Tonight, Oho-bred, ironically monikered hip-hop collective Scribbling Idiots will headline the Torch Tuesday stage. They’ve been compared to a nascent Wu-Tang Clan and have opened shows for The Pharcyde and Witchdoctor. […]
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ARTIFICATION of Springfield
“It used to be scary down this way.” Barry Friedman, owner of the Alamo, 115 N. Fifth St., is reminiscing about conditions in downtown Springfield prior to the 2005 opening of the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum, situated on Sixth Street near his establishment. “Things are so much better than they used to be. […]
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Strange sonic rumblings at the Pharmacy (tonight)
I once took two different women to see the same band a month or so apart. It was a group whose music I really enjoyed, but I suppose it would generally be considered difficult– noisy, discordant and exploratory, fusing elements of avant-garde jazz and punk rock in a theatrical way that was as much about […]
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Torch Tuesday Tonight: Agent Orange and more!
Agent Orange performs tonight at Bar None It’s not just Tuesday, it’s Torch Tuesday, which is when hip-hop happens in Springfield. Tonight BET’s 106 & Park finalist Agent Orange brings his barely contained rage and tight freestyle skills to the stage. Also on the bill are the very popular Scooby da Lyricist, HSMG and a […]
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Shining Path
Cinephiles and horror fans itching for a road trip can rejoice this weekend as Champaign’s redoubtable Art Theater Co-op hosts a double feature of Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining (1980) along with the recent documentary Room 237 (see trailer below). The documentary attempts to explicate some of the many theories about what the heck the master director was getting […]
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Keeping it real
Mbanna Kantako is on a roll. From his rental house just off North Grand Avenue in Enos Park, the 54-year-old blind man talks about the advent of spring and the need to till the soil. He speaks of pollution, the Great Spirit, expectations that people gain responsibility with age and the Boston Marathon bombing, not […]
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Torch Tuesday tonight: Birthday bash for Les Luger
Les Luger Tonight’s edition of the ongoing Torch Tuesday concert series might be the best chance yet to see the cream of Springfield hip-hop talent on one stage. In honor of the birthday of scene mainstay Les Luger – winner of Single of the Year at this past January’s Torch Tuesday Awards – a variety […]
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Tonight: The Legacy salutes a legend
The late Patsy Cline The word inimitable doesn’t seem far off the mark when talking about the huge, resonant force of nature that was Patsy Cline’s singing voice, but that isn’t stopping the Legacy Theatre and Roxy Productions from doing their damnedest to resurrect the sound and spirit of the down-home diva, who perished in […]
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Tonight: Torch Tuesday hosts out-of-town talent
Double A from Madison, WI Torch Tuesday at Bar None continues to expand tonight, presenting three artists from Madison WI. Check out video from DB Cooper, Double A and Michael Medall below and come out later on for the most consistent hip-hop party in town. The show starts at 9PM at Bar None, corner of […]
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From Buck to Beck: Dwight Yoakam at PCCC tonight
A country star playing the Prairie Capital Convention Center? STOP THE PRESSES! Sarcasm aside, Dwight Yoakam – who performs at the PCCC this very evening – isn’t anyone’s idea of a typical country star. A unique and versatile artist, Yoakam has spent decades crossing stylistic lines, drawing as deeply from the Bakersfield sound pioneered […]
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Music tonight: Gentle vs. Brutal
Springfield music fans bemoaning a lack of variety in local concert offerings can go ahead and bite their tongues on this particular evening as a former Bon Iver collaborator and a balls-out thrash metal show each prepare to take downtown stages. Field Report The Hoogland Center for the Arts, via Bedrock 66, is playing host […]
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Movies: Midnight Road Trip for Gore Snobs
Why simply trudge to the local multiplex like a good little horror movie consumer to see the slick new remake of camp gore classic Evil Dead when the original is being given a rare theatrical screening just up the road? Champaign’s ever-scrappy Art Theater Co-Op is doing its best to steal some of the new […]
