The Pantagraph from Bloomington, Illinois • Page 31

'0z The Great and Powerful' 'lil Over the rainbow but just barely THURSDAY, MARCH 14, 2013 Your weekly guide to things to do, whether staying in or going out. The Pantagraph Page D2 Vl 1- mmmms mm pwm VV Pantagraph file photos Members of the Twin Cities' Irish Heritage Society carried a banner as crowds lined the streets in uptown Normal during the first Sharin' of the Green St. Patrick's Day Parade in 2011. The third annual event starts at 1 p.m. Saturday, GO! to 70s heaven Two performers with deep roots in the 70s singer-songwriter tradition -Janis Ian and Livingston (James' bro') Taylor pair off for a concert at 8 p.m.

Saturday in Springfield's Sangamon Auditorium. GO! eat, but don't run The March edition of Lunch Learn at the Museum, nt 12:10 p.m. today in the McLean County Museum of History, presents Cecilia Sanchez on the topic of "Genres in Latin American Music." Admission: free. GO! get told off but do it the good way, via the smokin' torch song show-stopper, "And I Am Telling You I'm Not Going," Effie's big momentin "Dreamgirls," the national tour of which plays theU of I Assembly Hall at 7 p.m. Sunday.

GO! splish-splash Remind yourself of that time when movies were movies, and musicals were even better, via the one and only "Singin" in the Rain," with Gene, Debbie and Donald, at 7 p.m. tonight through Sunday. or row No shortage of St. Patrick's Day festivities in B-N area i i- i By Dan Craft dcraltpantagraph.com A year ago, St. Patrick's Day felt more like Memorial Day, courtesy temperatures that week that hovered near the upper 70s and lower 80s.

So it was green all right: Trees were leafing, buds were budding and the grass was greener on just about every side. It's also why all those photos of related ac -tivities that day in Pantagraph archives are rife with the color of exposed skin as much as the more typically dominant hue. St. Pat never saw so much wearin' o' the shorts and tees in mid-March Central Illinois. Flash forward 52 weeks, when meteorological history is not likely to repeat itself, we're Hi 1 if sorry to say.

Temperatures, as of this writing, were expected to be around 30 degrees down from a year ago, hovering in the upper 40s to lower 50s. In other words: the way mid-March is supposed to feel. What will be repeating itself is the landing of St. Patrick's Day on a weekend this time on Sunday, with related events stretching over three days. Here's a look at what's ahead: I What looks be a firm St.

Pat's tradition now for the Twin Cities uptown Normal's Sharin' of the Green Parade is back for its third time charmer. The junior-year edition of the Easter Seals fundraiser, co-sponsored by the Irish Heritage Society of McLean County, kicks off at 1 p.m. Saturday at School and Locust streets and snakes its way to Beaufort and Linden. Floats, bands and much greenery are promised, with prizes awarded to the best floats. I If one St.

Pat's parade doesn't fill your seasonal needs, there are two more area whoppers that supplement Normal's: Peoria's St. Patrick's Day Parade is the one parade to actually land on the holiday itself, kicking off in downtown Peoria at 2 p.m. Sunday, followed by much color-coded revelry, drink and cuisine at assorted downtown pubs and eateries. Springfield's St. Patrick's Day Marching Parade steps off at noon Saturday downtown, and, as its name specifies, places a strong emphasis SEE GREEN PAGE D7 mm if I.

i Us? I vrp ror The Pantagraph The movies' most famous Irish-American dancer, Gene Kelly, headlines "Singin' in the Rain," tonight through Sunday at the Normal Theater. One of the vintage photographs on view in "The Greening of the Prairie: Irish Immigration and Settlement in McLean County," an ongoing exhibit in the McLean County Museum of History. GO! to market The March edition of the indoor Winter Farmers Market under the dome of the McLean County Museum of History produces its produce from 10 a.m. to noon Saturday. GO! boogie wBilly Two last chances to see the subject of last week's GO! cover story, the national tour of "Billy Elliot" in its downstate debut, at 2 and 7:30 p.m.

today in the Peoria Civic Center Theater. Or, better yet let's call the whole thing off is time to come clean, it is. When famed iZ i amazed by the passions be -ing exchanged. We were reminded of Michaleen Flynn's awed observation in "The Quiet Man," after coming upon Mary Kate Danahar's collapsed bed, itself the result of exchanged passions. "Impetuous." "Homeric!" Happily, someone named "Emily" stepped into the Grammar Girl fray with these words ones that we have decided to live by from here on out, at least as far as a certain mid -March seasonal observance goes.

"Or you can just call it St. Patrick's Day. It uses the same amount of syllables, and, really, if you're so sloshed you can't say Patrick, then you've got bigger issues." Craft is Pantagraph entertainment editor. He can be reached at 309-829-9000. Ext.

259 or via email at dcraftpantagraph.com someone of German heritage." Hence, Americans' thoughtful alteration of St. Paddy's to St. Patty's. Snakes alive! From "I am Irish living in Ireland and I would like to object to your point that Paddy is an ethnic slur. I have lots of relatives called Paddy and to say that the name Paddy is an ethnic slur is incorrect." And: "If anything, I know for a fact that it is absolutely insulting to anybody Irish if you refer to our patron S.

Patrick as Patty instead of Paddy. Patty is a girl's name. Here in Ireland you will NEVER hear anybody say St. Patty's day, but ALWAYS the correct St. Paddy's day.

"Irish people are irritated and frustrated at the whole St. Patty name thing! Please stopit.Ibegyou!" The verbal donnybrook roiled on. We found ourselves But as we've since learned, it's not quite as simple as switching consonants from Patty's to Paddy's, and then moving forward with your life Seeking further enlightenment on the topic, we stumbled upon a website lorded over by somebody called Grammar Girl, who hosted a heated debate on the subject a year ago this very week. One participant, named Sara, disputed Grammar Girl's verdict that "each year, millions of Americans annoy the Irish by referring to St. Patrick's Day as St.

Patty's Day; for the record, the correct short form is St. Paddy's Day." Sara contended that Paddy "is an ethnic slur for Irishmen, usually denoting an ignorant, lower-class man." She added: "It's like saying Happy St. Kraut's Day to Irish folk group The Chieftains performed two weekends ago at the Bloomington Center for the Performing Arts, we dropped a colloquial but heartfelt reference to that upcoming annual observance known as "St. Patty's Day." Saints preserve us in formaldehyde. The slip of semantics occurred during an interview with The Chieftains' head chief, Paddy Moloney.

With so much Paddy in the air that day, our antennae ought to at least have been quivering in the right direction, if not tuned to the exact frequency. As in, Paddy: a guy. As in, Patty: not a guy. Reader Barb Barthelemy of Normal was the first to take notice and offense. She was also the most ex- Dan Craft plicitinher alarm.

"If your name is Patrick, you can be a Pat or a Paddy," she said. "NEVER, NEVER, NEVER is it St. Patty," she added. "Patty is Patricia," she concluded. "Hope I don't have to suffer further this year, at least not while reading The Pantagraph," she appended.

Rest assured, we went through all of today's seasonal coverage with a fine-toothed comb, all the better to assure that even a mote of gender confusion didn't spoil the party. GO! green St. Patrick's Day rules this weekend, from this moment on, through the Day itself Sunday; check today's GO! cover story for the pot o' gold nearest you. GO! inside GO! Calendar, D4 Todd Snider at the Castle, D3.