Fools in April

I have been slacking at my job this week. I meant to get around to all the bars and venues to find out what was happening around town to let all you good people know. Since I didn't do my job, I'll just let you know of the few things I've heard about.

Friday, April 1

Position 12?  will be at Mac's Uptowner around 8pm with American Madness.
They are both hard rock and were featured last week at Squarefest. Unfortunately, I didn't make it so I can't review them. I would love for someone to give a review for me of that show. Below is a video of Position 12?

Phil Riley is going to be playing a show at Friends and Co. at 8pm. Rumor has it he will be playing with a full band. Phil has been reviewed in previous posts with videos included. Please check them out.

Also, don't forget tomorrow is April Fools day! Be on the lookout and try not to be too gullible!


Saturday, April 2

Road Song will be at Jackson Avenue Coffee starting at 8pm.
Road Song is comprised of male and female vocals with an acoustic guitar and bass. They will be doing originals with a few covers of the Beatles, Stones, Merle Haggard, Elvis and Bob Dylan. Start your evening out right with a good coffee to make sure you can enjoy the rest of the night.


Spread and Afternoon Mood will be featured at Friends beginning at 9pm for $3.
These jam bands are for our Woodchuckers. This begins the countdown to the Woodchuck Music Festival. Spread has been featured at Woodchuck before and this year will be Afternoon Moon's first show at Woodchuck so come show them your support and make them as excited for Woodchuck as we are!


Fifth World will be also playing at Mac's Uptower at 9pm for $2. 
Psychedelic, house, funk, Acid Jazz, Hip hop, and electronica. LIKE NOTHING YOU HAVE HEARD BEFORE. Only 2 dollar cover!
That description was just copied right off their facebook event page. 

Please check out all these videos or links below to listen to the bands before you go! Everyone have a good time this weekend and please review something for me!


http://www.archive.org/details/Afternoon_Moon2011-02-12.Afternoon_Moon_Live_at_Cabin_Fever_2011


http://www.myspace.com/fifthworldmusic

new blogs hooray

Of course, because this blog just started, I'm not really sure what the setup is going to be and will eventually figure it out. I was really hoping to have more writers because it shouldn't just be my music style. Charleston music scene has a lot to offer and I'd really like people to hear more than just my opinion. So if you are at all interested in writing reviews or contributing, just write below or send a message to the facebook page.

SQUAREFEST

I'm going to be completely honest with you guys, I don't exactly remember all of it. I remember parts and I remember disappearing and going home to walk my dog so I'm not sure I caught as much of it as I should have. I will tell you about what I remember. Booze is the first thing I remember.  After that, music. After that, other unmentionable things. Coming back to music though, the first thing I remember is Tommy Gun Geisha. Always a good start to the day and a great way to have your first beer after a hard hangover. Hard-headed-rock-and-roll by soft-hearted-boys. As usual, they did not disappoint.

I then ran over to Indio Cigar Company to see Phil Riley again. My review from last night still stands. There is a video at the bottom of this blog for you to make up your own mind about him.

At this point, it was about 6:30 and my friends and I decided to eat and drink at Roc's so I missed a lot of the bands around that time. The next band I headed over to was Transatlantic at the Uptowner. If I remember correctly, it was a step back in time. It reminded me of a lot of the pop-punk bands I loved in 2005/2006 like The Junior Varsity, Taking Back Sunday, and Spitalfield. They had a lot of energy and were different from a lot of the bands at Squarefest. I then caught the first few songs of The Staff Blues. There is a link to one below which I thought was the dirtiest and sexiest of all that I heard.

After that, I ran over to see Iron Tigers. I refuse to review them because I'm obviously biased because of my connection with the band. I will say that I do love them regardless of my connection and will put up a link to their set later because am honestly too impatient to wait for it to upload.

Lastly, thank you Scott Chaplinski for another awesome Squarefest!

Recovery Sunday

I will give a more in depth blog about Squarefest later but right now I just want to say it went fabulously. Here's a review of what I caught at the pre-Squarefest party at Top of the Roc and the Uptowner.

On Friday, there was a pre-party that was supposed to take place at the old Woodchuck house but the show kept getting bigger and bigger until it needed to be moved to the Uptower and Top of the Roc.

There were a few new additions to the Charleston music scene on Friday. Black Girls played their first show that night. Sadly, I missed much of it but caught the last two songs. Many of Black Girls' bandmates have contributed to other Charleston bands that have had strong fan bases, so people were very excited for this show. If I wouldn't have known, I would have never guessed it was their first show. They were put together well with a great Mowtownish soulful blues sound. They definitely hold a bright future in the Chuck music scene.

That same show brought some guests: Champaign favorites The Dirty Feathers and The Leadership. Hopefully we will see more of both of these bands not only playing in Charleston but playing in Champaign with Charleston bands! Please check out their myspaces and friend them on facebook:
http://www.myspace.com/thedirtyfeathers
http://www.myspace.com/theleadershipmusic/music/albums/frontiers-17465001

The Uptower ended with a great performance by local favorites Iron Tigers who also played at Indio Cigar Factory on Saturday night. Iron Tigers brought a lot of energy and dancing with their old-time country/folk sound. Everyone especially loves their cover of Johnny Cash's "Folsom Prison Blues."

I also headed over to the Top of the Roc for Phil Riley who was previously the drummer for Charleston band Tommy Gun Geisha before moving to Denver. He came back to Charleston for Friday and Saturday night performances. I had no idea Phil could sing but, boy, can he! I overheard someone say he had a 'hypnotic' voice. Combine that with his powerful, emotional lyrics and there's no way you'll want to leave his set. He sold out of his $3 CDs that I was hoping to get. Hopefully this will not be the last we see of Phil Riley. Chucktown wishes him the best of luck in Denver.

