many bands that went to California and came back or stayed out there and did something else, but something else was you’d go to Nashville or somewhere like that and you think, 'I’m gonna go there and be a big country star.' Well, there’s thousands and thousands of people down there that are trying to be country stars. »buzz: Can you explain who Mark Rubel is and what Pogo Studios is? »BZ: He’s the recording engineer and the owner of Pogo Studios. He’s been a musician for years and years, and I think he teaches at Eastern. He’s just a really talented guy. And his band, if you’ve ever seen, Captain Rat. A lot of people have recorded there too. Elsinore, Alison Krauss ... there’s been a bunch of people. »buzz: What is your favorite band to come out of Champaign-Urbana? »BZ: I would have to say REO Speedwagon … and Head East, as far as people who’ve made it big.

You go back farther, there’s bands like Slink Rand Group, and Slink’s still around. He’s over in the western part of the state. And there’s bands like Skater and StarCastle. It’s hard to pick out a real favorite, just somebody that’s really done good

and made some good music over the years is REO. »buzz: The big question: what made Champaign such a great place for music, and what currently makes Champaign such a great place for music? »BZ: Well first of all, it’s all the talented musicians who live here. And it’s continuously changing. There’s always a new influx of people coming in. There’s all these talented musicians who are here. A lot of them stay here and it just keeps going on and on. I can mention Slink Rand—here’s a guy that was such a great guitar player, and still is, that he had another generation of people after Slink who watched him playing guitar. And then you’ve got people like Lou Dibell, who people watched him and he teaches people, so it’s kind of just a continuous thing over the years in this town. »buzz: What is with REO Speedwagon’s airplane? »BZ: Like it says in the film, they used to fly out of here, and so I’m not sure where the airstrip is but they would fly to shows instead of driving.

And it sounds like it got pretty wild in the airplane sometimes, and they’re all probably lucky to be alive. Actually the pilot … the last song at the end, "Flying Turkey Trot," which is an REO instrumental song I put at the end — they called him the Flying Turkey. He actually bought a [copy of the] film, they had a kind of roadie reunion last week in Nashville. He’s still around. »buzz: Anything else you’d like to say? »BZ: Basically what I tried to do, when I started making this movie, there was 50 years worth of music history and I started doing this and I thought there’s just too much information, so finally I just had the idea, 'Why don’t I just make it so if someone doesn’t know the music scene, how it got started, how can I explain to them?'

So it’s maybe like an overview, but then I let [the interviewees] tell their story and I kind of tried to move a little bit with the mayor into the '80s and '90s scene, kind of bring it up to speed with Ryan and Elsinore. And I’ve been getting ready to do another part, which is not going to be a part two, but I got a couple ideas how to do it, but it’s going to get more of the people into the film because there’s still so many songwriters, a lot of good music, good songs that come out of this town. »buzz: Champaign doesn’t hold anyone back, being a smaller town. »BZ: No. It’s good that it’s a small town because it’s easier sometimes for bands to get started, you know, if you go to Chicago and Los Angeles you get lost in the crowd, it costs a lot more money. Here, there’s [sic] places to play. Guys tell me: you go to New York, you have to pay ...

And there’s talk in the movie, too, there’s a lot of places in the area — you don’t have to just play in Champaign. Especially back then, there was colleges all around, churches had bands ... Once the scene really starts going, it just continues.

It’s smaller than what it was in the '60s and '70s but it’s still pretty nice. You do it different nowadays. Elsinore recorded their last album here at Pogo Studios and I think they went to Portland and finished mixing it out there, but you can still make it happen here. And it’s actually probably easier. I mean, it’s actually easier to make a movie — I couldn’t have made this movie a few years ago, but now with Final Cut Pro, it’s just a lot easier.

jone sin’

by Matt Jones

“It Takes a Village”--feeling a little blue?

Stumped? Find the solutions in the Classifieds pages.

Across 1 That is, to Nero 6 “All-American Girl” Margaret 9 Elite U.S. Navy squad 14 It’s struck from a book 15 “Whadja say?”

16 2005 “Survivor” locale 17 Big book of stories 19 Sean of the “Lord of the Rings” series 20 He’s always dropping dishes?

