The return of the American Music Show is just hours away! Check out the videos below and then head to Donnie’s homespun: Tonight at 6:30 – The Whistle Pigs Tonight at 7:45 – The Mastersons: Tonight at 9:30 – Chris Caselo Trio: Can’t seem to find any video of tomorrow’s openers, Big Storm, onstage at […]
Scott Faingold
Scott Faingold is a journalist, educator and musician. He has been director of student media at University of Illinois Springfield, founding editor of Activator magazine, a staff reporter for Illinois Times and co-host of Old School Bleep, a music-centered podcast.
Posted inArts & Culture
Art weekend! Tonight: DEMO Project, tomorrow night, The Pharmacy
It’s a big weekend for the visual arts in Springfield, with openings at the DEMO Project tonight and The Pharmacy’s 10th group exhibition on Saturday. The DEMO Project (732 North Fourth Street) is celebrating its one year anniversary with a unique and exciting exhibit by Carla Bengtson, head of the art department at University of […]
Posted inNews
Artists on the move
Artist credit: Janet Kueber Sgro Since its first group exhibit in November of 2011, the independent artist collective known as The Pharmacy has been a force to be reckoned with in the Springfield arts scene, providing affordable studio and gallery space for painters, sculptors and other artists as well as multiple well-attended exhibitions annually. In […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Torch Tuesday Tonight: The Return of Corn Bread!
Springfield hip-hop eminence Corn Bread is taking a break from his ongoing Los Angeles adventures to cast his verbal and sonic pearls before the Torch Tuesday Concert Series crowd tonight. Endlessly antic, inventive and irreverent, the man alternately known as Corn the Coon, Agent Double-O-Negro, and Cornfucius (depending on his mood) will appear tonight with occasional assists […]
Posted inSpecial Issues
Lots of good music coming this fall
Donnie’s Homespun showcases the return of rockabilly-infused madman the Reverend Horton Heat Sept. 10. As reliable as the leaves donning their brilliantine colors and that familiar chill exiling the once seemingly interminable humidity, music is once again in the air as autumn gets underway. This fall finds sounds of nearly every stripe making their way […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Torch Tuesday: Three-part School Supply Drive starting tonight
Tonight is the beginning of a three-part school supply drive from the local hip-hop community .Due to budget issues the district closed three elementary schools in the city and are sending all of those students to Feitshans. With such an influx of low income students at one place the need for supplies is at an […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Great rock show at Bar None tonight:
Middle Class Fashion Acclaimed St. Louis band Middle Class Fashion describe themselves as “sugar sweet pop with a secret dark side.” The Luzhin Defense The Luzhin Defense (a/k/a the extravagantly talented Rogers brothers of Springfield) modestly describe their output as “an oddly familiar landscape of pop music.” FUCK///MOUNTAIN When Brandon Carnes (owner-operator of […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Yeah, I went there
While the idea behind my You had to be there column is to shine a bitter, vindictive light on a sampling of musical, artistic and other cultural events you probably missed out on in Springfield the previous weekend, it must be acknowledged that some things just don’t ever make their way to town, for a […]
Posted inArts & Culture
You had to be there: A column of sour grapes
NIL8 at Downhome Festival Saturday night “Perhaps contrary to accepted wisdom, a lot actually happens in Springfield during any given week. In “You had to be there,” a new recurring feature on the Faingold at Large blog, I will take on the role of reader’s surrogate as I report on musical, theatrical, artistic, or even just spontaneous […]
Posted inArts & Culture
An exciting, eclectic season at Sangamon Auditorium
The April Verch Band performs Jan. 16 PHOTO COURTESY SANGAMON AUDITORIUM From singer-songwriters to international cultural ambassadors, from children’s entertainment to the blues, from gritty rock to glitzy musicals to a beloved comedian, the 2014-2015 season at Sangamon Auditorium runs the gamut. AmericanaSeveral of this year’s musical acts fit neatly in the very popular Americana […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Torch Tuesday Open Mic Tonight!
Torch Tuesday master of ceremonies Uncanny. Photo: Picture Perfect Photography Do you have the skills to pay the bills? Do you drop science as part of your daily routine? Is spitting bars as natural to you as drawing breath? Okay, do you at least know what the phrase “spitting bars” means? If you answered yes […]
Posted inNews
Downhome Fest is all about the music
Micah Walk will perform with his new band at the Downhome Music, Beer and Arts Festival on Friday night. PHOTO COURTESY OF MICAH WALK “Our idea was to gather up all these smaller, original bands and give them a chance to get up on the big stages, make some money and get their name out […]
