• Mountain Goats: No recap coming, I accidentally slept through. (I’ve been sick lately from not sleeping, my body’s been crashing.)
• Hold Steady: Will be up on the site tomorrow, so help me Passover-loving God
• NKOTB: My back almost went out Sunday, couldn’t hobble to Assembly Hall. (Not only am I actually as sickly and brittle-boned as I sound, but I was REALLY bummed about this one.)
• CHICK COREA/JOHN MCLAUGHLIN: YAYYY!! Unbelievable. Content up soon, including a videooo.
• Mt. St. Helens Vietnam Band: Playing THURSDAY at Courtyard. Yes, there’s a local award show, but try to tag-team the evening because they’re fantasmic (listen!). Review coming Friday.

Keep checking back for more info about everything from how there’ll be more video interviews on the site soon (hopefully, of course) to details about Record Store Day (next Saturday!)

Time to hit the books, Excel spreadsheet and Word docs! overUC and out.

People – I’ve stumbled across our town’s equivalent to the hatch. Apparently, Courtyard Cafe will have their “office” open to sell tickets to upcoming shows (cough Hold Steady presale cough) until Friday, when tickets will be sold at the door. The person manning the desk for the night had no idea what time or when the spot will be open next (he was too preoccupied pushing a button every 108 minutes) but I’d suggest cutting through the Courtyard tomorrow as many times as you can until it opens, to avoid the painfully long lines Friday evening.

UPDATE: The presale will be happening until midnight tonight (Wednesday), and from noon until 8pm tomorrow, when Mountain Goats/Vanderslice start.

So, problem solved.  Now, go! Fill your pockets full of Hold Steady tickets and your ears full of good music!

Wednesday:

Brian Felix, DMA Recital in Smith Hall, room 25, 7:30pm

Elsinore, Everthus The Deadbeats and Everything Now at Mike n’ Molly’s, 9pm

Physical Challenge at Canopy Club, 10pm, free

Thursday:

Mountain Goats & John Vanderslice at Courtyard Cafe, 8pm, $5/$8

Lotus and Telepath at Canopy Club, 9pm, $12

Friday:

The Hold Steady, War on Drugs at Courtyard Cafe, 9pm, $15/$17

Saturday:

Rock Against Rape at Highdive, 6pm – 10:30pm, $5

Santa, Curb Service, Color Radio, Jake Kaufman (and my pal Marty’s birthday celebration) at Cowboy Monkey, 9:30, $5

Lynn O’Brien and Karl Kieser at Krannert Art Musem’s Art After Dark fashion show, 7:00 doors/7:30 show/8:15 performance, free

Thursday, April 2nd:  Mountain Goats/John Vanderslice, 8pm, $5 with I-Card/$8 for the public

Friday, April 3rd: The Hold Steady/War on Drugs, 9pm, $15 with I-Card/$17 for the public

For Courtyard-related questions, post ‘em in the comments section below, and I’ll get you an answer as soon as possible.

As I’m sure the majority of you now know, Illini Media Company has changed its much-debated Local Music Awards this year. With its previous format of honoring bands spawning outspoken commentary, artists withdrawing from the event and even a charitable (yet competing) concert last year, I applaud Buzz, WPGU and The217 for realizing that something’s gotta give. Altering the layout so that the awards are no longer based on musical productivity is a good idea, both for community cohesiveness and eliminating any sort of contest to mark each group’s success as each year passes.

But, that being said, and as really, truly positive as I’m trying to be about this year’s Local Music…Non-Awards, I guess you could call it, one question keeps incessantly coming to mind — why? Why still have an awards show? Why even award people titles, despite how frivolous they are? Why poll students about local bands when frankly, the majority of them consider Canopy Club to be a trek?

Sadly, as the questions continue to pour in, I can’t help but think the exact reason why:  money. Sponsored by One Illinois, LM5 (the moniker for this year’s show) is an opportunity to display local groups in a fun, evening-style event, but it’s also an opportunity to rake in extra advertising dough. And, in that case, maybe creating a contest that pins musicians against one another isn’t the only issue. Maybe, at its core, there’s another problem — the problem of utilizing local artists for a boost in the company’s cash flow.

There’s a reason why OverUC.com is ad-free. Offsetting the cost of printing 5,000 color handbills, a digital SLR and hours of choosing which photo Ryan Groff looks most emotive in would be fantastic, but at the end of the day, I never wanted the community to feel as though I, or anyone, was using them to make a quick buck. And despite how much larger 512 E. Green Street is than my dinky bedroom, how much glossier their presentation is than my WordPress theme or how much more widespread their readership is, it’s a standard I would hold up to anyone and everyone involved in reporting on Champaign-Urbana’s music scene. I understand why there are print ads in their weekly, but throwing a housing-sponsored event, regardless of if Curb Service is getting honored for music or a mustache, makes me uncomfortable.

