Many of you have been excited today (aside from all the snow) about a feature story in this week’s issue of The Illinois Times about Southtown and all of the businesses and people that make it a creative hub of Springfield. Pictured on the front of The Illinois Times (above) is Brandon Carnes of South Town Studio. The actual article spans five pages and covers much of what is going on inside Southtown including Dumb Records, The Black Sheep, Skank Skates, Boof City Skate Shop, South Town Studio, Clay’s Popeye’s Barbeque, and even George’s gardening projects. From the article:

On a typical Wednesday evening in Southtown, one might enter through the front door of Dumb Records (1107 S. Grand Ave.) and pass young people (leather, tattoos and piercings optional, but prevalent) talking and casually perusing the LP, 45, cassette, CD and t-shirt stock or possibly engaging in a game of foosball. The music choices on the store speakers here can be eclectic – recent visits have featured selections from Slayer and the Mamas & the Papas. The atmosphere is casual but strangely energized.

Exiting Dumb Records through the back door will land you in an unpaved parking lot, and if there is a concert at Black Sheep that night it will more than likely be abuzz with even more young people – band members might be unloading equipment from vans or cars while other kids talk, smoke or just goof around. Music is often in the air, wafting from Southtown Recording studios, housed in the building directly behind Dumb Records, where proprietor and engineer Brandon Carnes offers practice space to local combos between recording sessions. He has recorded projects for more than 30 bands since opening there in February.

Check out the article online right here, which also features a live video of the band Looming playing at Black Sheep earlier this month on November 5th. You can also pick up a physical copy of The Illinois Times between now and next Thursday at various local businesses around Springfield. For those of you more interested in checking out some things that Southtown has to offer, many of the buildings here are going to be active during our first ever South Town Record Fair coming up this Saturday.