Greetings fellow travelers and friends in all places. Welcome to mid-February of 2023 as the month with the most holidays per capita of days rolls right along like a warm breeze in wintertime. We’ve got a mixed bag of stuff to do this week with the events holding up very well for what is quite often a slow time in the local (and other worlds too) live music field.
Thursday Night Live is back in style as the one day a month when Kevin Roberts and crew turn Motorhead’s music space into a free-for-all faction of local entertainment action from 6 to 9 p.m. This month’s guests of area musicians performing together in various formats include Barry Woodworth, Todd Behnke, Tina Greene, Steve Harvey and Pete Matthews (Ambrosia Moon), along with Zach Reed and Mike Smith (Summer of George), plus the handy-dandy, one-and-only Mandy Rose.
As we talked about last month (in case you weren’t listening while you were reading), the concept is based loosely on “Live from Daryl’s House,” a TV show featuring musical guests hanging out with Daryl Hall at his house (he of Hall and Oates fame), jamming away and talking about stuff. I remember the Joe Walsh episode as being particularly epic, as so many things involving Mr. Walsh can become.
Kevin, always a big fan of the show, is concocting his version here and you get to be a party to it by just showing up, hanging out and enjoying yourself. And it’s very possible those who benefit the most are the musicians themselves, as one of the great issues of performing music all the time is the lack of opportunity to see others play because, well, you’re always playing somewhere else. So not only does this give folks the chance to see a showcasing of local talent, the music-makers also get a moment to be together. Look out world, no telling what will happen when that happens.
Let’s congratulate Locals Bar in Pawnee on their 7th anniversary as they celebrate the occasion this Saturday night with one of the most popular bands around doing the honors when Lick Creek takes the stage. Locals won our Best of Springfield for 2022 in the small Live Music Venue category and Lick Creek has won the BoS more than once, so hey, we gotta say it’s an IT night at Locals with winners all around, and a good time celebrating is heartily wished to everyone concerned.
Saturday night gives us lots of good choices, but here’s something a little different when Sunshine Daydream joins with Clusterpluck to play Danenbergers. A good show indeed, but you can make a real party out of this by buying a shuttle ticket to ride the magic bus (my term) from the Route 66 Hotel (get a room) on South Sixth Stret to DFV and the concert near New Berlin. Then you’ll be set for the midnight to 3 a.m. after party at the hotel upon your safe return with music supplied by the TrashGrass Troubadours. Get the skinny here: https://afamilyaffair.ticketleap.com/sunpluck/
Sunday gives us a day to come to the aid of one of our own when the Illinois Central Blues Club hosts a benefit and fundraiser jam at the Alamo (3-6 p.m.) for Kathy Cooke, who recently had a medical issue and is currently recovering. According to a post from Mark Audi, Kathy is “an ICBC Board member, a music lover and a volunteer extraordinaire,” so let’s do what we can to help out. David Lumsden hosts the jam with his band and guests (musical and otherwise) are welcome and expected.
Until next week…
This article appears in Wedding.
