Things are swinging and singing, hopping and not stopping in the music section this February. I’m not sure what’s happening, but we’re just going to let it and not regret it. Now let’s see if I know what I’m talking about or not.
Thursday evenings roll on with another open mic breaking into the scene. This one goes down at Lincoln Land Community College (6-8 p.m.), sponsored by the Black Student Union and the Springfield and Central Illinois African American History Museum. Use the event listing in IT’s calendar section to find the online sign-up sheet for the advance registration that’s “encouraged” for all musicians, poets, singers, spoken word artists and songwriters looking for a spot on the stage.
Other Thursday night open mics in town take place at the Railyard Cafe (4-6), The Wakery (7-10) and The Blue Grouch (7-11), while venues in neighboring cities getting in on the fun include Door 4 Brewing (6-9) in Decatur and Spirited Republic/Limerick Brewing Company (7-10) in Lincoln.
Heading into Friday night, the big event must be a(nother) welcomed reunion show by Mr. Opporknockity, this time in the friendly confines of George Rank’s. The duo of Doug Gholson and Troy Roark had a local radio hit back in the late ’90s called “Lisa’s Shirt”, then formed a band and went on to become one of our most popular groups doing predominantly original music for a good part of the early-mid 2000s. Mr. O highlights include winning several IT’s’ “Best of Springfield” reader polls, producing multiple CDs of all original material, opening up for Journey at the Illinois State Fair and appearing on Michael Feldman’s “Whad’ya Know,” hosted by NPR at UIS. That’s some pretty cool cred for a hometown heroes band, which along with Troy and Doug includes Mark Sanders, Chris Camp and Steve Myers, with Michael Sullivan joining as guest guitarist. Little ol’ me was the original bassist back in the day. The boys play again on Saturday night for a double dose of Mr. O.
Then there’s a rare local show on Saturday as well, this time by the super-duper, national touring band ClusterPluck, out of the St. Louis area, at The Curve Inn. These guys started as a mostly acoustic, always rippin’ bluegrass trio in 2010 and now, nearly 15 years later, they’ve progressively morphed into a quartet utilizing “electric guitar, acoustic guitar, electric bass, Dobro, mandolin, banjo, drums and four-part vocal harmony” to play mostly all original tunes with old standards and few surprises tossed into the mix. With a new album scheduled for release in late March “the ‘Pluck” is on the move, and here’s a chance to see them up close and personal right here in town.
Small towns around Springfield take the prize for cooking up the good stuff this Sunday. Check out Tim Crosby at Hill Prairie Winery near Oakford, After School Special at Vixen Hill Winery near Palmyra, Isaiah Christian at Hand of Fate, Not Petty at Lucky’s on the Square in Petersburg and Bruce Baise at Trails End in Curran. Jacksonville hosts an acoustic version of Exit 52 at Twisted Tree Music Hall while Geezer is at American Legion Post 279. Plus, you can find me hanging out with Ben Bedford and Stuart Smith for a Songwriters in the Round concert at Jax Yoga. And at the Alamo in downtown Springfield, David Lumsden and friends jam out at a fundraiser starting at 2 p.m. for Regina Lock (Springfield Shaky’s wife) and the Illinois Central Blues Club.
Please check our listings for the many other musical experiences going on and next week we shall carry on.
This article appears in The Wedding Issue 2024.
