As we prepare for the Thanksgiving holiday and ensuing weekend, please remember to add music to your list of items to be thankful for this year and all the time. Take a moment to actually notice all the moments music enters your life, from strapping on the headphones, listening in the car, live music wherever it’s happening, piped-in store music, commercials, on hold on the phone and other, seemingly countless, variations of how music is used to fill holes in our lives. Thank you music, wherever you come from, for being here when needed.
Readers of this column will note I’ve been preaching for years about the night before Thanksgiving being the biggest club party night of the year all over the country. Forget New Year’s Eve, St. Patrick’s Day and all other comers, Thanksgiving Eve is the night to hit it hard. Funny that a holiday without a real name has taken over official events, but that’s the way the bottle empties sometimes. It took a few years to catch on in Springfield, as so many things do, but we now most certainly have our share of shows on Wednesday night before Thanksgiving.
I’m sure bar and venue owners look at it like a Black Friday type of deal where the influx of business on a day of the week not usually expected to do much profit becomes a highlight of the year. Looking at it from the musician’s standpoint goes much the same, since getting a killer night in the middle of the week is seldom and terrific. Add to that the fact of folks off work, families home, college students on break and other reasons insuring a mighty fine live entertainment time, most shows on Thanksgiving weekend are generally well attended.
I can assure you that the music lineup for this few days of break from the normal routine is vast, varied and voluminous, as well as just a plain good assortment of goodies to partake of and in. Before I begin to list a few of the many, please be advised that of the ones I chose to feature, there are many more listed in our Pub Crawl pages. So if you don’t like what you hear in my bit, go looking for what suits you to a T or ex, why or Z. Also I won’t mention any Wednesday night bookings because you won’t see them in our Pub Crawl this issue since we are coming out a day earlier than our usual Thursday. You’ll need to either check last week’s printed paper or look online at http:// illinoistimes.com for bands playing that big hoopla of the biggest party night of the year on Thanksgiving Eve.
Let’s start with a repeat from last week as Ruth LaMaster reunites with Dick Garretson and the Big Bad Blues Machine on Friday at the K of C Hall on Meadowbrook and Iles. They’re joined by Mary Jo Curry and Tombstone Bullet plus the Little Big Band featuring Rebecca Watts. Also on Friday, the Angel Brown Trio lights up Lime Street Cafe, Mike Burnett and Jeff Kornfeld do the Trading Post Saloon along with Brooke Thomas and the Blue Suns, Robert Sampson does blues out at the Walnut Street Winery and The Roastineers land at the Craft Beer Bar. The Motorvators rock George Ranks, Stone Giants hit the Curve Inn, Murder of Crowes roost at Celtic Mist Pub, and Bar None hosts a trio of remarkable proportions with NIL8, Boon and Los Injectors.
With that said, you can expect Saturday to be a blast as well. Happy Thanksgiving to all and to all a good week of music listening pleasure.
Contact Tom Irwin at [email protected].
