Gene Kelly doing the old soft shoe with Jerry the Mouse. That was the image I couldn’t shake while watching Chris Sander’s sanitized version of Jack London’s The Call of the Wild, in which the protagonist, the massive canine Buck, is not played by a real dog but is a computer-generated image. To be sure, […]
Newsletter – Event
Posted inMusic
Mardi Gras and more
Here we are at Mardi Gras time already with much more included in a week full of fabulous times, fun happenings and February at its finest. Shall we partake? Thursdays keep rolling on as a good night for live music and this week is no exception. Over at the Butternut Hut, Jeff Berendt (of The […]
Posted inMusic
Mary Jo Curry Band
What can be said about Mary Jo Curry (vocals) and her band of Michael Rapier (guitar), Rick Snow (drums) and Chris Rogers (bass) that you don’t already know by hearing them play? Well, how about that the new CD just released this weekend has guest spots by some top blues cats, namely, Albert Castiglia, Tom […]
Posted inMusic
Tad Derek O’Brien
Try experiencing something different this week and take a live listen to a classical guitarist, arranger and composer instead of the usual offerings. A Springfield native, Tad Derek O’Brien started his musical journey at age 13 with lessons from the late guitarist Tom Lewis, who obviously instilled a lifelong love of learning music in young […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Rhythm Section woefully out of tune
The great filmmaker Howard Hawks once said that one of the keys to making a successful movie is to make sure each scene moves the story along. When looking at the director’s works, whether it be Bringing Up Baby, His Girl Friday or Red River, you see this principle in action. His narratives move, sometimes […]
Posted inMusic
Fun-filled February
Welcome to the first full weekend of February in 2020, and it’s chock full of fun fantastically formed to fulfill your most fabulous, not at all fallacious, fantasies of a fine time. Let’s get right to it as we have lots to cover. Thursday gives us a couple of stellar Springfield acts that surely set […]
Posted inMusic
The Pleiades
A fairly new band in length of existence (they just got together a few months ago), this quartet comes complete with the attitude and ambition of a group that’s been around for awhile. Each of The Pleiades, Carter Kelso (lead vocals, guitar), Trey Tholen (lead guitar), Eli Trimpe (bass, vocals) and Jake McNamara (drums, percussion), […]
Posted inSpecial Issues
Family event calendar
Weekly carillon concerts Wednesdays, 12pm, Sundays 2pm and 4pm. Throughout the year you can find Carlo van Ulft, the park district’s carillonneur, playing a variety of classical, folk and popular music. When the carillon is being played, a monitor at the base of the tower allows you to see Carlo in action. Free. Washington Park, […]
Posted inMusic
After School Special
When it comes to doing the duo, this twosome of Aasne Daniels and Jerry Setnicky (both on acoustic guitar and vocals) dig into the popular music of the last several decades to do “acoustified” versions of rock and pop songs by artists such as Guns N Roses, Def Leppard, Smashing Pumpkins and Britney Spears. For […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Ritchie back in comfort zone with clever Gentlemen
To say that Guy Ritchie’s career has been spotty is a bit of an understatement. Bursting on the scene with the brash gangster flicks Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (1998) and Snatch (2000), his frenetic style and post-modern take on the genre proved to be Britain’s response to the Quentin Tarantino phenomenon. However, a […]
Posted inMusic
John Paul Keith
Since this brilliantly blessed singer-songwriter-guitarist burst from the Memphis music scene in 2009, he continues to play for keeps, keeping it real and really playing music. John Paul Keith rocks a Fender Telecaster like nobody’s business and sings a true song with an R&B sensibility that screams let’s make Memphis in the meantime our motto […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Jojo a powerful piece of timely satire
Taika Waititi pulls off quite the high-wire act both in front of and behind the camera with Jojo Rabbit, an audacious piece of work that looks at Nazi Germany through the eyes of a 10-year-old boy whose imaginary friend just happens to be Adolf Hitler. In adapting Christine Leunens’ dark novel, the filmmaker injects his […]