I'll get to Squarefest later. If anyone wants to contribute with reviewing it, I'd appreciate it because I obviously couldn't be everywhere at once but I know on Recovery Sunday it's hard to remember much about last night. I did get video of a few bands that will be up soon.

Also, if you are not doing anything tonight, you should head over to the Uptowner to support Caleb Cook's free acoustic and end the weekend of music!

SquareFest Episode 3

This is the first entry in the new Charleston music blog. This blog will be used for letting people in the community and surrounding areas know what's happening around the town on any given night. There is plenty of music to support and it gives people plenty of things to do in this small, college town. 

This happens to also be the holiest day of Squarefest. In case you don't know what Squarefest is- it's a biannual festival that has mostly local bands play at the bars around the business square in Charleston. It is a good time and a few hundred people come out to support local music and local business. I'm going to make this a quick first entry but here is the tentative line up for tonight.

Friends and Co. Dungeon

2:00-3:15 Maylae (Rock) (Effingham)
3:45-5:00 Indigo Sun (Jamtronica) (Chicago)
5:30-6:15 Aloysius and the Smack and Thud Revue (Folk/Rock)
6:30-7:45 Heavy Dennis (Rock) (Charleston)
8:30-10:00 Brainchild (Funky Jam) (Peoria)
10:30-12:00 Sneaky Gene (Blues/Rock/Jam) (Kankakee)
12:30-1:00 Deliver the Fallen (Rock/Metal/Heavy) (Charleston)



Friends and Co. Front Room - No Longer All Ages, Our Apologies

2:00-2:50 Reverend Roberts (Folk/Blues/Gospel) (Charleston)
3:15-4:15 Moon Dogs (Folk) (Ashmore)
4:45-5:30 Renegade (Rap/Acoustic) (Bloomington/Chicago)
6:00-7:00 
7:30-8:00 Eli Wick (Acoustic Folk/Blues) (Denver)
8:15-9:15 J Boozer (One Man Band) (St. Louis)
9:40-10:35 That's No Moon (Rock/Pop) (Champaign)
10:55-11:120 Jay Physics (Rap/Hip Hop) (Champaign)
11:50-1:00 Howard (Rock and Roll) (Charleston)


Mac's Uptowner

2:00-2:45 Lee Holman's Conspicuous Jubilation (Rock/Blues) (Chicago)
3:10-4:05 Mustache (Alternative/Rock) (Mattoon)
4:30-5:25 Spinning Chambers (Rock and Roll) (Charleston)
5:40-6:25 Eric Swanson of E3po (Reggae) (Chicago/Kankakee)
6:50-7:35 All American Madness (Rock) (Charleston)
8:05-8:55 Transatlantic (Rock) (Indiana)
9:25-10:45 Staff Blues Band (Blues/Horns) (EIU/Charleston)
11:30-1:00 Strange Arrangement (Jam/Rock) (Chicago)



Roc's

2:00-2:45 The Stationery (Rock) (Mattoon/Effingham)
3:00-4:00 Pardon My Zinger Comedy Hour! - Jake Senesac, Andy Cork, Tim Tholl
4:15-5:00 Tommy Gun Geisha (Heavy Jackson) (Charleston) 
5:30-6:30 The Deal (Rock and Roll) (Chicago)
7:05-8:00 Position 12? (Alt/Prog/Rock) (Effingham)
8:30-9:25 The Hearsay (Pop and Roll) (EIU)
10:10-11:40 The Coop (Live Electronics/Dub/Fusion/Improvisation) (Chicago)
12:10-1:00 Robert Hooke and the Cells (Switchblade Pop) (Chicago)



Indio - 18+ **5 dollars at the door or free w/ SF Wristband

2:00-2:50 The Diagnosis (Rock) (Sullivan)
3:20-3:50 Glass Accident (Rock/Heavy) (Indiana)
4:20-5:00 The Drug Therapy (Rock) (Chicago)
5:30-6:15 Phil Riley (Acoustic) (Denver/Charleston)
6:35-7:00 DJ Lunchbox (Beatbox/Guitar) (Arcola)
7:10-7:40 Jules Bennett (Solo/Rock) (Charleston
7:50-8:20 Gideon Bardsley (Acoustic Rock) (Charleston)
8:30-9:10 Jenna Jackley (Pop/Acoustic/Vocals) (Mattoon)
9:40-10:30 Iron Tigers (Folk/Rock) (Charleston)
11:00-1:00 Funk Biscuit (Funk/New Orleans Brass/Punk/Rock/Jazz) (EIU)



Mothers **Open at 8PM**


8:00-9:00 Mitch Davis Experience (Electronica) (Champaign/Charleston)
9:25-10:25 DJ iLlith (Dubstep) (Chicago/Kankakee)
10:50-1:00 Dj Timmy2Times, White Rabbit, and DJ Mustakrish (House/Dubsteb) (Champaign/Peoria)

There will be wristbands for sale at the door for $20 for 21 and over. For 18+, there will be wristbands available for Indio Cigar Company for $7. 

Also, make sure to buy a t-shirt made by our own Gavina Graphics' Ty Bixby of Iron Tigers, Andy Van Slyke, Black Girls and Bumpin Uglies!

Thank you to Mayor Scott Chaplinski for organizing this festival and all of the people who have helped. Also, make sure to show your support to all the venues by buying too many drinks and respecting the venues, staff and each other!

Have a good time and see you all there!