Bonjour, my music friends, and welcome to the year when Mardi Gras nearly coincides with Valentine’s Day. We are celebrating in a somewhat different fashion in 2021, but things are looking up. There is hope at the end of the tunnel, as a friend prone to beautifully mixing metaphors said the other day. Even with […]
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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Phat February
Howdy folks. We’re in full swing for a fortunate February, with moments of frantic phases filing through as we continue to fight a full-scale pandemic in much of the world. Here in our neighborhood family, there are glimpses of normalcy, as we go forward to face the ferocious virus that has so forcefully upended our […]
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Music and comedy
Look out folks, here comes the end of January in the new year of 2021, on the move and in the groove, ready to slide on from the past, pop through to the present and delve out into the future. And wouldn’t you know it, there are actually live performances to speak of, talk about, […]
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Preview by review
As a few larger venues are able to open up as we experience an orderly lessening of the pandemic protocols around the state, a return to a music scene as we know it is in our foreseeable future. While we’re waiting, how about checking out what we were doing a few years ago at this […]
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Music charges
Welcome to our world as we are into the second issue of 2021 with a slight thaw in the live music freeze about to happen. Here come our first live gigs of the year with the promise and hope of more to come as the COVID vaccinations continue, our infection rates drop and, most importantly, […]
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New year news
Welcome to the year of 2021. While we progress through the pandemic knowing that nothing will ever be the same, simultaneously admitting that nothing ever is, let’s keep the faith believing that things will open up again in the not-too-distant future. Soon, bands will beat the beats in bars, downtown Springfield will be flush with […]
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Hello 2021, goodbye 2020
Welcome to our annual Remembering issue as we wrap up one year and move on to the next. Perhaps the old adage that proclaims if you can’t say anything nice about someone – or in this case, some year – don’t say anything at all, should apply to 2020. But there are some good things […]
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Two Christmas songs
Happy holidays to everyone, and here’s to having a very Merry Christmas, too. Since there’s not much going on in the live music world, nor in the virtual one either, how about a ramble on two popular Christmas songs that just happen to be favorites of mine? I’ve always appreciated the song Happy Xmas (War […]
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Hollows, ships and streams
Since the now playing aspect of this Now Playing column generally revolves around live music, and as our in-person live music is on hold for a time, how about we continue to pursue our never-ending quest for the good stuff in the forms now available at this time in our current world situation. In other […]
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Not much playing now
As we head into mid-December, the live music scene is officially kaput for now as we are in the throes of a global pandemic, putting some events in central Illinois (as well as many other places) on hold for public safety reasons. Please be as patient, vigilant and considerate as possible as we move through […]
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Onto online again
As we waltz into arguably (try to argue that it isn’t!) the most peculiar holiday season of our lifetimes, let’s be sure to stay aware of those in need and make needed changes to regular routines to help us all stay safe and sound. Even though many of the familiar events we all look forward […]
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Giving thanks for what we got
Can we be at that Thanksgiving milestone already in 2020? I hear folks say this year everything seems to be moving so fast, yet crawling by at the same time, and I can report feeling that same sense of strange times gone astray. Be that as it may, here we are and here we go, […]
