"Mr. Warren York on the organ, ladies and gentlemen!"

A Champaign-Urbana living legend is alive no more. Yesterday, we lost a very special one of our own, Mr. Warren York. He played the vintage organ at the historic Virginia Theatre in downtown Champaign, and we could always rely on him to be there for screenings, and for the yearly Ebertfest film festival. He was absent the last few years, due to ill-health, and the organ sat silent. He will be missed.

Here is a December 2000 article from The Octopus about Warren York's contribution to the Virginia Theatre. May he rest in peace.

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Orby-D

Twenty-four-years ago today, we lost one of the greatest singers of the rock & roll era. While Roy Orbison will be forever known in the pantheon of rock/pop legends, for me he will always be the voice that I melded with during turbulent high school years, and that I love to this day. Roy Orbison wrote and (more importantly) sang about love. Mostly, it was tragic love, not the happy-go-lucky love that so many of his contemporaries sang about. No one could do depressive songs better than Mr. Orbison. This is probably why I identified with his music so much. I mean, we all have had our down times but, during high school, I'd cornered the market.

Watching The Hours

A Twitter friend named Paula has asked for folks to submit ideas for a blog-a-thon about what we think will be the classic films of the future. In other words, what relatively recent movies (namely, from the 21st century), do we think will be considered classics in the decades to come, possibly airing on such venerable stations as Turner Classic Movies ? While a number of films come to mind for such a category, one in particular stood out from the rest, and thus is my entry for Paula's blog-a-thon.

Yesterday's Restaurants

The local newspaper has a feature from one of Champaign-Urbana's most legendary restaurateur's, John Katsinas, on what his favorite area restaurants were that have now since closed (or will soon be closing). It's a nice little read, and has made me stop and think about the restaurants that have come and gone that have left an indelible (and edible) impression on me throughout the years. Here we go....

Left to my own devices

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