Sometimes I think I am over-stating things when I say Macomb is a conservative town. But…Not so much.

Tornado Ali ran over a squirrel on her way to work this morning.

She has committed roadkill.

It was a horrible feeling. She can’t stop thinking about it. And wondering how many times she will have to see it lying in the street for the next couple days.

R.I.P., little buddy. Even if you are kind of like vermin.

As I reported awhile back, rumors have been circulating that Macomb is not only going to see the return of Jimmy John’s, but also, that the business will reopen in the very spot in which it had been located back in the 80′s.

According to this story in the Macomb Journal, the rumors were true!

• A new franchise owner (who was at one point a Western student) will open the place in the little building on Jackson Street (now housing Car Care, which is apparently closing or relocating?)
• Also turns out to be true that the Macomb location back in the day was only the second J.J. business in the country.
• The story says the business will make deliveries….which means it could be giving ISS (and its grumpy owners*) a run for its money!

  (Please don’t yell at me for calling you grumpy, but you really are! But I like you! I really like you! I come see you for a gyro sometimes on Fridays, okay? I really do! So don’t yell at me, okay? Please? Pretty please?)
  

As I first mentioned when I found out the Flaming Lips were coming to the Forgotonia region, the Summer Camp Festival has a history of netting drug arrests.

Looks like this year’s not too different.

From the Journal Star:

At least 10 Summer Campers arrested

Law enforcement officials seize an estimated $1,800 in drugs

By Erinn Deshinsky

OF THE JOURNAL STAR

Posted May 25, 2008 @ 11:20 PM

CHILLICOTHE —

Law enforcement officers arrested 10 people and seized an estimated $1,800 in drugs during an undercover sting Saturday at the Summer Camp Festival in Chillicothe.

Agents from the Peoria Metropolitan Enforcement Group (MEG) made several undercover buys at the festival at Three Sisters Park. Eight adults and two teens were arrested, and officers seized LSD, psilocybin mushrooms, ecstasy and marijuana.

Those arrested include:

# Tod M. Dixon, 39, of Oak Park, Calif., on charges of possession of marijuana and possession of LSD with intent to deliver.

# Michael A. Jacques, 19, of Bloomington, Minn., on charges of delivery of LSD and possession with intent to deliver.

# Rachel E. Bailey, 19, of Bloomington, Minn., on charges of delivery of LSD and possession with intent to deliver.

# Erin E. McGee, 23, of St. Paul, Minn., on charges of delivery of LSD and possession of LSD.

# Steven M. Young, 22, of Muncie, Ind., on charges of delivery of psilocybin mushrooms and possession of marijuana with intent to deliver.

# John T. Carr, 27, of Oxford, Miss., on a charge of possession of more than 30 grams of marijuana.

# Joshua Shugars, 18, of Princeton on a charge of delivery of ecstasy.

Also arrested was an unidentified individual who was charged with delivery of psilocybin mushrooms, but police were not releasing his name as of Sunday night.

A 16-year-old was arrested on charges of delivery of psilocybin mushrooms, possession of psilocybin mushrooms, resisting arrest and attempted escape. Another 17-year-old was arrested on charges of delivery of LSD, possession of LSD with intent to deliver and possession of psilocybin mushrooms with intent to deliver. They were released into the custody of their parents.

The Illinois State Police, Peoria County Sheriff’s Department and Chillicothe Police assisted in the operation and also made several other arrests over the weekend.

Taylor Swanson, 20, of 1115 N. University St. was arrested by Chillicothe police about 7 a.m. Saturday at 4th Street and Cloverdale Road and booked on charges of possession of a controlled substance, possession of less than 30 grams of marijuana and possession of drug paraphernalia.

Chillicothe officers also arrested Brian Bess, 32, of Bradley and Amanda Laager, 20, of Athens about 10 a.m. Saturday on Main Street in Chillicothe. Bess was booked on charges of possession of more than 30 grams of marijuana, delivery of marijuana and possession of a controlled substance. Laager was booked on a charge of possession of a controlled substance.

Chillicothe police made at least one other arrest Thursday at Three Sister’s Park, and Peoria County deputies arrested two men Friday on their way to the festival. All were booked on drug charges.

