Looming hosts their album release party for Nailbiter at the Black Sheep Cafe with guests Park, Choir Vandals and Hidden Hospital on Friday, Aug. 14. It’s back. The Illinois State Fair comes to town for ten days of entertainment, excitement, exasperation, excrement (sorry, but the livestock, you know) and all around endeavors of intrepid Illinoisans […]
Grandstand
Posted inMusic
It’s not all fair
Laurie Morvan rocks the Alamo on Mon., Aug. 11 for the Illinois Central Blues Club’s Blue Monday jam. The Illinois State Fair cannot be denied. When the corn dogs and lemon shake-ups hit town, Springfield becomes a different place. Hotels are at capacity, bars can stay open until 3 a.m. and restaurants pick up extra […]
Posted inMusic
Fair and Un-fair 2
With the 2013 Illinois State Fair still in progress and plenty of hip and happening stuff going on around town, it’s time for the second installment of Now Playing: Fair and Un-Fair. I could expose you to the silly nonsense of using the word “fair” in various other contexts, but that wouldn’t be fair or […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Power foursomes
Platinum-selling Vancouver four-man rock band Theory of a Deadman and Las Vegas quartet Adelitas Way open for rock giants Creed, Thursday, Aug. 16 at the Illinois State Fair Grandstand. Creed’s original lineup of Scott Stapp (vocals), Mark Tremonti (guitar), Brian Marshall (bass) and Scott Phillips (drums) take the stage in what promises to be a […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Revved up
You’ll start seeing motorcycles in numbers the next two weekends. The Illinois Motorcycle Dealers Association TT (Tourist Trophy) and Springfield Mile Motorcycle Races take place at the Illinois State Fairgrounds May 25-27. May 29-June 1 is the American Motorcycle Association Racing Dirt Track Grand Championships. These wildly popular races charge in with the Amateur TT […]
Posted inArts & Culture
A grand tradition at the Grandstand
It wasn’t too long ago that the popular rock band Hootie and the Blowfish sold out the Grandstand at the Illinois State Fair. In 1995, the year after late author David Foster Wallace wrote about the fair in Harper’s Magazine, more than 13,350 people from around the state packed the venue to see the band […]
