Few things in life are certain, but it’s safe to say that the Kronos Quartet will never put out a bad album. It’s equally likely that you’d never hear about it one way or the other, though, because you, poor, patronized reader/consumer, aren’t supposed to care about contemporary string quartets. Never mind that Kronos has […]
Music
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now playing 5-19-05
Local music trio Lost and Found recently released a new CD, As You Sow. In a unique and wonderful approach to dealing with music business profits, the group will donate proceeds from CD sales to the local Habitat for Humanity. The band formed in 2002 to showcase songwriter and band leader Dennis Darling’s original works […]
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music notes 5-19-05
In Springfield, beer gardens are like the famed Midwest morel mushrooms: they’re hard to find, pop up in the spring, and become no good when it gets too hot outside. Drop by the Alamo (115 N. Fifth St., 523-1455) for a garden full of music every Friday from 5 to 8 p.m. beginning with the […]
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music 5-12-05
The last time Marita Brake played Springfield was in 1967, and the location was the Something Else Coffeehouse, located in an old brownstone on the northeast corner of Fourth and Capitol. That time was a golden age for a generation of Beat-ish poets who trekked cross-country between Greenwich Village and Haight-Ashbury. Bob Dylan and Joan […]
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sound patrol 5-12-05
Will Johnson is the indie-rock equivalent of Joyce Carol Oates, cranking out a seemingly endless supply of songs for his various musical personae: cerebral head-bangers for Centro-matic, rawboned alt-folk for his solo ventures, and delirious countrified pop for South San Gabriel, a band that comprises all four members of Centro-matic plus a rotating cast of […]
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music notes 5-12-05
The Forty-Niner Bye-Bye (518 Bruns Lane, 787-4937) has a long and storied past in Springfield bar history. Now new owners are celebrating the next chapter in the colorful tale of the historic libation dispenser. Groove Daddies, a local band with quite a storied past of their own, have been chosen to herald in the new […]
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now playing 5-12-05
Micah Walk, a native of Girard, plays acoustic guitar, and writes and sings songs. He recently graduated from the University of Illinois in Springfield, as a communications major (“I’m just trying to get a degree, make my dad happy, and get the heck out”). The 23-year-old musician answered some questions via e-mail last week. Influences: […]
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sound patrol 5-5-05
Since releasing his first cassette in 1991, John Darnielle, a singer/songwriter who records as the Mountain Goats, has authored more than 400 songs, most of which are better than any number of songs you’re likely to hear. Don’t beat yourself up for overlooking his brilliance, though. For more than a decade, Darnielle hid his light […]
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now playing 5-5-05
Take nine guys, mix in a strong desire to play funk and fusion music, and you’ve got a Public Display of Funk. The Bloomington-based group has been together for five years with only a few personnel changes. Drummer Darin Holthaus credits the strong bonds among the group’s members for PDF’s longevity. “About half the band […]
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music notes 5-5-05
Direct from the self-proclaimed “Live Music Capital of the World” comes Austin’s roots-music darling Elizabeth McQueen for a one-night stand at Underground City Tavern (700 E. Adams St., 789-1530) on Friday, May 6. McQueen’s band, the Firebrands, is stacked with glorious Austin musicians who help support the roots pop diva on her latest Freedom Records […]
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music notes 4-28-05
The anticipation is over, and the 2005 Illinois State Fair Grandstand lineup is out. Gov. Rod Blagojevich, our Illinois leader and proud owner of a score of 18 on the ACT, claims the fair staff “has done an excellent job, and “the lineup appeals to a broad range of music fans [and] will not only […]
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now playing 4-28-05
Lots of guys are out there playing the blues — just check the weekly local bar listings, listen to TV commercials, or check out the neighborhood kid. But only a few of the musicians who’ve played with the creators of the modern electric blues are still alive and pickin’. John Primer began playing guitar as […]
