From the Newsroom: Rockford Register Star Podcast

Tom Asher’s wood craftsmanship is as beautiful as it is intricate.

Asher is the latest guest on “Meet the Artist,” the podcast from the Register Star newsroom where we meet the artist who makes our community a more beautiful place.

Tom, a Rockford native since the mid-1980s, is retired from working as a trumpet player in orchestras in Nicaragua, Mexico and various cities in the United States, including the Rockford Symphony Orchestra.

He’s turned his professional music career and his love of violins into a second career of making and repairing instruments, furniture, trinket boxes and other objects.

When Tom is not in his basement workshop, he’s probably out riding his bicycle through the midwest countryside.

In this podcast episode Tom shares many stories, including one about leaving a beloved music job in Nicaragua just as the Sandinistas overthrew the government in the midst of the Nicaragua Revolution in the late 1970s.

Listen to the podcast online at rrstar.com, and subscribe to "From the Newsroom: Rockford Register Star" wherever you find your podcasts.

More information

Rockford Register Star: www.rrstar.com

Host: Scott P. Yates; 815-987-1348; [email protected]; @scottpyates

Tom Asher: http://woodenbackroads.com

Jamin VanderHeyden: https://www.dangerousdecorations.com/

Music:

Music from https://filmmusic.io

"Spy Groove" by Kevin MacLeod (https://incompetech.com)

License: CC BY (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)

Aaron Bolden, 39, a long-time Rockford resident, is a world-traveling opera singer and stage performer who most recently sang the national anthem for the 2019 North American Olympic Table Tennis Trials in Rockford.

Bolden is the latest guest on “Meet the Artist,” the podcast from the Register Star newsroom where we meet the artist who makes our community a more beautiful place.

Bolden is a professional opera singer with a dramatic baritone voice. He is a music educator at Cherry Valley Elementary School.

Whether he’s teaching in a classroom or singing, Bolden said music is a powerful medium.

“It can take people in so many different directions and places. I get to wake up everyday and know that I’m making an impact on somebody’s life and do something that’s bigger than myself.”

Bolden was born in Milwaukee, and spent his youth in Waterloo, Iowa, and his adolescence in Holt, Michigan. 

In the podcast discussion, Bolden explains how he has used his personal experiences as a child, as a college student, and as his believer in God, enhances his portrayals of characters on the stage.

Listen to the podcast online at rrstar.com, and subscribe to "From the Newsroom: Rockford Register Star" wherever you find your podcasts.

More information

Rockford Register Star: www.rrstar.com

Host: Scott P. Yates; [email protected]; @scottpyates

Performing in “The Magic Flute” in Tulum, Mexico in June 2019: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=itkeUtD9n8k

Pascagoula: A Premiere Folk Opera: https://www.pascagoulafolkopera.com/

Peoria Players brings back ‘Ragtime’

https://www.pjstar.com/article/20140830/ENTERTAINMENT/140839947

Music:

Music from https://filmmusic.io

"Dirt Rhodes" by Kevin MacLeod (https://incompetech.com)

License: CC BY (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)

Jacob Polhill is the latest guest on “Meet the Artist,” the podcast from the Register Star newsroom where we meet the artist who makes our community a more beautiful place.

Polhill, 23, is a Rockford native and Harlem High School graduate. He is currently living on the West side of Chicago while studying industrial design at University Illinois-Chicago.

Polhill opened his most recent solo exhibit on Friday, Oct. 4, called “Out of the Box” at J. R. Kortman Center for Design & Kortman Gallery located on North Main Street in Rockford. The show runs through November 16th. 

Polhill’s work puts on public display the dysfunction and grace that inhabits the human mind. Polhill’s work commonly features a bubbly, humanoid figure in twisted postures that he calls “Lil Doody” who is painted onto clean, bold backgrounds. The figure is often meant to mirror Polhill’s own mental state. 

