Arts and Culture

When guests check into the Yellow Inn, they get something other than a bed for the night. They get class warfare and murderous mayhem. 

Jason Hawk Harris’ debut on Bloodshot Records is an Americana gem many are calling one of the best albums of the year.

Artist Aram Han Sifuentes stitches together a communal art experience to give power to those seeking change. 

“Illinois State University is where I started. Why ISU? Because this is where my heart is at.”

Wonsook Kim earned three degrees at Illinois State in the 1970s and experienced her first dates, first job, and first experience with dorm life there. Her love for her alma mater is why she and her husband decided to give the school a $12 million donation last Thursday, the largest individual donation in the school’s history. For her generosity, ISU President Larry Dietz announced that the College of Fine Arts and the School of Art will both be renamed after Kim.

The Bloomington-Normal alt-pop/rock quartet Wiplot makes a rare performance Saturday night at Nightshop in downtown Bloomington.

Heartland Theatre dabbles in magical realism for its latest production, “The Electric Baby,” opening this weekend and running through Sept. 28.

Silk reveals its soft touch and capricious core in a new exhibition of works in downtown Bloomington. 

Central Illinois Girl Scouts are seeking new methods to recruit girls to combat a drop in enrollment.

This week wasn’t the first, tenth, or maybe the hundredth time Reverberation Vinyl owner John Anderson was spinning what’s become known as Desert Blues on the turntable in his Bloomington store.

Artist Jonah King explores the warmth of a simple human gesture as it exists within a digital realm.  

Boy meets girl. Boy marries girl. Boy, does that ever change everything!

Chris Turpin and Stephanie Jean seemingly had it made by 2014. The English natives were half of the grunge/blues band Kill It Kid that was signed to Sire Records and had just released its third album.

The school year is barely underway, but for one young artist, it’s already homecoming. 

Grant Milliren, now 21, was getting serious about music by his mid-teens. But the Illinois State University arts technology student was also a varsity athlete at Neuqua Valley High School in suburban Naperville.

Josh Ritter is known worldwide as a talented songwriter. Matter of fact, Paste Magazine named him one of the 100 greatest living songwriters in 2006.

A riot of color and lighthearted images brighten the Armstrong Gallery at the McLean County Arts Center in Bloomington. 

Programmers for the Bloomington Center For The Performing Arts said the city-owned venue had a full and successful season last year and hope to build on that performance. The BCPA has never turned a profit and was not expected to at its founding. But, Assistent Performing Arts Manager Ann-Marie Dittman said last year gross revenue rose by $200,000. The improvement came after some instability and a lower than usual number of bookings in 2017 following the unexpected death of BCPA Director Tina Salamone. This season, Dittman said the BCPA is revving its engines with an even more full and diverse selection of shows.

Lil' Ed Williams and his band The Blues Imperials emulate the Chicago houserockin’ style of fellow Alligator Records great Hound Dog Taylor and Lil' Ed's uncle, Delmark Records artist J.B. Hutto.

One of the longest-running theater productions in the United States has decided it will be back for a 97th year in Bloomington.

Martha Tyner drew a bow across her fiddle and grimaced at the resulting sound.

John Conlee is one of those small-town boys that made good. Coming of age in the 1950s on a farm outside Versailles, Kentucky, Conlee’s family sold eggs door to door and raised sheep and even feeder pigs. Their cash crop at that time was tobacco.

Jay Gatsby made the list. So did Hester Prynne, Huckleberry Finn and Harry Potter. 

The Philadelphia-based pop/punk band The Menzingers has received critical acclaim for their last two albums, much of which fleshes out the angst of moving from 20-somethings into their 30s.

MIOpera draws on a pair of monster classics for the 2019 season. 

A judge and prosecutor ... a sports medicine teacher ... an orthodontist office administrator. That doesn't scream "all-female horror-punk/garage-rock band that tours the world."