Yo, ho, ho (plus another ho) and a bottle of Christmas cheer will get you here, there and nearly everywhere this weekend as we wind our way through the Yuletide season. With the big day on a Wednesday this year, our upcoming weekend of entertaining entertainment opportunities has been left unscathed from the actual celebrated date and actually enhanced by the nicely aligned, mid-week holiday. Let’s see what’s “up on the housetop” for our weekend before Christmas.
Hosting happy holiday hoopla this Thursday, we have Angel Brown and Rick Gasparin, known as Angel Brown’s Smooth N’ Blue Duo, for this gig at Mother Road Diner and myself and Rick Dunham, known as Tom Irwin and Elvis Himselvis, for this gig at It’s All About Wine shoveling some songs of the season at you and yours. That and three open mics with three fine hosts each, including Casey Cantrall at The Wakery, Mike Metz at The Bird Tavern and Kortney Leatherwood at The Blue Grouch completes our in-town Thursday lineup this week.
Santa Claus may not be coming to town quite yet, but Kortney Leatherwood is making his list and checking it twice with a two-fer Friday, popping into The Bird (2-5 p.m.) for a “holla-day” drink shebang before heading south to Slauterhouse in Auburn (7-10) to slay the merry folks there. Spend the Friday before Christmas with the family – the Harris Family Band, that is – as Bustin’ Loose gathers at the Curve Inn for a homecoming holiday happening. George Rank’s cranks up the Friday night music with a daring guarantee from Los Injectors for a Christmas tune (Feliz Navidad?) and a volatile visit from Crash Planet.
In more band business, Bluesmattic burns one at Boone’s as the Friday Night Jazz & Blues offering, Chris Camp and his Blues Ambassadors, take refuge at Lime Street and Off the Wall bounces into Motorheads. Our popular tribute band venue, Danenberger Family Vineyards, presents Damned Torpedoes: A Tom Petty Celebration with Head Over Feet: A Tribute to Alanis Morissette in a ticketed event for a blockbuster of a night out near New Berlin.
Saturday our stockings overflow with goodies including a special show at The Backroom Lounge in Riverton with hometown hero Lyman Ellerman and special guest Oliver Sayini. Back out at the Curve Inn, Michael Burnett hosts his annual “Christmas at the Curve” benefiting Toys for Tots and featuring a musician lineup sure to please Santa including Ezra Casey, Dion Doss, Eric Tinsley, Robert Sampson and Andon “Ted” Davis as the shining star on top of the tree. Joel Gragg lights up the Blue Grouch with his Filaments, plus special guests 2 Bit Scoundrels, just as Wowie Zowie gifts us with their presence at Harvest Market, while Jet Trio and Friends land at Casey’s Pub and The Collective collects donations for Toys for Tots while celebrating the esteemed Chris Warren’s birthday with a performance at Weebles.
Sunday brings on the Funday with a slew of celebratory shows including Ethan Taylor Stephenson at It’s All About Wine just as White Lightnin’ Band Trio (3-6) mixes it up with Robert Sampson (6:30-9) at Mother Road Diner. Simultaneously in delightfully good pairings of fine musicians, Nick Park & Dr. Dave roll into Buckhart Tavern and Antone & Wick dig in at Hill Prairie Winery. And… we’re back at the Brewhaus Pub with a full band to celebrate Owen Thomas Irwin’s birthday and the mysterious resurgence of Erich Zander.
Finally, ride easy into the holiday when David Lumsden and Reggie Britton host the Blue Monday night at The Alamo to bring it all back home.
Happy Christmas to you all.
This article appears in Springfield Clinic disrupts area health care industry.