Another motif of his work creates a dialogue about bucking expectations. These designs are luxurious, psychedelic memes of repeating lines of text that form a color-shifting snake squirming in mid-air. A recent illustration says, "Sometimes the things that make us feel full and comfortable in the moment are the things that hold us back."

His artistic voice draws from rock concert advertisements from the 70s and 80s, Cubism, and an animated style made famous by Disney and Nickelodeon.

Listen to the podcast online at rrstar.com, and subscribe to "From the Newsroom: Rockford Register Star" wherever you find your podcasts.

More information

Rockford Register Star: www.rrstar.com

Host: Scott P. Yates; 815-987-1348; [email protected]; @scottpyates

Jacob Polhill: IG @jacob_polhill

https://www.jacobpolhill.com

“Out of the Box” exhibit: Call 815-968-0123 or visit www.jrkortman.com.

Rockford Area Arts Council: www.artsforeveryone.com 

2019 Fall ArtScene: www.fallartscene.com

Shout Outs:

Nate Barksdale: https://www.instagram.com/natebarksdale_/

Kaws: https://www.instagram.com/kaws/

Hebru Brantley: https://www.hebrubrantley.com/

Chris Crack: https://chriscrack.bandcamp.com/

Javier Jimenez: https://bit.ly/2VbYmO7 

Balta Ramirez: https://bit.ly/30Hqw4A

Vic Rivera: https://bit.ly/35akxbN

Music:

From https://filmmusic.io

"Too Cool" by Kevin MacLeod (https://incompetech.com)

License: CC BY (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)

Street artist David Stocker includes everyone in his Global Climate Strike performance on Friday, Sept. 20, 2019.

As young people around the world organized their communities Friday for climate change awareness strikes, a couple dozen Rockfordians staged David Stocker’s public theater protest on State Street.

The world-wide protests demanding action against climate change preceded a weekend of United Nations’ Climate Action Summit in New York where world leaders, from government, business and civil society address the global climate emergency.

This is a special episode of “Meet the Artist” where we get to hear the confluence of art and activism through Stocker’s street theater.

From Market Street to State Street, protesters carried an 80-foot-long black tube that was topped with a two-headed snake figure. Stocker calls his creation the “black snake of death” - a symbol of corporate greed and environmental abuse.

Other protesters carried signs and chanted “Climate justice now” over a rhythm section of drums and a tambourine.

The street performance was the most recent of Stocker’s lifetime of creating free art that anybody can consume and participate in.

“I’m a public artist. I believe in the science, but I’m not a scientist. So, what can I do? I thought that bringing artwork into resistance and movements and social activism...I thought that’d be a good thing,” said Stocker.

“Some people say the arts shouldn’t have politics in it, but I really don’t think it’s about politics. I think it’s about the human experience.”

Stocker, a 30-year Rockford resident, has used music, theater and activism to influence social change for 25 years.

He was born in Philadelphia, grew up in England, earned a masters degree in theater at Yale, then came to the midwest, and Rockford specifically, for the residency at the Illinois Arts Council in the late 1980s.

His environmental activism started when he participated as a kid in the first Earth Day.

He’s a member of “One Drum” a multicultural ensemble that toured the midwest hosting educational music workshops.

Stocker knows that the performing arts won’t win wars, but the interpersonal engagement it fosters can be a powerful experience.

“In an age of moving so fast we need to have real conversations with people,” he said in a recent phone interview.

Listen to the podcast online at rrstar.com, and subscribe to "From the Newsroom: Rockford Register Star" wherever you find your podcasts.

More information

Rockford Register Star: www.rrstar.com

Host: Scott P. Yates; 815-987-1348; [email protected]; @scottpyates

Article: Protests in Rockford and across the world urge climate action

Sound: Scott P. Yates, various field recordings from the Global Climate Strike march in Rockford, Illinois, on Friday, Sept. 20, 2019.

Breanda Elise Fedie is the latest guests on “Meet the Artist,” the podcast from Register Star newsroom where we meet the artist who makes our community a more beautiful place.

