Girl-A-Thon and more
NOW PLAYING | Tom Irwin
Many wonderful shows are happening this weekend on the music front from bar gigs to outdoor festivals. If we can visit a few here now, then you can go in person later.
Before we go another word, let’s pause for the cause and talk about Girl-A-Thon. If you’ve been living under a rock for the last several years, you have a wonderful excuse for not knowing about this event. For those of you above ground, no reason I can think of allows you to not be familiar with and participate in this wonderfully fun, continually exciting and always beneficial all day long fundraiser. Founded in 2010 through the hard work and dedication of Gwen Harris with lots of help from many devoted volunteers, the show, held this Sunday (Oct. 12, 2 p.m.), features talented folks of the female persuasion from the Springfield area performing to raise money for the battle against breast cancer.
This year, the now standard GAT Band plays and backs up a variety of performers, including Maddie Brown of Lick Creek, Bekah Hurley of Tennessee Borderline and Jenny Campbell. Also on the bill are female teenage acts Alexia Blakeman and The Fight Club. The Girl-A-Thon Choir, described by host Gwen as “not your average choir” makes a showing along with the now prerequisite secret skit and a few GAT-created and inspired skits as well. Boondocks graciously hosts again, and as always, we congratulate Gwen and cohorts for a mighty input of work that becomes a huge amount of fun and ends up doing a whole bunch of good.
While at Boondocks, let’s mention that the Kentucky Headhunters, a world renowned, chart-topping country rocking band, are playing the northside nightclub on Friday night. Any fans of the band will tell you these are take-no-prisoners, in-your-face rockin’ country fellas out for a good time – and to make sure you have one, too.
Bar None scores with music every weekend night, including the long-running, nationally touring Paul Collins Beat on Sunday and The Complaint Line and TOK on Saturday. In the middle of Friday’s frolic of Josh Catalano and the Dirty Thoughts, The New Old-Fashioned and Spencer Stokes, say hello to Springfield native Jesse W. Johnson. JWJ, a singersongwriter currently residing in Chicago, just released a new EP called Cannon Rows. He kicks off his tour with the Friday show before heading west for an October run through Colorado, New Mexico and California.
Donnie’s Homespun hosts the venerable Ernie Peniston Band playing real-thing blues, joined by Springfield’s own Juke House on Friday and Jake’s Leg, perennial Grateful Dead doers from the St. Louis area on Saturday. Plenty of fine groups play the Lincoln Memorial Garden Indian Summer Festival this weekend including Murder of Crowes on Saturday and The Gordons on Sunday. This Saturday the Chris Sorenson Project does mostly original instrumental rockers before Broken Stone at the Blue Grouch and the Wedgewood Brothers from out Meredosia way play cool music at Guitars and Cadillacs Saloon.
On Monday, the Illinois Central Blues Club weekly jam booked rap-rock-blues phenom Jarekus Singleton. Word has it he’s pretty awesome and his new Alligator Records release, Refuse to Lose, proves it. Perhaps you’ll want to discover this for yourself.
What other readers caught the Lydia Loveless meltdown at Dr. Ugs last Sunday afternoon? It’s never fun to see an artist lose their cool on stage – or is it? Somehow it’s like watching the race while waiting for a crash. But seriously folks, she and the band seemed overdone for the room and came undone when asked to address the issue. We wish her all the best on her musical journey and hope for better times down the road.
Off we go Octobering.
Contact Tom Irwin at [email protected].
