Here are a few things more to add to your giving thanks list as you gather around the table on Thursday. Thank you for an increase in live music clubs, a more active and vibrant downtown, a large selection of area musicians and bands in varying degrees of music categories and talents, and a growing number of out-of-town bands frequenting the capital city. Oh, and don’t forget to thank Bacchus, Pan, and other deities from the past for their contribution to the enjoyment of live music and pub-crawling.
It’s a weekend for the ladies, sort of. Jimmez on 11th and Sangamon is running two nights of Female Impersonator shows as a last hurrah before they close the bar doors. The owners have decided to move on with other projects, leaving the fun dance club as only a memory in the hearts and minds of its many patrons. On Friday, Jane Hartman, a recipient of “Best of Springfield” from the readers of the Illinois Times in 2003, serves up the jazz at Lime Street Café, while Debbie Ross brings her soulful voice and top-notch band into Marly’s Pub. Saturday, another IT “Best of” winner, Trina Madonia, fronts elevator shoe at Jazz Central Station in the Hilton. Don’t forget Cynthia, who runs one of the best karaoke nights around at the Country Club Saloon in Dawson on Saturday and at Breaktime on Sunday. Let’s hear it for the women. Give thanks.
On Saturday, from 4 p.m. to 9 p.m. at the VFW Northender on Stockyards Road, Full Circle hosts the We Care Concert, an annual Christmas fundraiser for needy children. The area band asks local musicians to join in and jam out for a good cause. In other exciting and exhilarating Saturday night action, Push 180, a cover and original band from Hillsboro, scoots their way into Bootlegger’s for a hard rocking show and the Suns of Circumstance take a stand at the Alamo. The Remedy cures what ails you at Rosalie’s and boweband.com packs them in at the Grandstand.
The CDs just keep getting released around this town. Last week, it was Lost Boys and Black Magic Johnson. Now on Friday, Park lets one fly, and this Saturday, BigFur turns one loose (see article on Park on page 21). Four and a Half Stars, BigFur’s first full-length disk, was recorded at Eclipse Studios in Bloomington. The guys have enlisted bands Nova Season from Decatur and Temple of Low Men from Champaign, to help out with the festivities at the State Bar and Grille, in the Vinegar Hill Mall. I’m sure the disk lives up to its title.
Now let us give thanks for what we’ve got — and try asking for a little more.
This article appears in Nov 20-26, 2003.