Fedie is a Rockford-based photographer and illustrator whose work explores the human psyche through dreamscapes illustrated with soft focus portraits or abstract designs. She shows her work often with other members of the Fringe Art Syndicate.

Of her work she writes, “I appreciate the ability to capture my friends, family, and ideas. Seeing life through a lens has allowed me to focus (literally) on the brighter things in life. It teaches me constantly to appreciate my surroundings and others.”

Fedie is currently working on exploring the human psyche through a series of images based on the Enneagram, which is a model for describing nine interconnected personality types. Recently she released a series of images for use as mobile phone wallpaper. They are available to download for free on her website.

Fedie discusses her earliest artistic memories, other local artists she’s excited about now, and the creative power of a walk in the woods with friends.

Listen to the podcast online at rrstar.com, and subscribe to "From the Newsroom: Rockford Register Star" wherever you find your podcasts.

More information

Rockford Register Star: www.rrstar.com

Host: Scott P. Yates; 815-987-1348; [email protected]; @scottpyates

Breanda Elise Fedie: https://www.gzhel.co

Instagram: @gzhel https://www.instagram.com/gzhel/

Shout Out: Film director Summer Wagner’s “James Paul Sklena - Fool's Gold (Official Video)” https://youtu.be/V1W5OkbYdcU

Music

From https://filmmusic.io

"Deliberate Thought" by Kevin MacLeod (https://incompetech.com)

License: CC BY (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)

Carrie Johnson is the latest guest on “Meet the Artist,” the podcast from Register Star newsroom where we meet the artist who makes our community a more beautiful place.

Johnson is the interim executive director and chief curator of the Rockford Art Museum, a post she’s held since 2012. She started working there in 2006.

Johnson is a graduate of Guilford High School where she was into theater and music, which flavor her curatorial style to this day.

She’s proud of the collaborative spirit she finds within the Rockford art scene. She credits the city's artistic work ethic for the city’s rise out of the shadow of Chicago.

In this episode, we’ll talk about Johnson’s new personal art studio at Mainfraim, her unique velvet flock/painting technique, her lesser known singing talent, and her ideas to foster the growth of community art in Rockford.

Rockford Art Museum is integral in the production of the annual Greenwich Village Art Fair, which kicks off on September 14 and 15.

Listen to the podcast online at rrstar.com, and subscribe to "From the Newsroom: Rockford Register Star" wherever you find your podcasts.

More information

Rockford Register Star: www.rrstar.com

Host: Scott P. Yates; 815-987-1348; [email protected]; @scottpyates

Carrie Johnson: [email protected]

Rockford Art Museum: www.rockfordartmuseum.org

RAM Instagram: @rockfordart

Greenwich Village Art Fair: https://rockfordartmuseum.org/greenwich-home

Music

The episode’s theme music is a cover of “Telephone Line” by Electric Light Orchestra and performed by Carrie Johnson and Rick Zillhart in 2016.

Rachel Ford and Jim Yeager are the latest guests on “Meet the Artist,” the podcast from Register Star newsroom where we meet the artists who make our community a more beautiful place.

Ford and Yeager appear in the upcoming play “Dog Sees God: Confessions of a Teenage Blockhead.” The play is about a boy struggling through teenage angst and questioning the existence of an afterlife following the death of his dog. It opens at The Nordlof Center on September 13.

Ford is a graduate of North Park University where she earned a degree in creative writing in theater and performance studies. She has several local stage and ensemble credits to her name. On the podcast, she discusses a number of topics together, like how thinking of death makes us appreciate life, and she talks about her little dog, too.

Yeager is a teacher of mass communications at Highland Community College. And although he helps students with their film productions, he hasn’t performed on stage in over 20 years. That all changes this month.

Listen to the podcast online at rrstar.com, and subscribe to "From the Newsroom: Rockford Register Star" wherever you find your podcasts.