22 Peppermint Pattie brand 23 Gargantuan Brit. lexicon 24 Uneventful 26 Nick at ___ 29 “Sands of ___ Jima” 32 Komodo dragon or Tasmanian devil 36 Ore-___ (tater tots brand) 37 Bedroom area that’s useful to have around?

39 ___ Wafers 41 Constrictive critter 42 Sci-fi author Asimov 43 He has a corny sense of humor?

46 Deadlock 47 Dutch beer 48 ID-assigning org.

49 Chip’s pal 50 “The Kids in the Hall” bit

52 Blue ball on the table 54 Fashion legend Christian 57 Guy who trimmed Dad’s beard?

63 Texas A&M athlete 65 Doesn’t lose it 66 Crosses (a river) 67 One of seven: abbr.

68 A few extra pounds 69 Pecan and walnut 70 Torn of “Men in Black” 71 It follows either word in the four long answers

Down 1 Apple on a desk 2 Short name for Boone or Webster 3 Query to Brutus 4 Average fool 5 Things out of reach?

6 Neapolitan layer, for short 7 Laurie on “House” 8 “I just remembered...”

9 Detoxifying place 10 Top vs. bottom-seed shutouts, for instance 11 Low choral part 12 Grizzly’s hangout 13 Destroyed a destroyer 18 Actress/model/socialite ___ Hearst-Shaw 21 Griff and D’s Public Enemy cohort

25 Recording studio sign 26 Silent killer?

27 Turn of phrase 28 Peace conference events 30 Liberty’s org.

31 Reasons for insoles 33 Mazda model 34 “Garfield: ___ of Two Kitties” 35 School for French students 37 She portrayed Kahlo 38 Thanksgiving items 40 Biker’s exit line 44 Go berserk 45 Date on some food packaging 49 The back, in medical textbooks 51 Weapon often seen on “24” 53 Nest residents 54 Nutty 55 Composer Stravinsky 56 Shrek, e.g.

58 Spittoon noise 59 Org. for seniors 60 “On & On” singer Erykah 61 MIT grad, maybe 62 Hazard for a hull 64 Ending for heir or host

February 7-13, 2013 buzz 11

Baytowne Shoppes

Baytowne Spa Citi-Financial Citi Trends Dollar Tree Party City

Located just off I-74 & Prospect Avenue near Sam’s Club.

All Star Nails Bard Optical Baytowne Dental Center Best Wok Buffalo Wild Wings Golf Etc.

Jenny Craig Red Wing Shoes Shangri-La Massage The UPS Store U.S. Cellular

PetSmart Pier 1 Imports Staples Ulta

Baytowne Square Located along Prospect Avenue just north of I-74.

FREE

$25 OFF

Flatbread with any wing purchase of 12 or more

$1 OFF SHIPPING when you ship 1 box UPS

regularly priced footwear

- or -

$2 OFF SHIPPING when you ship 2 boxes UPS

Passport Photos & International Shipping

217-378-4400 | www.buffalowildwings.com

217-352-5589 | www.redwingshoes.com Cannot be combined with other offers. No cash value.

Does not apply to socks or slippers.

Not valid with any other offers. Limit one coupon per customer. UPS Stores are independently owned and operated. Must present coupon.

Baytowne Shoppes Location Only Expires 3/17/13

Baytowne Shoppes Location Only Expires 3/17/13

Baytowne Shoppes Location Only Expires 3/17/13

Not valid with any other discounts. Dine-in or to-go.

One coupon per table. Must present coupon.

217-359-6233 | www.theupsstorelocal.com/2833

$59

$500 OFF

10% OFF Current patients only.

New patients only.

New patients only. Not to be used in conjunction with any other offers or reduced-fee plans.

Cleaning, Exam & x-rays

Invisalign

Dr. Vinh Hick, DDS Whiten your smile with Zoom | Invisalign wireless braces Most dental insurances accepted including Delta Dental 800-556-5223 | www.BaytowneDentalCenter.com Must present coupon.

Baytowne Shoppes Location Only | Expires 3/17/13

12 buzz February 7-13, 2013

treatment