My friend’s dad has a new movie gig.

It’s been several years since his appearance as an extra in “Legally Blonde II.”

(For scenes that were supposed to be taking place in the White House, the “Blonde” film crew came to Springfield, IL, to use the more accessible state capitol building. My friend’s Dad drove from his home in nearby Rushville to get a chance to appear in the background.

At the time, he enjoyed a red-carpet-roll-out, literally, at the local movie theatre. And, if you make it to the end of at the very end of that painfully bad movie, if you’re looking out for him, you can catch a two-second flash of him in the background.)

Anyway, ever since then he’s hoped to do more movie stuff.

But it’s hard to get movie work if you’re a downstater.

If you live in Chicago you could probably turn exra-ing into a part-time job.

I met a kid last year, a Western student from the suburbs who, every time he was home on a break, would make a few bucks by popping into the city and appearing as a crowd member any time he could. He said he thought he was on set of the Jennifer Aniston/ Vince Vaugh pic “The Breakup,” but he wasn’t sure because, as he’d learned by this seasoned point in his career, the real name of a movie-in-progress was rarely revealed.

And btw, as we speak, Hollywood filmmakers are in Chicago. They’re filming a Johnny Depp pic about the 1930′s gangster John Dillinger. Which, by the way, has a pretty cool connection to Galesburg. And the subject of which, by the way, should not be confused with Rick Derringer of “Rock And Roll Hoochie-coo.”)

Anyway, it’s a bit less frequent, of course, that Hollywood filmmakers, when coming to Illinois, would be filming anywhere other than Chicago.

Arguably, with its sports legends, legendary underworld mob bosses, skyscapers—and, um, population—it’s only natural that the camera crews, if they come to Illinois, land in Chicago rather than a place like… well, say Decatur.

But Decatur is where Matt Damon is now filming a movie. (And according to this web site, his character requires him to look like Ned Flanders.)

I’ve lived my entire existence in Illinois, but couldn’t locate Decatur on a map without a lit bit of finger-hovering. I know there’s some connection between it and “MacArthur Park” (?). I’ve heard people say it’s somehow a “rough” town—although in “lots-of-crime” way or “blue-collar-dominated” way, I’m not sure.

So it’s a pretty big deal that this movie is being filmed in such a very un-Chicago location.

The Decatur paper even offers a web site chronicling Decatur-area Matt Damon sightings.

And as this story confirms,

Matt Damon Headed To Decatur
Reported by: Amanda Evans/ WCIA 3 News
Friday, Mar 7, 2008 @10:12pm CST

DECATUR- A real life corporate scandal is bringing a big time move star to Decatur. Matt Damon has set his sights on the soy city to play a whistle blower caught in the 90′s in a multi million dollar price fixing scam by ADM.
Although the film digs up some dirt about a major corporation in Decatur. [sic] Most the people in town sound pretty excited.. to hear their town could see it’s [sic] name in lights on the big screen.
Skip Huston, theater owner says, “I think it’s pretty groovy tell you the truth.”

When my friend’s dad, named Jim, found out about the movie being filmed in Decatur, he headed out to see if he could get a spot. But on his way out of town, he decided to stop by a place in Rushville to purchase a gift for the casting crew.

(Perhaps this would be a good place to mention that my friend’s dad is, [as you will surely agree by the time you read his quotes below], is one of the real “true characters” you will ever meet in life.)

Anyway, he arrives at the casting trailer, or whatever, for this upcoming Steven Soderbergh film, bearing… gifts.

Several weeks go by.

Jim drives back, and, apparently, sees his picture up on a wall “next to a bunch of women.” (This meant, he says, “He liked me.” He meaning Soderbergh.)

He tries to put a word in for himself, ask around, etc. And, apparently, he is told by some official-seeming person, “Yeah, we remember you–hey, where did you get those donuts? Do you know where we can get some more like that again? Everyone really liked those…”

Eventually—on his own merit or because he came bearing braids is, I suppose, up for debate—Jim got himself a job. He’s going to be a lawyer. (Interestingly, his “role” in the Reese movie was that of a senator.) He’s been told to wear khakis and polo shirts.

