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Spring is coming, bringing with it a rebirth of sorts
on our entertainment scene. Now that the smoke has cleared from our taverns
and obviously won’t be returning, people are making their way
back to see live music, regardless of whether they can puff a cigarette in
a bar. Could it be that someday Springfield will be heralded as a
progressive municipality for being one of the first cities in Illinois to
pass a smoking ban? It could happen, but, regardless of our legacy, keep
your ears open, because lots of good live music is coming your way this
month.
The big news is Big Smith, playing the Underground
City Tavern on Friday, March 9, starting around 10 p.m. and going late. If
you’ve never experienced this great and glorious band direct from the
Missouri Ozarks, please avail yourself of the opportunity. It hardly gets
better for a combination of hillbilly stomp, impeccable musicianship,
undeniable showboating, and good songs done well. Besides that, they put on
the best display of bib overalls and beards this side of Raoul.
Saturday night, March 10, at the Loft, the highly
esteemed Roger Kimball fires up his sax and the Funky Music Dept. for some
hot but still smooth jazz, including various classic New Orleans
compositions. Kimball has attracted some of the top local musicians for his
project and created a dynamic band in the process. The Dirty Ernies celebrate their one-year band
anniversary 10 p.m.-2 a.m. Saturday, March 10, at Marly’s Pub.
Congratulations, guys! It’s no easy task keeping a band together, and
these folks do deserve a hearty handshake, a pat on the back, and a shot of
top-shelf booze — unless, of course, they are recovering alcoholic
musicians, trying to rebuild lives destroyed by spending most of their
adult lives hopping from band to band, playing in bars until the wee hours.
If that’s the case, proceed with the congratulations and leave out
the shot. Speaking of anniversaries, the Illinois Central Blues
Club hits No. 21 on Saturday and commemorates the occasion with a
performance by Big George Brock and Clarine Wagner, with opening act
Michael Taylor, at the Capital City Bar & Grill, starting at 8 p.m. It
seems like only yesterday we were sitting in Bruce’s Tavern watching
Eddie Eugene tap-dance with a cymbal on his head. My, how the time does
fly. Also on Saturday, the Shawnee Jamboree, a benefit for
the local Red Cross Disaster Relief Fund, rolls into the Forty-Niner
Bye-Bye. Organized by four young men from Springfield, the show runs noon-1
a.m. and features several local acts. The guys are leaving the next day for
a two-week hike on the River to River Trail in the Shawnee National Forest
after securing pledges for their miles marched and are donating the money
to the Red Cross. It has been quite a year for natural disasters around
here, so please pitch in. You never know when you’ll be one needing
help.
Contact Tom Irwin at tirwin@illinoistimes.com.
This article appears in Mar 1-7, 2007.
