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Would a tree still be a tree if we called it a rock?
Would a kiss still be a kiss if we said it was a burp? Would jellybeans be
jellybeans if we named them road apples? I’m sure you get the point:
Everything is what it is, no matter what we call it. So if you’ve
noticed that the annual SOJO Music Fest in downtown Springfield is now
being called the SOHO Music Fest, don’t worry: Nothing has changed
but a letter.
The two-day event, started three years ago by local
songster Eric Welch and event manager Tara Stapleton-McKinzie, features a
nice variety of area bands and singer/songwriters, from the up-and-coming
to the established. The entertainment takes up a main stage and side stage,
providing for nearly continuous live music. The musicians play for free. For the last two years,
proceeds from the concert went to our local Sojourn House, but after a
strange set of occurrences — including mysterious online money
swindlers from Peru, bounced checks, failed donations, miscommunications,
and trademark-infringement threats from lawyers — Sojourn House
decided to disassociate itself from the festival, going as far as to
prohibit the use of the name SOJO. Undeterred, Welch and Stapleton-McKinzie
renamed the event the SOHO Music Fest, directed proceeds to the Mini
O’Beirne Crisis Nursery, and continued with the multitude of tasks
involved in mounting an event of this caliber and magnitude. (The wiseguy in me keeps thinking, why not tell
everyone that SOJO is pronounced in the Spanish way, but then I remember
what Illinoisans did with “San Jose.”) “It was originally named for Sojourner
Truth and not the Sojourn shelter anyway,” Welch says, “but
since they have been affiliated for consecutive years with the fest they
can lay claim to the name SOJO, even without ever coming up with it
themselves or having to lift a finger to plan, organize, or manage the
event.”
Despite the misunderstandings and misgivings, the
show must go on — and what a show it is. Despite being a privately
run operation with no government backing whatsoever, put on by people with
no previous concert-promotion experience, the festival is a great success:
The bands run on time, the sound is pleasant both in volume and content,
and most of the groups are playing original music. Most important, it’s a fine downtown event with
hot food, cold beer, and live music. Who cares what you call it?
The SOHO Music Fest runs from 4 p.m.-midnight Friday
and Saturday, June 1 and 2, on Washington Street between Fifth and Sixth
streets on the north side of the Old State Capitol. Admission is $5.
Contact Tom Irwin at tirwin@illinoistimes.com.
This article appears in May 24-30, 2007.
