Well, it certainly feels like December out there as Old Man Winter (whoever they are) showed up this week to be too cool for words. I suppose we can call it a good thing to remind us the winter holiday season is upon us and with it a slew of extra music in both quantity and quality. From Christmas concerts, seasonal recitals, holiday walks and other Yuletide extravaganzas all the way to an abundance of New Year’s Eve events, including our long-running and quite fabulous First Night Springfield, December is in many ways “the most wonderful time of the year” if you like that sort of thing. Here’s where you can insert “bah, humbug” and other types of anti-season’s greetings if you so desire to go the other direction. Let’s see what’s out there this week.
Thursday looks good when I see my friend and superb guitarist, vocalist and entertainer Allan Harris taking a solo turn at Mother Road Diner, then me with my old pal Rick Dunham as Elvis Himselvis heading up the holiday happenings at It’s All About Wine. Other offerings are mostly open mics with Mike Metz hosting his weekly stint at The Bird Tavern, John Drake caretaking his monthly spot at Ad Astra, plus a years-in-the-making jam at The Blue Grouch with Kortney Leatherwood running the show.
Out-of-town open mics can be productive if you’re looking for new areas to play or wanting to try out stuff without a familiar crowd. Silas Tockey hosts a good one up in Lincoln at Spirited Republic while Bob Besser hooks you up at Decatur Brew Works. And I would be mighty amiss to not mention one of the most pleasing Thursday night music performances in town (only on the first Thursday monthly) when it’s Healing Crystal Bowls Meditation night at Unity Church where they’re intent on providing a valuable service to all through “soothing, healing vibrations, sending harmony, peace and balance into our community world.” We should all be all for that.
When Friday comes around you know we’re in for a fun run of good music and this week includes Josie Lowder at George Rank’s, The Collective at the Curve Inn and Micah Walk at Harvest Market, to list a few familiar acts on tap. For something out of the ordinary, yet seemingly quite extraordinary, check out Towse, an international touring folk-pop duo with all kinds of interesting history, including being featured in Voyage LA and Rock & Real magazines and playing world-famous venues, at our quite famous downtown brewery and venue, Buzz Bomb Brewing Co.
More familiar names pop up on Saturday with Randy Erwin at Stella Coffee & Tea (you’re now forewarned it’s a morning show), Jeff Young and the Bad Grandpas at VFW Post 755, Broken Stone at The Blue Grouch, Brandon Santini at Harvest Market, Wowie Zowie at Mowie’s Cue (just love seeing that rhyme scheme) and The Cocktails at Weebles.
For weekend “holiday happenings” shows, the Hoogland hosts our famed Land of Lincoln Chorus (Friday and Saturday, third floor Peggy Ryder Theatre) and that demonstrative duo, Tater Tots (Saturday morning, Club Room). Plus on Saturday, a Handel’s Messiah performance (a 90-voice chorus joining with the ISO, unfortunately sold out already) rolls into Blessed Sacrament, while old-fashioned Christmas caroling occurs at Parkway Christian Church.
Sunday (your funday, they say) brings us a pleasant, well-rounded selection of afternoon shows in our fair city, plus the usual small-town affairs including Al Kitchen at Trails End in Curran, Not Petty at Lucky’s on the Square in Petersburg and JackAsh at Buckhart Tavern.
With that, let us part with a good blast of holiday cheer and meet again for more seasonal festivities next week.
This article appears in Asking the public for help.
