No thanks, Champaign. You’re good for nothin’, Urbana. The one weekend I travel outside of the state, you both decide to book killer shows? Not cool. I’m giving you the silent treatment, sister cities. The silent treatment.
Anyway, for the rest of you who are lucky enough to be in town, this is not the weekend to flake out and stay in because you don’t want to brave the cold. Check it:
Friday:
Canopy Club: Elsinore, Mazes (members of the 1900s (!)) and Post Historic, midnight, $7
Saturday:
Courtyard Cafe: Foundry Field Recordings with Santa, 9pm, $5
Cowboy Monkey: New Ruins CD Release Show (!) with Tractor Kings and Common Loon, 10pm, $5
Virginia Theatre: Buddy Guy (I’ve heard practically no press about this show. Weird, right?
Sunday:
Iron Post: The Dave Dickey Big Band (an 18-member jazz ensemble with a ton of UIUC faculty), 6pm, $8
This is killin’ me. Buddy AND all Mazes/Elsinore AND New Ruins AND Sara B? Oof, just imagine the reviews that could have been posted.
If anyone out there checks these shows out and has any feedback they want to share – a note, photos, New Ruins autograph so you can say “I knew them when…”, just drop me a line at OverUC@gmail.com and I’ll do my darndest to get it posted on the site. Until then, stay up to date with show details by checking Opening Bands, since I’ll be away, but expect a review of Sara Bareilles’ performance by my two new staffers — staff! staff! — early next week.
Whew, there’s some skills in town. From poetry to songs to poetry read aloud as if it were a song, a quick drop-by to Red Herring’s Open Mic last night proved to be a great hideout for wasting away the Sunday hours watching performances, or even tucking away in a wooden booth with a mug of coffee to get work done in an atmosphere that easily beats curling up to a rigid library cubicle. If you’re hoping to squash the stage fright and say something into a microphone, this would be a comfy place to work your kinks out in front of a friendly crowd, too. New kids on the Oregon block as well as staples on the scene got onstage, and a mini-set by Brian McGovern was so enjoyable that I’ll definitely be attending his March 12th show at Canopy with the sometimes-just-him-sometimes-more-than-just-him band Green Ghost Red Ghost. All in all, a good time – one you should try your darndest to catch next week.
Sunday is officially the worst day of the week. The hours easily fly by twice as fast, homework is procrastinated until well after sunset and you’re a dauntingly large number of days until the next episode of Lost. But, thanks to The Red Herring’s new Open Mic Night, you might be able to take quick campustown break from the stacks and stacks of unread books in order to calm down, relax, and enjoy the sweet taste of freedom, if only for a little while.
Headed up by Santa’s Stan McConnell, the real treat of the evening isn’t what’s playing, but the objects that are hanging on the walls. Unlike other shows in town, Red Herring’s Open Mic Night features a new student artist every week, and gives them an opportunity to display their skills, and maybe even recoup a bit of cash for their creations. This week, the work of Matthew Harlan (creator of the image above) will be shown, and the next two weeks will highlight Joe Anderson and Katherine Robinson, respectively.
I hear there’s a rumor of baked goods too, so give your empty belly a walk around town tonight and stop by for some arts, crafts, tunes and treats from 7:30 to 10pm. Mmm!
Congrats to Nicole from Champaign, who won a vinyl copy of Tonight: Franz Ferdinand at Physical Challenge! Make sure to drop by tomorrow night and enter for your chance to win Black Kids vinyl record!
Unfortunately, I’ve come down with the wintertime sickness, and yours truly won’t be there tonight to pass out free goodies. Cheap drinks, good music, free pizza and no cover still apply for tonight, but if you want in on that Black Kids vinyl giveaway, stop by next Wednesday night, too!
Summer Camp Music Festival is the best music festival Illinois has to offer. Period.
Oh, wait, you mean there’s one in Chicago, too? That one that Perry Farrel organizes each year in the middle of Grant Park, where it takes 20 minutes to walk between stages, the sound is horrendous, and tickets are so oversold that you can’t even see the video screens?
Yeah, I’ve heard of it, and it’s nothing compared to Chillicothe’s raging good time. Everything is close to each other, the food is good (and reasonably priced), you can camp out where you wish on the grounds, and, most importantly, you can see and hear what’s going on. Seems simple, but while some other festivals can’t promise the basics, Summer Camp excels at them.
The lineup tends to stay the same from year to year, and since a lot of the ‘09 artists have performed before, it’s telling that they keep coming back. Umphrey’s McGee, moe., Keller Williams, Les Claypool, Girl Talk and Gomez are among the artists slated to play, but my personal favorites on the list — The Wood Brothers and Medeski Scofield Martin & Wood — are alone worth braving the portable toilets and summertime insects.
There will be continuous updates about the fest (and major Wood lobbying) here on In The Aeroplane, Over UC, but make sure to stay tuned at the festival’s official website for artist info, updates, tickets and late night show announcements.
And, until then, check out The Wood Brothers performing “Atlas” at a different festival a few years back. If these boys don’t make you want to instantly purchase a ticket without thinking twice, I don’t know what will:
(photo via Music For Ants. Visit the site for more photos of last year’s fest, too!)
Eugene and I discussed everything from Mark Twain to criminalistic advice, packaged it up into this teeny-tiny video, and placed it on this site for your viewing pleasure. Enjoy!
The show, which opened with an unexpectedly hilarious screen projector goofup by the Courtyard cronies was just a fitting opener for a show so funny, I forgot to take photos. Seriously. Here’s a post-show glance at the man looking amusingly professorial with his backpack, MacBook, empty rows of seats and a student nagging him about a question:
Heh. But, for some real laughs, here’s five minutes from his Saturday night stand up, in case you made the tragic Valentines mistake of gazing into each others eyes over a bouquet of roses all night instead. Enjoy!:
(Photo by Seth Olenick. Check out his other wonderful photos of comedians by clicking here.)
Ah, Eugene Mirman. The great paradox.
He’s technically not a musician, definitely not a local musician, and therefore shouldn’t fit the content of this site. But, somehow, he just does. He’s on SubPop, but for comedy. He’s in charge of sarcastic singing sensations Bret and Jermaine’s teensy-tiny apartment, but typically only joins them for elevator rides, and not as a soloist during silly, dreamy songs. He’s a regular on the concert festival circuit, and has opened for The Shins, among other bands. And, well, just check out his unbelievably funny sing-song website. It speaks for itself.
He may not be able to successfully write a melodious bridge or masterfully play scales, but you know what? A friend of musicians is a friend of mine, and his show is getting reviewed, just like the others.
That being said, if you’re taken, it’s one of the only days you can force your significant other to do whatever you want, hence, see this show. And, if you’re single-o, spending Valentine’s Dayevening with Mr. Mirman is way better than going on a stuffy date with a sorta-boyfriend or playing one of those “wear red if you’re taken, green if you’re single!” clothing games at a campus bar. Only one of these options will guarantee you feel satisfied at the end of the night, and frankly, my money’s on the funnyman, not the frat boy.
Check out the hilarity of his show at 9pm tonight at Courtyard Cafe (DeBono will open), and I’m mistakenly wearing green, please, please don’t try to woo me with a box of conversation hearts. My candy-lovin’ self might accidentally fall for it.
Paperdoll Productions is a new event photography company started by some lovely photo students who were sweet enough to come out to last week’s PHYSICAL CHALLENGE and shoot the event! If you wanna see what’s up with the parties or just see if your precious little face made the photographical cut, check out their site here. The event password is “canopy”. Enjoy!
