Nobody can accuse the crowd at Torch Tuesday of not knowing how to party. Springfield’s most prominent showcase for regional hip-hop talent presented the second annual Torch Tuesday Awards on Jan. 22 at Bar None and it proved to be a marathon event, marked by the undeniable thrill of a creative community coming into its […]
Music
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Tuning in to others
Lincoln Land Community College presents Hootenanny with Ken Bradbury, Barry Cloyd and friends. This is a free and fun evening of music and sing-a-longs to benefit the Jacksonville Area Community Food Center. In lieu of an admission charge, bring nonperishable food items or a monetary donation. All money and goods received go to this great […]
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Henry Rollins brings a ‘talking show’ to the Hoogland
Henry Rollins is no Abe Lincoln. But that doesn’t stop the 51-year-old punk rock icon, TV personality, author and blogger from incorporating sections of the 16th president’s 1838 speech to the Young Men’s Lyceum in Springfield as part of “Capitalism,” his current spoken word tour of all 50 state capitals, which touches down at the […]
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Art, bikes and rock ’n’ roll
Rock musician. Fine artist. Cycling champion. If lifelong Springfield resident Jeff Williams does not qualify as a genuine renaissance man, he’ll have to do until one comes along. In addition, these disparate areas of interest have built on each other throughout a 30-year career, in often unexpected ways. Williams and his band, NIL8, have come […]
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Meet the maestro
“The power of music can unite a community,” says Alastair Willis, brand new music director of the Illinois Symphony Orchestra. “That’s what we all need to be striving towards. It’s really about ‘how can we do this together?’” Willis’s appointment is the culmination of an arduous search which began in July 2010 with the announced […]
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Confessions of a (minor) rock star
Mike Doughty has been through the ringer. The former lead vocalist for sample-heavy ’90s alternative-rock mainstays Soul Coughing (“Super Bon Bon,” “Circles”) has put a lot of distance between himself and that band in the post-120 Minutes era, releasing a steady stream of solo recordings, all of which retain his trademark acerbic wit and sometimes-dense […]
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This Langfelder son is a New York singer
From the moment he made his musical debut at age 10, lip syncing Prince’s “Let’s Go Crazy” at Blessed Sacrament School’s talent show, Jacob Langfelder wanted to be on stage. Now in his 30s, with a decade of experience behind him performing and working the business side of the music industry, he’s just released his […]
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Hip-hop in the Heartland
[SOUND EFFECTS: needle drops onto vinyl; surface static; reporter clears throat] I’ll never forget the day I stumbled onto Springfield’s underground hip-hop scene. It all started with Raekwon the Chef. Or perhaps it was Fast Orange. I found myself at Bar None one evening in the spring of this year watching local hybrid punk-metal cover […]
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The Ambassador of Salsa
Pulsing Latin rhythms echo through the cavernous gymnasium at Springfield College, as a handful of college students take their first few steps into the world of salsa dancing. Some glide gracefully across the floor, while others seem to move with leaden feet, but each of them is smiling. That’s thanks to the magnetic charisma of […]
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Inside a runner’s mind
Perhaps it was the heat. By 9:30 in the evening, one would normally expect the sweltering fever and thick humidity of the day to dissipate, but the sultry blanket of summer seemed to defiantly drape itself over the park even as the waning crescent of moon slowly climbed into the night sky. Full of root […]
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The mysterious Lazer Dudes
Black leather fingerless gloves. Love Club and Stripping Glitter. Tattoos of strange designs in stranger places. Cahokia Mounds and MoonPandas. What link ties these odd and peculiar things together? Answer: the Lazer Dudes. Not much help? Maybe figuring out what possibly constitutes a Lazer Dude could aid in solving our puzzle. First and foremost they […]
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Central Illinois bands in Texas
Austin, Texas — At the South by Southwest music festival, the spring break of the music industry, sensory overload is practically guaranteed. From March 17-21, nearly 2,000 acts played in Austin, Texas, convention centers, outdoor amphitheaters, concert venues, bars, restaurants, street corners and just about any other nook or cranny where a band can play. […]
