Now with Halloween and October safely behind us, we look forward to the upcoming holiday season with all the entertainment entities ahead. It’s never too early to brush up on your bridge lyrics for “Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer” or to practice those tricky little rumpa-pum-pums in “Little Drummer Boy.” I know, I know, let’s […]
Music
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Bluesmattic
Established as one of the finest pure blues bands in central Illinois, Bluesmattic built a reputation by persevering through fine playing and good performing. The rocking blues trio of Robert Beam (guitar), Greg Campbell (bass) and Scott Henrikson (drums) began as a unit in 2006 combining decades of previous experience from different areas. Beam came […]
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Halloween happening here
Knock knock.Who’s there? Boo!! Boo!! Who?Don’t start crying, Halloween is here. The most glorious, ridiculous, fabulous, guilt-free, inspiring, creative, fun holiday we offer in modern American society comes to town this weekend. With the actual date of Oct. 31 falling on Sunday those of bar-going age get a Saturday night to party on, while an […]
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Peggy Lowder and Harry Lounsberry
These two seasoned veterans of the local music scene recently collaborated on a CD of original tunes and intend to perform them at the CD release show. Conceived by Lounsberry (vocals, keyboards), Lowder (vocals, percussion) contributed to the production as the two performing songwriters combined to create a project designed to “capture an audience that […]
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Third Floor opens doors
As the Hoogland Center for the Arts continues to be a major force in area arts events and a blessing upon our collective artistic sensibilities, a certain element of the local scene remains out of the loop. Stellar community theater presentations abound and miscellaneous entertainment occurrences appear including touring music concerts, comedy acts, dance shows […]
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Anne, Bucky and Mother Jones
Lots of happening things are going on this weekend like the Damwell Betters christening the reopening of Charlie’s Club under Andiamo, Russel Brazzel playing a cool classical guitar concert, Dan Keding storytelling and playing music with the Unitarians and other area delights. But trumping all in my world is folksinger Bucky Halker paying tribute to […]
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The ReJuvenilz
Not so long ago, vocalist Rod Grant, guitarist Johnny Johnson and bass player Doug Antonacci, all former members of Late Arrival (a previous winner in IT’s Best of Springfield for band duties, by the way) and vets of other bands, began planning for another foray into the music scene by searching for drummers who could […]
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Too much to do to get done
What do a fifties doo-wop group, a world-class female jazz vocalist from Chicago, a thing called Girl-a-Thon, folksingers from Portland, Ore., and Sparta, Ill., a fourth of the Doors, along with a group from Holland playing old-time American country music have in common? Well nothing really, other than performing soon in central Illinois at a […]
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Jodyboss
Jessica Jolly and Nate Blesse started an acoustic duo a few years back to get experience playing out and give the world a chance to experience Jessica’s original songs. Drummer Robert Burtnett joined in late 2009 and the trio played “more than a few gigs in the area and abroad,” but the group solidified as […]
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October falls into place
I find early October wonderful for many reasons, including but not exclusive to the crisp and awakening air, jackets and boots, communicating owls, red sassafras leaves as seen without my glasses on, evening fires worth the warmth, finding and ingesting wild fall mushrooms, friends at folk music conferences, insatiable samplings of Oktoberfest beers and after […]
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Nonpoint
With a new album produced by Chad Gray and Greg Tribbett of Mudvayne out in May of 2010 and fresh from a sweet spot on the main stage of OzzFest tour, the South Florida hard rock quartet Nonpoint is out to make a point. The debut single Miracle charted higher than any other from the […]
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Sangamon Valley Roots Revival turns 10
The first wise guy in this old world to see the truth in the saw, “if you want something done, do it yourself” latched on to a key precept in human endeavors. Another seriously silly saying like, “every great journey begins with a step,” carries a good deal of folk wisdom as well. When the […]
