The cover story of the Illinois Times this week is an in-depth look of five different perspectives on the current Springfield arts and music scene. The perspectives covered include Allison Lacher (UIS visual arts gallery), Patrick Russell (Legacy Theater), Aaron Phillips (Torch Tuesday), Tom Irwin (Illinois Times), and our very own Black Sheep Cafe. For the Black Sheep, The Times talked to Brian Galecki and Kevin Bradford about Black Sheep being a stop for touring bands as well as an outlet for locals. From the article:

Punk and indie rock music, both on the regional and national levels, are also on the upswing in town, largely thanks to the continuing activities of all-ages venue Black Sheep Café, which in the past few years has made the once routinely bypassed Springfield into a regular stopover for rough-edged independent touring bands, as well as a reliable outlet for locals. Ninety percent of Black Sheep shows are for touring bands, providing a place to do shows between St. Louis and Chicago dates. “Bands sometimes need a place to play on a weekday night and it’s not always easy to find that,” says Brian Galecki, who helps to book shows and run sound at Black Sheep. “A lot of great Springfield bands have been popping up in the past year, year and a half,” he enthuses. “It’s really awesome to see some of these new bands putting out vinyl. There have also been a lot of young kids coming out too – a lot of high school kids in the audience and a lot of high school bands and that’s helped the scene overall. There have been a lot of full-house shows in general over the past year.

You can take a look at the full article online right here, or also by picking up a copy of The Illinois Times this week.