Any Rooftop Roots Festival fans remember last
year’s soggy bottom show?
About a song-and-a-half into the event, a
raging tempest helped us all decide the best way to enjoy a rooftop
in this festival was over our heads. All turned out dry and well
though, thanks to the helpful hands of volunteers hauling gear and
non prima donna artists happily moving into various venues of the
Hilton and performing near to their originally scheduled times and
playing beyond them.
Here’s hoping this year’s show is
dry with a beautiful not-too-hot July sky shining down upon it. The
concert held on top of the Hilton parking garage features national
headlining acts on a main stage and local groups playing off to the
side in between the big boy sets. Curiously enough all the major
artists have been in the national media lately. Last Train Home was
scheduled to perform on CBS’s Late,
Late Show last Friday, but taped a show
for broadcast in August instead. Southern Culture on the Skids
appears July 7 on Chicago’s WGN television. Paul Burch, who
played the Underground City Tavern last year, recently helped
produce the soundtrack for the PBS series The Appalachians. And
internationally famous blues man Corey Harris made it into Martin
Scorsese’s PBS series on the blues. Now they all come together to
play on a parking garage roof in Springfield? Yepper, that’s
right.
The locals all have some interesting tidbits
as well. Mr. Opporknockity, voted by readers of Illinois Times as Best of
Springfield rock band in 1999 and 2000, opens the roots music show
with an acoustic set. Whinebox, recently seen on the cover of the SJ-R while
performing at the Sojourner Truth Music Festival in downtown
Springfield, is up next. Yours truly follows with fellow
Springfield High Jazz Band members Nick Teeter and Dylan Burns in
our first performance or second practice, depending how you look at
it. Jill Manning fresh from her spring showcase at the esteemed
Bluebird Café in Nashville, Tenn., finishes the area stage
shows.
It’s quite an interesting collection of
music and even more interesting that it’s happening in
Springfield, the place where nothing ever happens. Or have you
noticed a tad bit more excitement seeping into our entertainment
world in the last few years?
This article appears in Jul 7-13, 2005.