He also may be providing his 1995 purple Camaro (which, my friend reported with a roll of her eyes, her dad showed to the head honchos by providing pictures he had taken in that year. Pictures in which my friend, in what was our senior year of high school, has “my bangs all, you know [waves hand above forehead]. Great.”

Unfortunately, I cannot offer visual proof of said bangs.

BUT, thankfully, this week brought written proof of my dad’s friends story, thanks this article from The Rushville Times:

Rushville Man Bidding for Role in Matt Damon Film
By ALAN ICENOGLE [who btw I think is my own relative!]

He wants to be in pictures and he’s done it twice now.

Rushville resident Jim Farrar, who many will remember for his role of sitting in the legislature in the 2003 film “Legally Blonde 2, Red White and Blonde,” starring Reese Witherspoon, probably will be showing up alongside (or well in back of) Matt Damon when the movie “The Informant” is released in 2009.

The film is based on the book by the same name by Kurt Eichenwald, chronicling the Archer Daniels Midland price fixing scandal in the early 1990s. Damon plays the role of Mark Whitacre, a rising star in the ADM corporation, who blew the whistle to the FBI on a price fixing scheme by the corporation.

Filming for the movie is being done in Decatur, Springfield, Chicago and other areas in Central Illinois. [Come west! come west! You know there's got to be a scene in this movie written for Colchester or Tennessee! Please, pretty please?]

Farrar and his Camaro recently responded [um, sic] to calls for extras and travelled to Decatur where he was hired to appear as an extra in a scene. Farrar said he and one other man are in the background of the scene shot at a Decatur motel swimming pool with Damon and co-star Scott Bakula.[the dude from "Quantum Leap"!! Yess!]

Farrar’s Camaro also may make an appearance since the producers also needed vehicles from the early 1990s for the movie.

“I really like doing this and getting into these movies,” said Farrar, who is retired from the City of Rushville. “It’s the best work I’ve ever done – a lot better than mowing yards.”

When first visiting with the casting agency for the job, Farrar said he took a box of doughnuts from Rogers Bakery in Rushville as a gift.

“They loved them,” he said. “They called me the doughnut guy.”

Farrar knows better than to get his hopes too high about the movie business, however. “It’s a cruel business,” he said.

“I think that since there are just the two extras in the scene I could get mentioned in the credits, but it could end up on the cutting room floor with the other broken dreams.”

Yes, this really IS Wayne Coyne performing at the Summer Camp Festival (featured in the Journal Star web site special section.)


Again, I just cannot help but be amazed at the fact that this festival, (which, as I mentioned previously, used to be known for the number of drug arrests it helped net) is drawing huge names* to Chillocothe, Ill., (which St. Louis Sue so astutely described as “The Basco of Peoria.”)

* Blind Melon (which apparently has a new lead singer?!?), G Love and Special Sauce, M.O.E., O.A.R., The Roots, The New Pornographers, and many more.

So I saw the new Indiana Jones movie last night?

And I am happy to report that, in my entire life of movie-viewing in Macomb, I have never seen the theatre so crowded.

The place was packed (with the new Narnia movie playing on the other screen.)

This is notable because, most nights when you drive by, there’s a single car in the parking lot.

I was happy for Larry, but he looked a little nervous, pacing in front of the doors. Maybe he was actually worried he was going to run out of room?

1) Peee- yooo!!! Keokuk to get even more stinky!! (It’s actually for a good reason, though.)

2) Kid from Carthage finds something strange near the lake*. (But don’t worry, it’s not, like, one of those green goggled-eyed cyclops fish they always find in polluted water on “The Simpsons.”)

3) One of my two high-school-era dopplegangers (not Tina Youthers this time, but the other one) is back in the news.

[P.S. LOVE those jeans and sweaters!!!]

These poor people!!

I feel so sorry for this Quincy family. What a bad deal. (And what bad puns. Note the word “runs” in the first sentence!)

Note: no matter how much work you have left on that finished-basement project you’ve always been meaning to do….you will never catch yourself saying you have a “crappy basement” ever again.

(Thanks to the illustrious reader who alerted me to this story.)