It’s hard to imagine anyone stretching a cable between two tall towers today and then walking the high wire, a quarter-mile above Earth.

That’s what Philippe Petit did on Aug. 7, 1974. His friends counted eight crossings over the 200 feet of  cable. Petit, then 24, danced on it for 45 minutes before landing in the arms of police.

Now the Builders Association is going really multimedia, particularly for people who own smart phones & iPads.

At two points during its new production, “House / Divided”, to be presented at 7:30 p.m. Friday (Sept. 21) at Krannert Center for the Performing Arts, audience members with certain smart phones and iPads can see additional visual content.

This sounds like fun: Sinfonia da Camera, the chamber orchestra founded by Ian Hobson, will have a Fall Colors Benefit Experience on Sept. 30 during an autumn sunset at the historic Moore Mansion in Monticello.

The event will begin at 4 p.m. at the mansion at 1001 N. State St., Monticello. Michaels’ Catering will provide food and wine, and Hobson and friends, live music.

Sleigh Bells, who were set to open the eighth annual Pygmalion Music Festival in Champaign and Urbana next week, have canceled their appearance due to a member having recently injured his hand.

Refunds for all single-show tickets that were purchased will be made available starting today (Sept. 17.) The local ‘90s indie rock band Hum will perform in their place.

Ta-da. Drum roll, please. 40 North 88 West has released the names of individuals and organizations that will receive the 2012 ACE Awards.

All seven ACE (Arts, Culture and Education) Award winners “embody the spirit of the local arts community with their passion, energy, and dedication to the creative culture of Champaign County,” the arts council said in a news release.

If you are at all interested in graphic design, history or World War I, hurry over to the Art Coop inside Lincoln Square Village in Urbana.

Mike Perrino and I had exactly the same reaction to the turnout for his father’s memorial tribute on Sunday (Sept. 9) at the Alice Campbell Alumni Center at the University of Illinois:

Wow!

Hundreds of relatives, friends, colleagues, musicians and former students going back to Dan Perrino’s high school teaching career  filled the large room to overflowing into the atrium.

As a photographer for The Daily Illini in 1975, I had the pleasure of photographing Dan Perrino for one of those day-in-the-life-of-a-university photo essays.
With my Honeywell 35mm camera around my neck, I spent most of Nov. 28, 1975, with Perrino, then dean of campus programs and services.

REO Speedwagon, the rock band that’s sold more than 40 million records after getting its start in Champaign-Urbana, will perform at 8 p.m. Sept. 29 at Lantz Arena at Eastern Illinois University.

The first movie to sell out in the 14th annual Ebertfest, which ended today, was writer-director Jeff Nichols’s "Take Shelter," a Hitchcock-style psychological family drama starring Michael Shannon and Jessica Chastain.