More information

Rockford Register Star: www.rrstar.com

Host: Scott P. Yates; 815-987-1348; [email protected]; @scottpyates

“Dog Sees God:” https://thornintheside.weebly.com/

Instagram: @titsproductions

Rachel Ford IG: @rachel_m_ford

Music

From https://filmmusic.io

"Breaktime" by Kevin MacLeod (https://incompetech.com)

License: CC BY (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)

Photo

Photo artwork courtesy of Molly Baker Bowen

Evangelina Jimenez is the latest guest on “Meet the Artist,” the podcast from Register Star newsroom where we meet the artist who makes our community a more beautiful place.

Jimenez is an acrylic painter and owner of Indigo Nail Lounge, where she makes and paints intricate fingernails. She hosts paint and sip events at 317 Art Collective on Market Street, and she assembles Zodiac-themed jewelry.

Jimenez uses her canvas and bright colors to paint the power of feminine energy.

Social justice advocacy and feminism are strong threads throughout her art and business projects. One big project we discuss in the podcast is her idea of a future women's coworking center in downtown Rockford.

Listen to the podcast online at rrstar.com, and subscribe to "From the Newsroom: Rockford Register Star" wherever you find your podcasts.

Scott P. Yates; 815-987-1348; [email protected]; @scottpyates

More information

Rockford Register Star: www.rrstar.com

Host: Scott P. Yates; 815-987-1348; [email protected]; @scottpyates

Evangelina Jimenez on Instagram: @indigobaby.rkfd https://www.instagram.com/indigobaby.rkfd/ and @indigo.naillounge https://www.instagram.com/indigo.naillounge/ 

Shout Outs

Shaniqwa Porter https://omny.fm/shows/from-the-newsroom-rockford-register-star/meet-the-artist-shaniqwa-porter 

Vic Rivera https://omny.fm/shows/from-the-newsroom-rockford-register-star/meet-the-artist-victor-rivera 

Jessica Alvarez @pequenapixie https://www.instagram.com/pequenapixie/ 

Daisy Avila: @dalien94 https://www.instagram.com/dalien94/ 

Jorge Martinez @jorgemarzar66 https://www.instagram.com/jorgemarzar66/

Laura Gomel: https://omny.fm/shows/from-the-newsroom-rockford-register-star/meet-the-artist-laura-gomel

Jenny Mathews: https://omny.fm/shows/from-the-newsroom-rockford-register-star/meet-the-artist-jenny-mathews 

Music

Music from https://filmmusic.io

"Verano Sensual" by Kevin MacLeod (https://incompetech.com)

License: CC BY (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)

DJ and event producer Balta Ramirez is the latest guest on “Meet the Artist,” the podcast from Register Star newsroom where we meet the artists who make our community a more beautiful place.

Ramirez is a first generation American from Mexican parents from Chijuajua, Mexico. He was born in Chicago, but has lived here since fifth grade when his mother moved here to be closer to family.

In 2012, Ramirez graduated from the University of Illinois at Chicago with a degree in psychology and art history. He is the first in his family with a college degree.

In his day job, Balta is a family support specialist for Rockford’s Head Start Services, where he helps young families in need.

His coping mechanism from this daily stress is his music and event production projects. His ultimate goal is to combine his education and his artistic skills to create his own practice as an art therapist.

Listen to the podcast online at rrstar.com, and subscribe to "From the Newsroom: Rockford Register Star" wherever you find your podcasts.

More information

Rockford Register Star: www.rrstar.com

Host: Scott P. Yates; 815-987-1348; [email protected]; @scottpyates

Balta Ramirez on Instagram:

@rkfdcollection

@balta.ramirez

Music: "Sunday Morning Vibes 8.17” by Balta Ramirez

Winnebago County unintentionally released sensitive data, including passwords for its social media accounts, while responding to a Rockford Register Star Freedom of Information Act request. In this clip, reporter Isaac Guerrero questions Winnebago County Deputy State's Attorney Dave Kurlinkus about who is at fault for releasing the information. 

Read the full story here: https://www.rrstar.com/news/20190817/records-request-yields-winnebago-county-twitter-instagram-passwords

Rockford Register Star: www.rrstar.com