Music | Thursday, May 9,2013

Symphony season goes out on a high note

Maestro Alastair Willis has great expectations for coming years

This past weekend marked the end of the Illinois Symphony Orchestra’s 20th anniversary season, which was the first under the musical direction of Maestro Alastair Willis. Willis did not conduct

Music | Thursday, January 31,2013

One hell of an awards show for Springfield hip-hop

Torch Tuesday blows the roof off the sucka… respectfully

By Scott Faingold

Nobody can accuse the crowd at Torch Tuesday of not knowing how to party. Springfield’s most prominent showcase for regional hip-hop talent presented the second annual Torch Tuesday Awards on Ja

Music | Thursday, October 4,2012

Henry Rollins brings a ‘talking show’ to the Hoogland

Former Black Flag singer is on a tour of state capitals

By Scott Faingold

Henry Rollins is no Abe Lincoln.But that doesn’t stop the 51-year-old punk rock icon, TV personality, author and blogger from incorporating sections of the 16th president’s 1838 speech to

Music | Thursday, August 23,2012

Art, bikes and rock ’n’ roll

Jeff Williams of NIL8 has been creating music and art in Springfield for 30 years

By Scott Faingold

Rock musician. Fine artist. Cycling champion. If lifelong Springfield resident Jeff Williams does not qualify as a genuine renaissance man, he’ll have to do until one comes along. In addition, t

Music | Thursday, May 31,2012

Meet the maestro

The Illinois Symphony starts fresh with a new musical director

By Scott Faingold

“The power of music can unite a community,” says Alastair Willis, brand new music director of the Illinois Symphony Orchestra. “That’s what we all need to be striving towards.

Music | Thursday, March 29,2012

Confessions of a (minor) rock star

Mike Doughty performs at Legacy Theatre March 30

By Scott Faingold

Mike Doughty has been through the ringer. The former lead vocalist for sample-heavy ’90s alternative-rock mainstays Soul Coughing (“Super Bon Bon,” “Circles”) has put a l

Music | Thursday, December 29,2011

This Langfelder son is a New York singer

Home for the holidays, Jacob Langfelder performs in Springfield Dec. 29

By Julie Cellini

From the moment he made his musical debut at age 10, lip syncing Prince’s “Let’s Go Crazy” at Blessed Sacrament School’s talent show, Jacob Langfelder wanted to be on sta

Music | Thursday, September 29,2011

Hip-hop in the Heartland

The talent at Torch Tuesday may be the Springfield music scene’s best-kept secret

By Scott Faingold

[SOUND EFFECTS: needle drops onto vinyl; surface static; reporter clears throat]I’ll never forget the day I stumbled onto Springfield’s underground hip-hop scene. It all started with Raekw

Music | Thursday, June 10,2010

The mysterious Lazer Dudes

Springfield’s own electro-rock-sex-revival adventure

By Tom Irwin

Black leather fingerless gloves. Love Club and Stripping Glitter. Tattoos of strange designs in stranger places. Cahokia Mounds and MoonPandas. What link ties these odd and peculiar things together? A

Music | Thursday, March 25,2010

Central Illinois bands in Texas

Sounds from home at South by Southwest music fest

By Matthew Schroyer

Austin, Texas — At the South by Southwest music festival, the spring break of the music industry, sensory overload is practically guaranteed. From March 17-21, nearly 2,000 acts played in Austin