Only a few years ago Brooke Thomas sang plenty, but without performing in a traveling band. Now in 2011, after fronting the Blue Suns for about a year, she is releasing a CD, Live from the Capital City, this weekend, won the local 2010 International Blues Challenge solo/duo contest and performs regularly at venues all […]
Tom Irwin
Tom Irwin, a sixth-generation Sangamon County resident, has played his songs and music for nearly 40 years in the central Illinois area with occasional forays across the country. He's contributed to Illinois Times since 2000 by writing Now Playing, a weekly music column, as well as features stories and other articles. He resides on the Irwin family farm in rural Pleasant Plains.
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Hurricane Ruth returns
Try tossing out the name Hurricane Ruth in a conversation about area music and see what happens. Most folks from back in the day are likely to have a story about a particularly stupendous performance or perhaps a terrific tale of those heady times. Voted top blues band by the now-defunct Prairie Sun magazine and […]
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Area 51
As area bands go, Area 51 just keeps going. Now in their second decade of performance as a unit, Jeff Loftus (drums, vocals), Larry Dupont (vocals, sax, bass), Larry Crowley (bass, acoustic guitar, vocals) and Rod Vansandt (guitars, vocals, bass) continue to play the top shelf shows in central Illinois. With all the best fests, […]
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Marina V on the move
Lots of events are happening this weekend including the Taste of Downtown with the American Music Show, plus plenty of regular rigmarole at area bars, but whenever Marina V comes to town we stop the presses and see what our favorite Russian-born singer/pianist/songwriter has been up to lately. As usual with Marina, as you are […]
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Mathien
A guitarist and songwriter since his youth, Chris Mathien began playing as a solo act during his college years at Southern Illinois University Carbondale. He hooked up with bassist Mike Schiff and drummer Aaron Bouslog then released the CD Head, Heart and Hands which caught the attention of Chicago’s Midwest Music Group management organization. Another […]
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Deb Callahan
The Illinois Central Blues Club features Philadelphia’s Deb Callahan on the Fourth of July for a Red, White and Blue Monday. The blues and soul-soaked singer and songwriter released Tell It Like It Is, her fourth CD, in October of 2010. Produced by Deb with Philadelphia musician Chris Arms and recorded at Studio 4 in […]
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July music explodes
There are a couple of dandy weekends coming up, the first with a bit of Yankee Doodle in it counting the Fourth of July celebration and the next a yummy treat during the Taste of Downtown, so let’s get down to business. On Friday, talented singer-songwriter Pete Sander hosts another Homegrown Folk showcase at Bar […]
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KFD
Less than a year after forming, KFD is now firmly established as one of the top notch cover bands in central Illinois with an imposing list of big gigs lined up for this summer. Along with headlining the prestigious Chatham Homecoming the group, consisting of local music veterans Perry Zubeck (keyboards, vocals), Mike Williams (lead […]
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Bottoms up
Last year our introduction of the first BassBerg event contained a list of silly bass player jokes collected from sources not particularly friendly to our bassist buddies. Let’s begin this year’s tribute with a few puns upon the bottom echelon of the music world, the lower portion of the melodic scale, that down deep place […]
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Human harmony through music
In a world increasingly riddled with cacophony, rifled in over-stimulation and ruled by dissonance, our lives could use more peacefulness. Music, when presented in a healing form, has existed as a balm of sorts for time immemorial, soothing the savage beast created by self-imposed, human estrangement from serene activities. Artist Marc Hennessey not only believes […]
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Prairie State Heartache
Originally formed about a year and a half ago with music industry up-and-comer Jonathan Cour as singer-songwriter and front man, Prairie State Heartache garnered interest from major label producer Rick Beato (Shinedown, Need to Breathe) and seemed poised to make some big noise. But alas, it was not to be, as the band found itself […]
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Rogers & Nienhaus
This St. Louis-area-based duo sports a music pedigree of incredible caliber, from stints as members of the last touring configuration of the Byrds with original drummer Michael Clarke, on to stellar careers ranging from local legends to international stars. Terry Jones Rogers and Scott Nienhaus, working separately as established professional musicians, got together through the […]
