“An unfortunate side effect of being a
classical guitar player is, you end up spending a lot of time in a
room by yourself,” says Russel Brazzel, musician and
co-founder of the Springfield Classical Guitar Society. In March
1998 Brazzel met with other local classical-guitar enthusiasts to
encourage a regular gathering for social interaction. After the
first formal meeting was met with a miserable lack of interest from
area players, Brazzel faced up to the facts.
“I found out I was an alienated social
person,” he says. “Then we went ahead with our idea of
a classical-guitar concert series and formed the society.”
For the first couple of years, Brazzel says,
the series artists were “beer-drinking friends of mine that
would come play and hang out” — and who also happened
to be excellent musicians. The concerts grew in popularity and
range of performers until 2001. “We had a concert right after 9/11, and
the audience level dropped from around 150 regulars to about
40,” Brazzel says. “We never really have recovered,
though we still have a solid core of 60-some that make every
show.”
The society now hosts four concerts a year,
down from a high of six, with one being a benefit by Brazzel to
help pay for the remaining performances. “I’m not really comfortable using
the series as a vehicle for personal promotion,” Brazzel
says, “but it’s become a popular tradition and I love to
play, plus it helps to pay for the other performers.” The society is adamant about paying classical
guitarists what they are worth; as Brazzel puts it, “I
absolutely, positively do not want to lowball a brother.”
A musician and teacher who has been diligently
and lovingly perfecting his art for nearly 35 years, Brazzel is
fully aware of the commitment necessary for achieving classical
guitar proficiency. “It has to be a reason-to-live kind of a
deal,” he explains, “and that gives you a happy heart
when you are on the stage.”
He also knows something about getting paid for
“playing” as opposed to “working”:
“Sometimes the saddest thing about being a musician is not
having that comfortable life,” he says, “but I have
enough money to live and I’m having a wonderful life.”
Russel Brazzel performs works that “call
me to get out of bed at midnight” at the First Presbyterian
Church, 321 S. Seventh St., at 8 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 21. Proceeds
from the $12 admission price ($9 for seniors and students) help
cover the costs of the Springfield Classical Guitar Society Concert
Series. Kathryn Raistrick,
that ever-popular singer of Australian folk songs, has returned to
the Trout Lily Café (218 S. Sixth St., 217-391-0101) from a
South American visit during which, it is quite likely, she learned
a new folk song or two. With our female troubadour filling the
Tuesday slot, the Trout Lily is now the only place in town to see
live music during the lunch hour each and every weekday.
56 Hope Road rolls
into the city on Wednesday, Jan. 25, for a rollicking show at
Mojo’s (225 E. Monroe St., 217-544-3400) with Green Mountain
Grass. Since you last saw the Road, all they’ve done is
travel around the country, playing music. If you don’t
believe me (and why should you?), believe this: The online music
resource JamBase ranked the band the top “Road
Warriors” the most live shows performed during 2005 —
and they only had to beat out 12,000 other groups for this honor.
The delightful Holly
Holmes drops in at Robbie’s (4 Old State Capitol Plaza,
217-528-1901) for the “Uptown Friday Night” show, 5:
30-7:30 p.m. Jan. 20.
Our old pal Stolie
from Tres Femmes, the wildly popular girl band not from here, is
playing at the Office (1919 W. Iles Ave., 217-546-0580) on
Saturday, Jan. 21. Accompanied by her friend Scott, the
Chicago-based singer/songwriter will be playing all covers, all
night long under the name Acoustic Sideshow. In other Tres
Femmes-related news, Victoria Vox, another member of the trio, is
releasing an album in February that embraces the ukelele in all its
four-stringed glory. VV, it seems, was taken by the seductive
instrument on a recent Hawaiian vacation and proceeded to record a
full CD of standards and originals, all backed by her faithful
“jumping flea,” the literal Hawaiian translation of
“ukelele.”
Those of you who have
yet to see Backyard Tire Fire in action despite the advice of your
friends, neighbors, and local journalists need to break down and
get yourselves to Jazz Central Station (Hilton Springfield, 700 E.
Adams St., 217-789-1530) on Friday, Jan. 20 for the full force and
fury of the band’s live show.
This article appears in Jan 19-25, 2006.
