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Ever since the Underground City Tavern closed, the
Thursday-night Bluegrass Jam and the Wednesday Songwriters Circle have been
homeless orphans, but there’s good news to report: Both of the weekly
acoustic jams have relocated and are functioning again. Guitarist Luke
Turasky and friends (Jeff Cunningham on double bass, Josh Parr on fiddle, Shane Bumgarner on
banjo) are picking
and grinning at the Fire & Spice Smokehouse (2930 Plaza Dr.,
217-793-1183), a bar and restaurant in the Gables shopping complex, on the
west side of Veterans Parkway not far from White Oaks Mall. It’s a
night of BBQ & Bluegrass, 9 p.m.-1 a.m., for acoustic-music fans of all ages. Jeff highly recommends
the pork barbecue nachos. Yee-haw. The Songwriters Circle begins anew at 8 p.m.
Thursday, Nov. 15, at Catch 22 Upstairs (11 W. Old State Capitol Plaza,
217-522-5732). The Circle continues the tradition of trading songs and
swapping news about the craft of songwriting in an unplugged format.
I’ve hosted this shindig for about six years now, and we’ve
performed a lot of songs and seen many musicians move through the circle.
What the heck — let’s give it a yee-haw, too. There is yet another wonderful music event on
Thursday, the Monthly Hooley at Celtic Mist (117-119 S. Seventh St.,
217-528-7000). “Hooley” is an Irish term for a fun party, and
our local practitioners of the Celtic way proudly uphold the rich cultural
heritage of throwing a wingding right by celebrating on the third Thursday
of every month. The entertainment starts at 7:30 p.m. with Exorna, a
fabulous area band, performing traditional Irish music and other good
stuff, along with impromptu performances throughout the evening by members
of the St. Andrew’s Society’s pipers and dancers. While we’re on the subject, the list of
Thursday entertainments would not be complete without Springfield
Shaky’s acoustic blues at Café Kanichi-wa (1117 S. Grand Ave.
E., 217-544-3500), 8 p.m.-1 a.m. Shaky is Shaky. If you’ve heard him, you know
what I mean; if you haven’t, well, you should. And on Saturday, Nov.
17, at our most remarkable, unique, and intimate venue, comes a strange,
mysterious, and exciting phenomenon known as Go Tsunami. This new group of
veteran players performs only surf-style rock music sans vocals, termed “loud,
distorted, fast, like surf-a-billy” by bassist Stingray Jones, also
known as Keith Voegele. The dual-guitar attack of Ted Brannon and Michael
Sullivan should be
enough to whet the musical appetites of musicians in the know. And the
drummer? Well, he’s known only as Springfield’s Fury. Enough
said. Prepare yourself and go for it, go ahead, go Tsunami.
Just to add a little diversity to your musical life,
here are two more tantalizing tidbits. All ages are invited to partake in a
free African drumming circle, 3 p.m. every Saturday at Fashion Afrique (318
E. Monroe St., 217-544-1289). At 2:30 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 18 —
don’t knock it till you try it — we have round and square
dancing at Jacksonville’s Nichols Park Pavilion, with Jim Davis as
your caller and Judy Kaye and Friends as your band.
Contact Tom Irwin at tirwin@illinoistimes.com.
This article appears in Nov 8-14, 2007.
