NOW PLAYING | Tom Irwin
Here we go again, sailing off into the wild blue music yonder. This week we offer you a fantastic and fabulous, veritable cornucopia of live music choices for the middle of September making this world more of a loving one with each glorious note.
And speaking of making this world a better place to be, let’s send out congratulations and appreciations to Debbie Yates. She does year number two of Gma’s Memories. Designed as a caring tribute to her experiences with loved ones dealing with Alzheimer’s and as a fundraiser for the Alzheimer’s Foundation, Debbie organized the performers, silent auction and all the publicity (with a little help from her friends) to make the event happen. The festivities begin at 2 p.m. on Sat., Sept. 13, in the Capital City Bar and Grill on Dirksen Parkway and includes performances by Job Conger, Kamikaze Krush and many others. I was scheduled to play (I did last year, thank you, Debbie), but ended up going out of town this weekend. In my research to find out more about Alzheimer’s, I came across a documentary called Alive Inside, where Dan Cohen, a health care worker-reformer experiments playing music to patients debilitated by the destructive disease. He brings iPods filled with music the patients are familiar with, and pops headphones on the ears of the suffering ones. The result is nothing short of amazing. The nearly comatose and incommunicable folks come alive with the sound of music. Check it out if you can online and please attend Gma’s Memories to support this good cause.
The blues come around this week at the Alamo, as two world renowned performers play the familiar nightclub near Washington and Fifth. James Armstrong, Springfield’s very own internationally acclaimed blues guitarist, singer and songwriter, hosts a blues gathering on Thursday, from 6 to 9 p.m. Then, at the long-running, weekly Blue Monday jam hosted by the Illinois Central Blues Club, harmonica virtuoso RJ Mischo takes the floor to wow the crowd with his mouth harp melodies, all night long. What a deal for great music on the cheap.
Our much ballyhooed festival run continues with Phases of the Moon in Danville and the American Music Show at Donnie’s Homespun this weekend. The Phases runs from Thursday through Sunday and features most of the top names in jam-band land including the incredible Widespread Panic and Tedeschi-Trucks Band, plus some cool lesser knowns like The Brothers Comatose and Clare Dunn, along with the great Leon Russell as well. Started by father and son team Barry and Sam Shears, this is the first year of many concerts to come at the couple thousand acre county park located outside Danville. This art and music festival, based on the ideas of western events such as Burning Man, brings art, music and culture together for a big shindig. I met some folks out in Flagstaff last weekend that were making the trek, opening my eyes and ears to the farreaching effects of this festival.
Closer to home, the American Music Show reconvenes at Donnie’s Homespun after a much noticed absence. Once located on the Hilton parking garage (Rooftop Roots Festival) and also part of the Taste of Downtown entertainment for many years, Sean and Jamie Burns and the good folks at the Sangamon Valley Roots Revival are back bringing the best of the best in American roots music to Springfield. Headliners include the Grammy-nominated duo of Eric Brace and Peter Cooper on Friday and the much appreciated Bottle Rockets on Saturday with a wealth of well-suited music to support those acts on the bill.
There’s plenty more music where that came from, just keep looking.
Contact Tom Irwin at [email protected].