I am in no way attempting to step on a soapbox; I truly hope this post fosters conversation in a neutral environment. But, the why’s keep on chugging through my brain, and my stomach still does a tiny turn when I see that ballot. The mission of the show is a legitimate one — to expose “listeners  and readers to the great music scene here” — but that’s what the Buzz‘s music coverage by definition aims (or should aim) to do on a daily basis, and in all fairness, you need to know the scene pretty well to even be able to vote.  So, call me crazy, but I don’t think polling the student body about categories both puzzling (“Band who gives the most eye contact to the crowd”) and not even opinion-based (“Band with the oldest college student in it”; “Band that has had the most revolving members throughout the years”) is the best way to aid local artists.

But, hopefully, this won’t ruin my chances of winning CU Local Music Fan of the Year.

(Kidding.)

What do you all think?

“Hey do you know if they are going to do the ticket situation any different for the Hold Steady show? It’s 15 dollars which is triple the usual cost. Will they be selling hard tickets before hand? Also the Courtyard Cafe myspace is down. : (“

Good question. So, we investigated.

According to Kristin O’Brien, the brains behind Courtyard Cafe’s excellent schedule this semester, there most likely won’t be a ticket presale, and tickets for the show will be available at the door. Additionally, the MySpace page is down due to “marketing conflicts,” but a new MySpace or seperate website is said be up shortly.

And there you have it. For updates on the ticket selling and the site, check back to OverUC in the coming weeks. But, until then, get off that computer and enjoy the lovely day outside. And, of course, since it’s Wednesday — see you at Physical Challenge!

(photo by Dan O’Brien)

Sitting back in rainy confines of the Windy City, I’ve learned that apparently Champaign-Urbana is without power, and that I can blog-crastinate my journalism paper due tomorrow because, hey, maybe I’ll get a vicarious extension due to the rumoured weather. Another thing I learned, through The217′s twitter, is that T.I.’s show tonight at Assembly Hall was canceled due to the power outages.

I don’t know if anyone else has been filing  the past two years of Assembly Hall shows away in their mind — that’s probably where you retain the answers to your midterms and finals, and why I never seem to succeed with flashcards — but isn’t it odd that Assembly Hall shows continuously get canceled?

We blogged about this trend a year ago, when Jordin Sparks and Flo Rida canceled their April 2008 show, becoming the fourth in a chain of shows biting the dust, ranging from John Mellencamp and The Fray’s two canceled dates to T.I. himself, who postponed a show with T-Pain about a year and a half ago. That show was eventually rescheduled with Soulja Boy (ew), but now this 2009 show of his is slated to be rescheduled yet again.

Sure, a handful of shows over a couple years isn’t that many, but considering the frequency — The venue typically only has around ten big concerts a year — the amount of shows that don’t ever come to fruition under that mushroom cap are large.

And, it’s not as if Assembly Hall is to blame — it’s typically the artists’ choice, and even with tonight’s show, weather is an extenuating circumstance and not the fault of the venue. But, with 5 cancellations over the past two years, the odds that a performance will bite the dust has gotten spoooooooky.

Particularly excited for the Bowerbirds show, so expect a review. And, if you’re not following us on Twitter yet, you shoo-ould!

No, that wasn’t the tornado alarm — that was just me shrieking over the fact that NEW KIDS ON THE BLOCK ARE COMING TO ASSEMBLY HALL. Can you even imagine running into them at Za’s? Or getting a quick workout at the Arc? Or going out drinking at Kam’s?!?! I’m out the door and unable to elaborate on how incredibly mind-blowing this is, but tickets go on sale this Saturday (2/7) at 10 a.m.,  and you know you wanna be in a row where Joey can see your homemade sign professing your feelings for him, so buy ‘em fast. There’s some sort of American Express pre-sale for their April 5th show that I’m highly uninformed about, but if anyone knows the key to closer tickets, lemme know.

(Photo via)

UPDATE:

Right stuff…wrong price. Check this out:

Apparently, the recession has hit everyone….except the people involved with the New Kids on The Block tour. Fitting, since they’re stuck in the ’80s. (Zing!) Seriously though — just because people in our town can waste money on unnecessary goods like overpriced cupcakes doesn’t mean they’re going to shell out hundreds to be reminded of their childhood. Spice Girls tickets were only $100, after all. Which I only know ‘cuz I, uh, heard they were, uh, that much.

Thanks, oddly enough, to my mother for sending the above tip in an e-mail, titled “Prices are so high, we do have an American Express??” Gotta love a mom’s unconditional need to bring boy bands to their daughters.

Buddy Guy, Feb. 28, Virginia Theatre, Tickets sold out. Usually, my eyeballs would be popping out over a Buddy Guy show, but I’ll be in Pittsburgh that weekend. Sorry I didn’t mention it sooner :/

(Photo via)