Nelly Sweat (Fo Reel/Universal) Nelly is all things to all people — there are no multiplatinum weirdoes — and therein lies his charm. Beloved by all races, the photogenic St. Louis rapper is blasted from suburban softball fields and ghetto stoops alike. Strippers grind to him; preteens load him on their iPods; politicians praise him […]
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now playing 9-30-04
When a kid from New Jersey sings country music as if he had been born in the back of a pickup truck on brown-paper chicken-feed sacks as Mom waited for Dad to come out of the tavern, you know that times have changed. Moot Davis serves up honky-tonk music like someone who’s been spoonfed bad […]
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Now playing 9-23-04
Funk, funk, funk. It’s a fun word, but what does it mean? To some it’s a musty odor, to others it’s a depressed state of mind, and to music fans it’s something entirely different. No one says it better than Webster’s New World College Dictionary (second entry, third definition): “a form of rhythm and blues […]
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sound patrol 9-23-04
Various Artists Future Soundtrack for America (Barsuk) Pity the young Republican who aspires to hipness. The nation might be evenly polarized, but the rock community, particularly the indie faction, is pretty much unanimously disgusted with W. The Bush twins claim to love Modest Mouse, the Strokes, and the Postal Service, but the likelihood that any […]
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music notes 9-23-04
• Good golly, Miss Molly, it’s the ol’ Tutti-Frutti king himself, whooping it up at Millikin University’s Kirkland Fine Arts Center in Decatur at 2 p.m. Sunday. Yes, it’s Little Richard still out proving to the world that he invented the musical art form all by his lonesome. Don’t believe him? He will convert you. […]
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now playing 9-16-04
How much wood could a woodbox box if a woodbox could box wood? Hell, who cares? But it makes for a goofy intro for the Woodbox Gang, one of my favorite bands in the world as we know it. The gangsters hail from southern Illinois and have made camp in the Carbondale area for several […]
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sound patrol 9-16-04
Ricky FantéRewind (Virgin) Ricky Fanté makes soul music, nothing “neo” about it: just sweet, buttery, Stax-sounding soul that’s wholesome as a plate of hotcakes. No hip-hop flourishes, no Pro-Tools preening, no freaky dancehall textures, no pottymouth innuendoes for this 26-year-old ex-Marine. Rewind is truth in advertising, a trip back in time to when nice girls […]
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music notes 9-16-04
• A hearty congratulations to Sharon Graf, assistant professor of ethnomusicology at the University of Illinois at Springfield, on capturing first prize at the Illinois State Old-Time Fiddle Championship, held Sept. 5 at Rockome Gardens near Arcola. In an old-fashioned fiddle-off, Graf defeated her 2003 nemesis, David Smith of Aurora, and about 30 other participants […]
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music notes 9-9-04
• PENNY LANE, Springfield’s only surviving store that was once called a headshop, sponsors a free outdoor concert on Sunday, Sept. 12, at Douglas Park. The concert, which began as a tribute to Jerry Garcia of the Grateful Dead, has become a mid-September tradition, celebrating Garcia’s life near the date of his death. Perfunctory This […]
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now playing 9-9-04
Sometimes something sounds too good to be true, yet — miracle of miracles — it exists. Take, for example, two bluegrass enthusiasts who build a beautiful log-cabin home in the country. They decide to book some traveling musicians and invite friends over to hear the band. After a successful outing, they continue bringing more incredible […]
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sound patrol 9-9-04
Doug Hilsinger and Caroleen Beatty Brian Eno’s Taking Tiger Mountain (By Strategy) (DBK Works) Thirty years after Brian Eno released his second solo album, Taking Tiger Mountain (By Strategy), multi-instrumentalist Doug Hilsinger and vocalist Caroleen Beatty, both of the San Francisco indie-rock outfit Waycross, pay it a peculiar homage, performing all of the Maoist opera’s […]
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Barnfest moves to newer, permanent digs
This weekend, 16 bands and more than 1,000 people are expected to travel to a field outside the small town of Beecher City to enjoy some of the area’s finest rock music. It’s the sixth year for Barnfest, a Taylorville-area tradition. John Hicks, frontman for Pana-area rockers Hot Iron Skillet, was there at the beginning. […]
