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 Saturday’s program, however, handing the baton to renowned conductor Stefan Sanderling of the Toledo Symphony Orchestra. The deliberately paced concert began with the atmospheric, nearly […]
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
This afternoon: Owen x Dooley = Rock and Roll
What do Owen and Dooley present? I would submit that this multi-generational duo presents blues-based, balls-out rock on a level rarely achieved. Tom Dooley Woolsey has been the guitar player to beat on the Springfield rock scene pretty much as long as there has been a Springfield rock scene. He hits the strings with authority […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Special guests for symphony finale tonight
ISO guest pianist Martina Filjak Guest conductor Stefan Sanderling The Illinois Symphony Orchestra will be closing out its 20th anniversary season (and first under the musical direction of Maestro Alastair Willis) in just a few hours with the appropriately named Fabulous Finale. Tonight’s program will be led by guest conductor Stefan Sanderling, and includes Beethoven’s Seventh Symphony […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Strange sonic rumblings at the Pharmacy (tonight)
I once took two different women to see the same band a month or so apart. It was a group whose music I really enjoyed, but I suppose it would generally be considered difficult– noisy, discordant and exploratory, fusing elements of avant-garde jazz and punk rock in a theatrical way that was as much about […]
Posted inSpecial Issues
Which eldercare facility is best for your family?
My grandfather, Charles Faingold, was a vital, robust guy for most of his life. At different points during his young manhood in Minneapolis and Chicago he plied his trade as both a wrestler and an accountant. He lucked into a job with the U.S. Postal Service just before the Great Depression hit, managing to remain […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Torch Tuesday Tonight: Agent Orange and more!
Agent Orange performs tonight at Bar None It’s not just Tuesday, it’s Torch Tuesday, which is when hip-hop happens in Springfield. Tonight BET’s 106 & Park finalist Agent Orange brings his barely contained rage and tight freestyle skills to the stage. Also on the bill are the very popular Scooby da Lyricist, HSMG and a […]
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Downstate Rock and Roll Hall of Fame: no-brainer or non starter?
This past weekend, the SJ-R’s Dave Bakke published a column suggesting that Springfield would be foolish not to start its own Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, honoring regional acts. This exhortation was somehow inspired by the fact that Bakke was prevented by weather conditions from attending the recent induction ceremony for his native South […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Shining Path
Cinephiles and horror fans itching for a road trip can rejoice this weekend as Champaign’s redoubtable Art Theater Co-op hosts a double feature of Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining (1980) along with the recent documentary Room 237 (see trailer below). The documentary attempts to explicate some of the many theories about what the heck the master director was getting […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Storytelling program enraptures kids
Storyteller Linda Gorham and the kids of St. Patrick Catholic School (Photo courtesy Jessica Wilmarth, Development Director for St. Patrick Catholic School) This morning the entire student body of St. Patrick Catholic School (100 students, pre-K through 5th grade) got to transform en masse into an overbearing bear, a sassy chipmunk, and a menagerie of […]
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Link for live stream of Epsom at The Pharmacy
Click on this link to watch the Epsom concert live – it’s already running, the band will start at 7! Let us know what you think! http://www.ustream.tv/channel/springvinmoto
Posted inArts & Culture
Crowe Fest tonight at Crows Mill Pub
As if there weren’t already enough choices for entertainment tonight, one of Springfield’s most venerable music venues is hosting a full and varied evening of rootsy music in the form of Crowe Fest 2013 at Crows Mill School (1220 Toronto Rd.) . The first part of the evening’s program will take full advantage of the […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Record Stores: A Remembrance
Sometime in 1988 or 1989, store manager Ron Davis hired me to work behind the counter at Appletree Records, after witnessing me help a fellow customer identify that the song Walking on the Moon by The Police was on the LP Regatta de Blanc and that it was in stock, something the clerk on duty had failed […]
