Remember our big green elephant? Well, we almost forgot about it. On Saturday, March 16th we will be taking it out of hiding and participating in the 35th annual St. Patrick’s Day Parade downtown Springfield (our first year participating in this particular parade). We will be pulled by Miles T Shirts once again.

The parade happens right at 12:00 pm on that day, and we believe it goes for one hour. The route starts at the Horace Mann parking lot, works it’s way down Jefferson Street, then to 5th street, then loops around at either Capitol or Monroe and goes to 5th.

Our store will be open all day that day as well – from 9:00 am to 8:00 pm and during the parade. Come on downtown! Check out a facebook event for this right here.

Did you know that later this afternoon there is going to be a live music show going on over at The Lincoln Library downtown not too far from us? Incredible!! And it’s a free show!?!? Why would anyone miss out on a one in a lifetime chance of an opportunity to attend this show?? Bands playing include Springfield’s very own pop / punk group Attic Salt at the top of the bill. Check out their music streaming on the player below. Also is everyone’s favorite Champaign rock group “Nectar” which has played in Springfield many times. Opening things up is Mary Jo Curry according to the flier above, who we do not know much about.

That starts at 6:00 pm inside the Lincoln Library downtown on Capitol and 7th streets… we are guessing somewhere on the ground floor of the library. The event is free and all ages. Find a facebook event for this one right here. Also be sure to check out our shows page for a good look at what else is coming up in Springfield while we are waiting on our venue space to get approved.

There were rumors floating around that a secret show at The Lincoln Library was happening… and it looks like these rumors turned out to be true! This upcoming Saturday, March 2nd at 6:00 pm there is a free show happening in the public library featuring three acts. Amazing! Bands playing include Springfield’s very own pop / punk group Attic Salt at the top of the bill. Check out their music streaming on the player below. Also is everyone’s favorite Champaign rock group “Nectar” which has played in Springfield many times. Opening things up is Mary Jo Curry according to the flier above, who we do not know much about.

That starts at 6:00 pm inside the Lincoln Library downtown on Capitol and 7th streets… we are guessing somewhere on the ground floor of the library. The event is free and all ages. Find a facebook event for this one right here. Also be sure to check out our shows page for a good look at what else is coming up in Springfield while we are waiting on our venue space to get approved.

Okay, we can’t wait any longer, we’re going to have a grand opening for our new location. On Saturday, March 9th in a little over just two weeks – The Official Grand Opening™ of the new Dumb Records Downtown Location. Yes, we are open every day from 1:00 to 8:00 pm right now and have been “soft” open for over a month now, but we are ready to make this official. On March 9th we will be open all day from 9:00 am – 8:00 pm and we’ll just go ahead and say our store will be in full swing mode by then. Maybe we’ll keep building stuff after that date (we probably will)! How’s the venue portion coming along? No bands are playing this grand opening, however we are closer than we ever have been now that’s for sure – we still don’t know when exactly we will have final approval for shows. If anything this date will be an opportunity for us to show off our space to any of you who haven’t seen it. Also of course at 11:00 am the mayor Jim Langfelder will be here for an official ribbon cutting. Don’t miss that! Coffee will be provided by new local coffee shop Foamed Up (they are located out at the mall.

We’ll get a facebook event for this going right away, don’t you worry.

Happy Saturday! Today is a big day for us over at the new Dumb Records because it’s our first day being open all throughout the entire day! No, no grand opening yet. Today is the “Vintage Love Tour” organized by Springfield Vintage happening at various locations around town including our own store (or next door to our store at our venue space). Just show up to 418 E Monroe Street today and say “hi”! There are five vendors set up over here selling vintage items, maybe some clothes, some roller skates, some cacti shaped like little hearts. Wow!

The Vintage Love tour is going on from 10:00 am to 4:00 pm. We will still have our record store open until 8:00 pm tonight (so we are open 10:00 am – 8:00 pm). Come on by and say hi! More info on the Vintage Love tour and other locations can be found on the facebook event right here.

No, we are still not cleared to host events in our new space just yet (and it’s killing us), but however we can still have a store and be involved with a neat and fun group of businesses as part of the “Vintage Love Tour” being set up by Springfield Vintage on Saturday, February 9th! Very lovely! What does the Vintage Love Tour entail? Well, for one this will be a big deal for us because it means we are going to have to have our space and store open from 10am-4pm for the tour. This means we will be open from 10am-8pm that whole day (we really hope the weather is warmer by then). For the Vintage Love Tour we will have a few vendors set up inside our space (the 416 space) selling vintage clothing and other items. We will still have our regular record store up and running too of course.

To go check out the full list of businesses participating and map of the event, go to the Vintage Love Tour facebook page right here. We are excited to now be downtown so we can participate in things like this with other businesses! We are also ready for the weather to get warmer!

Wow! We weren’t even downtown yet in 2018, but we are extremely grateful to be receiving a big nomination in the Downtown Springfield Best of 2018 awards! The nomination is under the category of “Best Creative Promotion” and more specifically goes to our Record of the Night series, which has been on-going for the past six years, but we have managed to keep up with the tradition every single day of 2019 as we have been moving and settling into our new home downtown.

Other nominees in the category include the “Adams Family” – the group of businesses one block over from us on Adams Street, and also Obed & Isaac’s Wine Bus Tour.

The Downtown Springfield Awards Ceremony where winners of the categories will be announced is this Wednesday night. Keep up with all of our Record of the Night ridiculousness right here.

With just about half of a month left of Black Sheep being open, and a remaining four days of Dumb Records being open at it’s current location, we feel we are finally ready to reveal information to you regarding our new space in 2019. A lot of you have been asking questions, so we feel it is appropriate to present all of the answers to your questions in this FAQ format.

