Music Features

As the weather cools and autumn falls upon us, the gigs are still coming in strong for a while longer. This weekend brings us some unusual collections of the usual caliber of finely formed music made right here in the capital city. Thursday evening at 7, Buzz Bomb Brewing Company presents another edition of Sirens […]

Centuries ago we might say, “Welcome to the Ides of October,” but that seems a little confusing since we aren’t Romans. So since “ides” means basically the middle of the month, let’s stick with “mid” and find out what’s going on around here. I’m sure our on-the-ball readers remember a band based out of Springfield […]

As we work our way into the music of October and wind down the outdoor gigs, let’s all be careful and safe as we enjoy the cool tunes in the crisp air of autumn, unless by the time you read this we’ve had a genuine fall heat wave, which looks very possible by weekend forecasts. […]

Welcome to October 2020 and all the fine, frivolous, fractious, fun, fantastic and phenomenal things it may or may not have to offer you and yours. But whatever the case, we’ve still got live music happening at outdoor venues as we await seasonal weather and the inevitable slowing down of music being made. On the […]

Yes, that’s meant to be a “so long, been good to know you” and a “it’s been so long of a September” double meaning to this week’s column headline as the ninth month with the seventh moniker has had its ups and downs. But here we are rolling on through 2020, working through the troubles, […]

As we approach our third weekend in September, the weather feels like fall and the music feels like it’s falling into place as well. As all scientific and medical advice advise against gathering inside in close quarters, our usual wind-down of outdoor gigs as the weather cools takes on new meaning in 2020. What’s going […]

Here we go on into September, looking for ways to shed these pandemic blues. If we keep working together to get through this for the good of all, there will soon be some light at the end of the tunnel and then, hopefully, we get out of the whole dang tunnel completely. For now, let’s […]

Hello all you music friends and fans, to another column on mostly live music in the time of a global pandemic. Live performances on a medium-to-large scale continue to be on hold due to the precautions necessary to keep our citizenry safe. Smaller shows, online streams and recorded tunes seem to be our best bet […]

As we roll into what would have been the second weekend of the Illinois State Fair for 2020 we can attempt to accept and amply appreciate what the global pandemic from COVID-19 has done to our lives and lifestyle. Our “Not Fair” statement from last week still applies on many levels as we continue to […]

Greetings, music friends and fans! Welcome to the column that normally would be all about the Illinois State Fair, but since there is no fair in 2020, we can reminisce some and ruminate upon the state of the state fair. Does that sound fair to you? I will do my best to avoid using all […]

Heading into our first full August weekend of 2020, we’re still staring deep into the pandemic hole that’s taken a toll on our live music scene and those all over the world. As our summer festivals, concerts, fairs and anywhere needing a crowd to be a thing are not happening, we look wherever we can […]