HIGHLAND PARK, Ill. — The longtime Ravinia Festival has revised its summer concert schedule because of the buzz created by a certain red-eyed bug.

Cicadas, known for their loud hum and unique 17-year life cycle, are expected to make a debut this June.

So officials from the almost 103-year-old music festival will move several outdoor concerts indoors. They also pushed the date of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra’s annual summer concerts back to July 6, later in the season than usual.

By then, the chirping critters should cease.

The subtleties of the music “would get completely lost and drowned out,” said Welz Kauffman Ravinia Festival president and CEO.

The 1 1/2-inch-long black bugs, which can number several hundred thousand per acre, don’t sting or bite. Once they emerge, they spend their two-week lives climbing trees, shedding their crunchy skins and reproducing – and making lots of noise.

While some types of cicadas hatch each year, others arrive in 13- or 17-year cycles. Many of the insects also appear localized in different parts of Illinois.

Often mistaken for locusts, periodic cicadas last emerged in large numbers in the state in 1990.

In anticipation for this year’s appearance, several museums, including Chicago’s Notebaert Nature Museum, are planning special exhibits.

“They’re really cool to watch,” said Doug Taron, Notebaert’s curator of biology. “They have these bright red eyes. And you can eat them.“

JOKESTARTERS:

• So…some ugly-ass cockroach-like bugs are so loud that a city is changing its outdoor concert schedule? Hey, now we know where the Department of Homeland Security gets its staffers!
• Cicadas apparently taste a little like popcorn. These guys have the wrong idea – they should combine the two and have outdoor concerts and all the free ‘cicadacorn’ you can eat!

SOURCE:

• WRAL

BILLINGS, Mont. — A man told police not to blame him for crashing his truck into a light post – it was that unicorn behind the wheel.

Prosecutor Ingrid Rosenquist said Phillip C. Holliday Jr. initially denied driving the truck involved in the March 7 crash in Billings. He told officers at the scene that a unicorn was driving, she said.

Holliday, 42, pleaded not guilty Tuesday to felony charges of criminal endangerment and drunken driving.

A pickup truck drove through a red light and nearly struck another truck in the intersection, according to court documents. The driver then made an erratic U-turn through a gas station, crossed the street and crashed into a light pole. Nobody was injured.

Holliday has five drunken-driving convictions. District Judge Gregory Todd kept his bail at $100,000 despite his lawyer arguing that Holliday’s last such conviction was 14 years ago.

JOKESTARTERS:

• “Excuse me sir, have you been hallucinating tonight? Because you just ran over a Leprechaun.”
• Doncha just hate it when wreckless Unicorns ruin driving late at night?
• I can’t believe a Unicorn was driving the truck. I mean, everyone knows you can’t use your hoof on a clutch. Plus, whenever he turned his head to check his blind spot, his horn would knock the rear-view mirror off.

SOURCE:

• Centre Daily