The blues man begins by looking over the students in the room. It’s dead silent. James Armstrong is cool, presenting himself in a John Lee Hooker style three-piece suit and black shades. He talks to the kids about music, the instrument he plays, the places he’s traveled and why he plays blues music. He performs […]
Music Features
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Leap into the music
Welcome to the end of February, and with this being 2020 – which is a Leap Year – welcome to Leap Day Weekend. To me, and by extension, hopefully to you, it’s an extra special February 29 because said day falls on a Saturday. That is good for getting out to see live music since […]
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Romance and bombast
The Illinois Symphony Orchestra returned to the UIS Performing Arts Center Saturday, Feb. 15, with a spirited Valentine’s Day-themed program entitled “Love Notes.” Things got underway with an enthusiastic performance of Richard Strauss’s 17-minute tone poem “Don Juan” (1888), introduced in amusing fashion by ISO music director Ken Lam, who illustrated each stage of the […]
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Mardi Gras and more
Here we are at Mardi Gras time already with much more included in a week full of fabulous times, fun happenings and February at its finest. Shall we partake? Thursdays keep rolling on as a good night for live music and this week is no exception. Over at the Butternut Hut, Jeff Berendt (of The […]
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Valentine music time
You can “Be My Valentine” or you could “Be Your Own Valentine,” but however you decide to spend your love light, energy goulash for the Saint Valentine Day celebration, please consider doing so with a healthy dose of live music. It’s the second Thursday of the month, and of course that means a “Music at […]
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Fun-filled February
Welcome to the first full weekend of February in 2020, and it’s chock full of fun fantastically formed to fulfill your most fabulous, not at all fallacious, fantasies of a fine time. Let’s get right to it as we have lots to cover. Thursday gives us a couple of stellar Springfield acts that surely set […]
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Open mics and more
As we slip-slide our way into February of 2020, let’s take a look at the entertainment coming our way this week, including those who give others an opportunity to perform on stage. I’m referring to those odd little things called open mics or open jams happening on the off days of our ever-flourishing music scene. […]
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Music moves us
As we travel through this old world, I think we can safely say music moves us in many ways and thereby, in many ways is a main mover of human emotion, carrying some spark that mends, muses and motivates. In other words, music is cooler than a popsicle or last Sunday night’s outdoor temps while […]
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Musician-aid time
Here we go into mid-January as the music scene remains on the move, viable and productive, continuing to provide our fair city with pleasurable and provocative entertainment experiences. On Sunday, Jan. 19, we gather in support of musician, booker, fundraiser, working man, parent and friend Micky Shomidie at Boondocks from noon to 7 p.m. Micky, […]
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On into the new year
Here we go tumbling toward weekend number two for the year 2020 and things look about the same as usual, which means there are numerous cool and happening events for you to participate in if you would only choose to do so. The Music at the Museum concerts, produced by Chris Vallillo on the second […]
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2020 happens
Hello everyone, and welcome to another new year. Perhaps we should nickname this one the “Year of Hindsight” or maybe “Seen with Perfect Vision” or whatever other interesting thought we can do with the “2020” thing to make it a winner. But for now let’s get prepared for another year of amazing music in our […]
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Remembering to music
Welcome to our Remembering issue, celebrating the lives of those we lost i n the last year. Sadly, we had more than a few musicians join the everlasting band in 2019. Let’s send these dearly missed music makers off with a round of applause for a job well done on this old earth. Not to […]
