Hey there, all you beer-swilling, shot-swigging, music-loving barflies. What's going on this week? Yes, the rest of you are also welcome to come out and enjoy the tunes, too. We never mean to exclude responsible imbibers or teetotalers from our music club travels. It's just more fun to talk about the guzzlers.
First and foremost, here is a hearty hi-ho to Carrie Dressler, manager of Catch 22, for organizing the Downtown Bars Charity Event. Starting at 6 p.m. Tuesday until 1 a.m., "Celebrity Bartenders" from your favorite downtown watering holes will take turns tending bar for an hour or so at Catch 22, the basement bar below 11 West on the corner of Fifth and Adams. The barkeeps have been asked to donate a quarter of their tips (most, if not all, have offered their entire gratuities) to a couple of local charities. Dressler chose the Jeff Daily Children Foundation and Springfield Families of Deployed Soldiers as the beneficiaries of the event. The decision was based on the immediacy of the charities and her desire to "keep it local." Other downtown businesses and liquor distributors have donated items for a silent auction. Posamist, a terrific crowd-pleasing jam band, has agreed to add an extra three hours onto the early part of their regular Tuesday night gig. And a panel of esteemed bartenders will sample and judge the best their peers can offer in a drink taste test. Expect a fun night -- and all for a good cause.
This weekend is now officially proclaimed "Springfield Shaky Time." Shaky starts it off Thursday with a 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. spot at Café Kanichi-Wa, on South Grand just east of Eleventh, and finishes it there on Saturday night. Sandwiched in the middle is a gig at Frankie's in the Jewel-Osco Plaza on Sixth. Somewhere in that time span you must find a way to have a "golden moment" with Springfield's leading light of the hot rockin' blues.
Saturday night a couple of familiar faces pop up behind the guitars in the friendly confines of Norb Andy's Tabarin. DeRocchi and McKenzie Acoustic (Antone and William) raise a royal ruckus with some help from Mrs. McKenzie (Lori) on the microphone. Count on favorites by Bonnie Raitt, Sheryl Crowe, Jackson Browne and Neil Young, but probably not any Jimmy Buffet. Troy Roark of Mr. Opporknockity will put away his six-string in lieu of the congas and add some sparkling percussion work to back the combo.
Do yourself a favor and go swinging into Spillway Lanes Lounge on Outer Park Drive this Sunday evening for a listen to the Bowling Alley Big Band. I know we brag on them a lot, but good is good. And it only gets better when 17 of the area's finest jazz cats get together once a month to bang out the big band hits.
Just a reminder: the Tar Box Ramblers, one of my favorite bands in the universe, are at Underground City Tavern tonight (Thursday).
There's plenty more out there but I'm out of room. Glug, glug, glug.