Music

When Anna Fermin and Becky Aud-Jennison decided it was time to act upon their humanitarian and philanthropic desires, everything just fell into place. Fermin, a popular singer-songwriter in Chicago and Aud-Jennison, a psychotherapist living in Springfield, describe the formation of MomsthatRock Productions, a homespun charitable organization, as a nearly spiritual convergence, bound to happen as […]

Brainchild, a band quartet of two guitars, bass and drums, works in a fairly exclusive area of rock music. According to their Web site information, the Peoria-based group “integrates the feeling of jazz and soul with the intensity of shredding guitar solos” and declares that, “the best way to describe the sound is Brainchild.” On […]

The Sangamon County Fair is already underway, but if you’re a prompt and punctual Thursday reader of Illinois Times (why of course you are!) only one day of spectacular entertainment has passed you by. Peggy Lowder and Royal Pain at the Miller Rock beer tent and Hells Bells, the AC DC impersonation — excuse me […]

I received an e-mail last week from Jacob Shane, better known to central Illinois music fans as Jake Shane, the young blues picker who represented the Illinois Central Blues Club at the 2007 International Blues Challenge in Memphis. Shane won the duo/solo competition in Springfield and performed during the annual contest, where players from all […]

Not so long ago the fledgling SOHO Music Fest was an awkward but earnest attempt to raise funds for a local charity while presenting local rock bands to a somewhat uncaring and apathetic community. Now in its fifth year, the downtown block party held on June 5 and 6 keeps getting bigger and better, staking […]

Hey there you cool cats, when was the last time an honest-to-goodness, classic looking, real sounding, nationally touring, rockabilly band rocked your world? Back in the heyday of local music organization Sangamon Valley Roots Revival, every time you turned around another band attired in the official costume of cuffed jeans, boots and a white T-shirt […]

Summertime is always a boon to live music performances, predominantly of the outdoor sort, but on some of those infamously hot and humid Illinois days, it’s a blessing to experience the modern convenience of air conditioning while checking out some music. Nevertheless, from outdoor theaters to city sidewalks, town squares to park plazas, personal patios […]

Won’t you join me in celebrating the middle of May by participating in the varied and diverse collection of exciting events offered to our community by various organizations and performers for your entertainment satisfaction. In other words, check this stuff out, dude! Once again the Moonlight Rhythm Rangers are galloping to the rescue of country […]

Before anyone gets too excited for the wrong reasons, let me explain what a GirlFest is in the context of this week’s column. Then getting a thrill from the upcoming event can happen without unnecessary guilt or misplaced desire in a perfectly acceptable, socially fair climate of sanctioned pleasure. The seeds of GirlFest took root […]

If I say, “Gallagher,” what picture springs to mind? If everyone just said, “Smashing watermelons with a big mallet-thing,” I think we’re thinking of the same guy. He’s the one-name comedian who, regardless of his insightful and hilarious standup routines, is best known for his Sledge-O-Matic antics and outrageous props. Who thinks of anything else […]

I hope you’re keeping up with the long list of festivals, concerts, gigs, dates, shindigs, and whatever else you care to call them, happening all around us. I’m not sure what dam burst upstream in Event River, but the shows are a-flowing in April and rushing headlong into May and I, for one, have not […]