Sufjan (pronounced Soof-yan) Stevens is a musician from Michigan. Last summer he released his fifth album, called “Illinois.” “Illinois” is his second state-themed concept album (2003′s “Michigan” was the first).

Stevens spent four months in isolation during the winter of 2004, reading books, biographies, Carl Sandburg poetry, and Saul Bellow novels in order to better understand the state. Throughout the album, he incorporates historical aspects along with more general observations, “The sound of the engines and the smell of the grain/ We go riding on the abolition grain train/ Stephen A. Douglas was a great debater but Abraham Lincoln was the Great Emancipator.”

A sad piano is accompanied by a distant whistling oboe on the opening track, “Concerning the UFO Sighting near Highland, Illinois.” Stevens’ often delicate tenor singing style is accentuated in the simplicity of the song. “John Wayne Gacy, Jr.” has a similarly simple texture, where he writes empathetically about the infamous Chicago serial killer, saying, “And in my best behavior/ I am really just like him.”

Mood and tempo pick up in “Decatur, or, Round of Applause for Your Stepmother!” as banjo, guitar, and saxophone dance into a small closing applause. A vibraphone dangles and melts into a quartet of strings and drums in the poignant “Chicago.”

The 22 tracks spin on over 73 minutes, a long and grueling battle to the end. Many of the songs are hard to put into context, requiring some digging. Overall, Stevens’ introspective musings pervade a kind of freshness representing his journey through Illinois, permeating outward, unaware of boundaries.

Brian Wilson’s “SMiLE” dream began back in summer 1966. The Beatles had recently released Revolver, Lyndon Johnson was the president and Robert Kennedy a senator, and Martin Luther King fought civil rights.

Two years earlier Wilson stopped touring with the Beach Boys due to emotional problems. He would continue composing and producing songs for the band. After composing his masterpiece “Pet Sounds,” considered by many as one of the greatest albums of all time, Wilson began working on “SMiLE.” Now, a healthy buzz among those hip to the music scene swirled around his presence in the studio. However, the original tapes were shelved and unfinished in 1967 due to resistance within the group and Wilson’s struggle with mental illness.

Wilson began working on the record after his wife encouraged him to share it with the world, and after 38 years in the shadows, the record shined.

“SMiLE” opens its floodgates with “Our Prayer,” an angelic melodious fusion of ahhs, oohs, and hums steaming into upbeat drums and whistles of the whimsical “Heroes and Villains.” The words of Van Dyke Parks shoot straight from the back of Wilson’s throat in a style all his own (“Stand or fall, I know there shall be peace in the valley, and it’s all an affair of my life with the Heroes and Villains”).

In “Wonderful,” a light dancing harpsichord lifts Wilson’s voice above swirling background harmonies until fading into “Song for Children” freakish horns and into “Child is the Father of the Man” as if one big song. A wild blend of guitar, keyboard, mallets, power drills, whistles, woodwinds and leg slaps complement the abstract writing of Parks. The record’s wide array of instruments are matched by vocal and lyrical quality throughout, especially in “Surf’s Up,” not to be confused with the surf songs of the early Beach Boys.

“SMiLE” closes with the successful “Good Vibrations,” taking its listeners back and forth across Wilson’s seemingly inexhaustible musical landscape. From the sunny shores of Southern California, to the depths of mental illness, to something different ? SMiLE.

Wilson and his traveling band, The Wondermints, are currently resting after a busy two years on tour throughout Japan, Europe and the United States. No further tour dates are scheduled at this time.

Rating: 4 stars

As Sixth Street stretches east over Interstate 29 and turns into Highway 14 once again, drivers may notice a new 20,000 square-foot building. However, no exterior distinction can yet be made as to what the facility’s function may be.

The automatic doors open up into a spacious waiting room. Smoke ascends from the gas fireplace through the terracotta gold brick chimney reaching towards a 30-foot ceiling.

Three patients sit on the chairs around the wooden table with car, wildlife and political magazines as they wait to enter one of the 12 chiropractic rooms of the Brookings Therapeutic and Surgery Center.

Chiropractor, Dr. Scott Munsterman, said, “Our mission is to provide care to help people reach normal function to restore their lives using a multidisciplinary approach.” Multidisciplinary care includes ambulances, therapy, operation and recuperation within the center.

Munsterman said only 41% of Brookings citizens go to the Brookings Hospital, while the other 59% go to Sioux Falls. He believes the new facility will keep patients from traveling to Sioux Falls for care.

Klinger Construction began work on the building last August. Several subcontractors are also involved in completing some of the more specialized work. “It’s about 95% complete. The Brooking Ambulatory Surgery Center should be done by Jan. 6,” said Dr. Munsterman. He said the surgery center makes up almost half of the entire facility.

The center also houses an impressive 2,500 square-foot fitness center, 10 therapy stalls, waiting rooms and locker rooms.

While the surgery center is in the process of hiring, the chiropractic center and wellness center contain 10 and five faculty, respectively.

Munsterman said the facility’s six doctors have more than 100 years of combined experience.

An old car wash sign reaches above the roadside trees and stands as a stranger in the midst of a growing 16,000-square-foot office building.

The building stretches between the Barrel Drive-In and Sound Sensations along Eighth Street South’s downward slope as it darts eastward from Main Street.

Countless tire marks blanket the ground between the freshly poured cement sidewalks at the building’s front, to the curb, and gutter near the road. Three peaks line the rooftop above its entrances and a large awning shoots out above its east- side window.

Last May, developer Dean Gulbranson filed a lawsuit against the city when city officials rejected his request for a building permit to construct the new office building.

He was told that the site was part of the Brookings Municipal Airport’s runway protection zone. The protection zone is not supposed to include any land used as residences or places of public assembly.

City officials had issued several permits in the last 15 years because they were unaware of the Federal Aviation Adminstration regulations. A court decision ruled that the city was wrong and

Gulbranson received a permit to start constructing the office building.

Gulbranson said construction of the building started on Sept. 1 and should be ready for occupancy by Jan. 1.

Daren Construction of Sioux Falls is erecting the building, which will contain seven offices.

“”The offices will be occupied by an attorney, a certified public accountant, a money management company, an insurance agency, a bank and an office for my own business,”said Gulbranson. He said the vacant office will be filled soon.

“A recommendation is to be sent to the FAA by Nov. 1 to either move the airport altogether, change the runway’s direction or shorten its runway,” said Gulbranson The Federal Aviation Administration is primarily responsible for the advancement, safety and regulation of civil aviation.

Gulbranson has received a sum of money from the city as compensation for money he lost during the three month court proceedings last summer.