For crying out loud, what’s going on around here? Well, let’s take a few hundred words and find out.
What do you do when your two favorite jobs in the world seem disparate and unable to mesh? You figure out a way to make it work. That’s exactly what Bill “The Sauce Boss” Wharton did. The blues guitarist and gumbo chef took his show on the road. He cooks, he jams, he eats, he sings. Be part of this gastronomical-musical adventure, when he shares both culinary delights and blues riffs with an audience hungry for grub and entertainment, Friday at 9 p.m. in the Underground City Tavern.
For you big band dancers and aficionados, Friday marks the return of the Central Illinois Dance Club to the Eagles hangout on Ash Street. During the State Fair, the club bows to the Twilight Ballroom bands, but now they’re back in business, with the fabulous Kevin Turner onstage from 8 to 11 p.m.
One of my favorite Tex Avery cartoons is about a Dixieland band composed of fleas. And that’s what I’ll be thinking about while watching the Dixieland Daredevils Friday at the Lime Street Café on Durkin Drive. Coordinated by the ever-busy Johnny Slu, the group contains former members of the Merchant Street Rowdies and performs traditional Dixieland songs with a full band of trumpet, trombone, and clarinet, plus bass, drums, and piano. Armed with the slogan of “we play without a net,” they will range through the musically adventurous lands of Dixie from 9 to midnight.
Saturday at 7 p.m. you can experience the transformation of Bread Stretchers–the mild-mannered sub shop by day–into an all-ages rock ‘n’ roll concert hall at night, when the Mountain Goats, Black Ice, Resident Genius, and All These Pieces get together for beautiful bashing. Black Ice is Springfield’s premiere Metallica tribute band (our only one, but they’re very good). Resident Genius is described as an “indie-rock” band. All These Pieces promotes itself as “pop-punk,” and the Mountain Goats is one guy named John Darnielle, who travels the country playing and recording some very cool music.
Southeast of Springfield, in the delightful burg of Taylorville, there lies a quaint little swingin’ joint called One East Market. The good folks there have been quietly booking our area’s best swing and jazz bands for some time. This Saturday is no exception when the Swingin’ Sally Weisenburg plays T-ville from 9 to midnight. Her latest CD, Hot and Homemade, was recorded mostly in her home in Washington, Illinois; it’s a must for music lovers of swing and blues.
What’s that I hear? John Prine is booked at the Virginia Theatre in Champaign? Don’t tell anyone else until I get my tickets. But the composer of “Grandpa Was a Carpenter,” “Angel from Montgomery,” and “Paradise” is on the bill, thanks to our friends at WWHP 98.3, “the Whip,” a father-and-son operated radio station out of Farmer City that specializes in roots music. The Americana music icon will be onstage in the beautifully restored theater on September 5, with special guest Pat McLaughlin.
Oh my stars and garters, that should do it–in approximately 530 words, if
you’re keeping score.
This article appears in Aug 21-27, 2003.
