Music

Well, with the upcoming frightful weather and how this year Christmas falls on Sunday, therefore putting the naturally occurring Eve on Saturday night, our music forecast for this holiday weekend is slow to middling. Then again, if the pickings are slim, those events that are happening will likely be bustling, since it seems that nothing […]

Get yourself all decked out for the hallowed halls and set up for fancy balls as we roll into the last weekend of doings before the big holiday cometh. With Christmas being on a Sunday this year, and therefore putting Christmas Eve on a Saturday night, here’s a heads up that it is very possible, […]

As Meredith Wilson (of The Music Man composer fame) wrote in one of my favorite holiday songs, “It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas everywhere you go,” and it most certainly is doing just that. Along with the dandy decorations and ubiquitous canned music, there are plenty of special parties, plus regular gigs, all […]

Don’t look now, but 2022 is nearly in the rearview mirror as the old calendar on the wall (remember those?) says it is now the twelfth month of the year. Sometimes time crawls, sometimes it marches on and sometimes seems to be sprinting toward the goal line. I’m going to leave that feeling up to […]

Well, ladies and gentlemen, it’s time for our annual Thanksgiving issue and that means we should all take the time to think about thanking things. So here in our music column called Now Playing, we should not even have to think about what to thank and just get directly to giving thanks for the music. […]

Welcome back my friends, to the show that, hopefully (and I have no reason to believe otherwise at this point), never ends as we continue to waft through the various music acts performing in Springfield. This week doesn’t seem to have a theme, as they sometimes appear to do, so therefore and herewith, let’s get […]

Ooh-la-la and howdee-hey, let’s wind our way into November. The Halloween-ers are behind us, so it’s now time to gaze forward into the distance with fall flings and Thanksgiving ahead, the holiday season to come, and do I dare say, there’s a little 2023 peeking around the corner, ready to say hello. But first let’s […]

What promises to be an exciting, transitional season for the Illinois Symphony Orchestra got underway Friday at the UIS Performing Arts Center with Maestro Rei Hotoda presiding over an exciting and ambitious evening of music, crowned by a towering performance from guest soloist Itamar Zorman. Hotoda is the first of several guest conductors this season, […]

Do you remember the old CB radio craze days and how we learned to say things like “10-4, good buddy,” and “breaker breaker”? Well, I couldn’t pass on the “What’s your 10-20?” phrase since it matched this Thursday’s date, so here we go with a bunch of locations (the 10-20 code meaning) for live music […]

No need to beware these Ides, for they come complete with good tidings of excellent live music simply there for you to enjoy. All that is needed is for said “you” to get out and participate in a number (or just one) of the many musical moments happening this week around town. First, allow me […]