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Let’s start at the Brewhaus, the downtown bar
that was cool when downtown wasn’t. Beginning on Thursday, Mike
Parkes and company celebrate five years of Jonah with five nights of live
music during what’s billed as Jonah Fest. The Damwell Betters come to
play on April 17, demonstrating why they are Springfield’s reigning
originals band (not according to any other poll but my own, mind you).
Next, on Friday, is the Sarah Schneider Band, featuring singing Sarah with
Raoul, Chris Warren, and Brad Beneke kicking out the jams. Saturday brings
the return of the Moonlight Rhythm Rangers and the mysterious Go Tsunami
(who are those
guys?). And here come the regulars: the Tom Irwin Trio (hey, that’s
me!) on Sunday and Frank Parker’s Jambalaya Jam, cooking up a storm,
on Monday. When was the last time you saw Russel Brazzel
perform? It doesn’t matter what your answer is — 10 minutes ago
or never — you need to go see him play. We are privileged to have a
classical guitarist of his stature in our midst, teaching, performing, and
helping organize the Springfield Classical Guitar Society concert series.
All right, I’m through bragging on Russel, but just so you sound good
when you boast about his talents, here are a few of the composers Brazzel
will feature at his Sunday, April 20, recital at Lincoln Land Community
College, which he has named “Great Guitar Literature”:
Giuliani, Pujol, Barrios, Turina, Tarrega, and, for the big finale, York.
You know what I’m talking about, or at least now you can pretend,
too.
You’ve been very patient, awaiting an
explanation of that “Braille Blues” in the headline. When I
first saw the phrase — it’s in the URL of his Web site,
Braillebluesdaddy.com — I kind of wondered about it myself —
until about halfway through the bio of blues guitarist Bryan Lee, when
it’s mentioned that Lee is blind. It becomes obvious, as you read
more, that Lee’s way is not to emphasize anything but the music
— in his case a lifelong love of electric blues guitar. The Wisconsin
native, who made a name for himself running the house band at the Old
Absinthe Bar on Bourbon Street in pre-Katrina New Orleans, takes the Alamo
stage with his Blues Power Band on April 21 for the Illinois Central Blues
Club’s Blue Monday Jam. Lee has played with and for some big names in
the blues business, including Muddy Waters, B.B. King, Kenny Wayne
Shepherd, Luther Perkins, Hubert Sumlin, and Pinetop Perkins, but what he
seems to cherish the most about his musical gift is simply knowing that
people get happy when they hear him play. One look at his schedule for the
remainder of 2008 shows that he finds as many opportunities as possible to
spread the joy. One last announcement: Here is the lineup for our
2008 Washington Street Jazz and Blues Festival on June 28. Hosted by the
Springfield Area Arts Council, the 22nd annual concert features Bob Katt
and the Missing Lynx, the Glenn Wilson Quintet (Bloomington), the Beatniks
(Decatur), Pleasure Chest, the Paula York Trio (Joliet), and Delta Highway
(Memphis).
Contact Tom Irwin at tirwin@illinoistimes.com.
This article appears in Apr 10-16, 2008.