A couple of days ago, Dumb Records posted all over social media pictures of a giant face taking up a storefront downtown, without any explanation as to what was going on.

Where did that face come from? Who is that?

It just came from googling “old man mask” in image search.

Where are you all moving to?

416 and 418 East Monroe Street. This includes the space where the face is filling the window and also the space next to it (both inside spaces pictured above). There is a doorway on the inside connecting both spaces. 

Will one side be the store and one side be for shows?

Yes. We actually would like to use both sides during the day as a record store, then have the bigger space (416 E Monroe) able to transform into a show space by clearing out all of record carts or tables.

Will you do shows as often as you do now?

Probably eventually. We would like to continue to see all kinds of events in the new space. But we are thinking we will start the first months of being open out small to test the waters, probably just one show a weekend tops.

Is it bigger or smaller?

Both spaces are slightly smaller than Black Sheep and Dumb Records now, but since they are connected and we plan on utilizing both of them for a store space during the day, we potentially have more to work with than before. Back rooms in the 416 space might also allow us to have a back area / green room for bands and performers or other possibilities.

When are you opening?

It’s much too early to say right now! We’re taking this one thing at a time and are focusing on moving out of our current location first. We do have a few ducks to get in a row with some slight adjustments to the space to be up to code with the zoning and fire departments. We will definitely not be announcing any type of opening date until we are completely squared away with all of that. There is also a good chance we will be opening up the store portion before hosting any events for a while.

Are you still keeping the names Black Sheep and Dumb Records?

For simplicity’s sake, we are just calling the new space Dumb Records.

So Black Sheep is done forever?

That’s not really how we see it, our system of running a record and show space side-by-side is still going to be the same and the same people are going to be involved setting up shows. The name and location are changing, yes.

Will the walls be covered in graffiti like Black Sheep?

No. Maybe some murals for now.

Will the owners still be the same?

It’s probably safe to say that no one’s involvement with the new space will be any less. And also as with Dumb Records and Black Sheep, there is also plenty of room for others to be involved with behind the scenes work.

What’s going to happen to Southtown Sound?

Unfortunately Southtown Sound ended soon after Kyle Noonan took a recording engineering job elsewhere in Southern Illinois earlier this year. He had been running Southtown Sound for over a full year. The equipment went to others that plan on continuing recording bands and projects in their own homes (the CFP house). There is no studio planned for our new space, but who knows – we are moving downtown where nearby spaces that are opening up could lead to other things happening!

What’s going to happen to where Black Sheep and Dumb Records are now?

George says he’s going to sell records out of the record store. He also put a giant FOR RENT sign in our window. As for Black Sheep, we have no idea.

What’s going to happen to Dumb Fest?

That’s a tough question right now! Right now our attention is focused on this move going smoothly and us finishing out Black Sheep the end of this year. This is usually the time of year when we are starting planning for Dumb Fest in June. Unfortunately we will not have a venue and skatepark for shows side by side and our setup in the new spot is not anywhere near ideal for a three-day punk festival. This might mean that we are taking a break from Dumb Fest for this year, maybe we’ll have a “mini-Dumb Fest”, maybe we won’t be able to hold any Dumb Fests at all. We do however think that getting our foot in the door downtown is going to lead to us discovering other potential spots for all ages shows to happen, so we are optimistic about another maybe SXSW style festival put on by Dumb Records in the future.

We are also limited to other bigger festival-type shows at the new location (even Black Sheep Fest). There is a good chance that we will do more ticket-presale shows that actually sell out or cap off after a certain number of tickets are sold.

What’s going to happen to The Black Sheep Radio Show?

It’s not going anywhere! Still keeping our regular slot from 4-6pm on 88.3 WQNA fm. You mean someone out there actually listens?!?

Can my band play at the new space?

Yes, but we aren’t ready yet! As we said earlier, we aren’t announcing any sort of start date until all of the logistics with our space are squared away. This means we are set on not putting anything on our calendar until then.

Can I set up a show at the new space?

Once we are able to open up, yes we do want to encourage anyone who wants to to set up shows. We will have some sort of system in place for booking that will hopefully be simple and make sense for everyone.

How can I help?

A lot of you have been reaching out about helping us move! Just check the Black Sheep facebook group for updates regarding us moving. We won’t be moving everything all in one night, likely spread out over the course of this next month. We will also likely need help building, painting, and getting the new space ready. You can also check the Black Sheep group for that, and we’ll try to put up posts on this site on what we need help with every so often.

Also it probably goes without being said, but right now we need support in terms of everyone coming out to our last shows at our current location! There are currently eight shows left. We will have a donation jar set up to take donations that will help us with moving expenses (there are a lot of costs involved with opening up a new space). If we are short on funding once all of our shows in the old space are done, we might look to more online crowd funding to cover expenses if needed. You can also make donations online by Paypal-ing us directly right here!

Our friends over at Downtown Springfield Inc. have notified us that our Springfield is currently in the running to win a grant for $25,000 to go towards music events in the downtown area. The grant is called The Levitt Amp Grant – here’s a description of the Levitt Amp organization from their site:

The Levitt AMP [Your City] Grant Awards is an exciting matching grant program made possible by the Mortimer & Mimi Levitt Foundation, a national creative placemaking funder dedicated to strengthening the social fabric of America through the power of free, live music. With Levitt AMP, the joy of free, live music is bringing communities together in small and mid-sized towns and cities across the country.

While Levitt’s program of permanent outdoor music venues, each presenting 50+ free concerts annually, is tailored to large metro areas with populations of over 400,000 (due to financial sustainability and audience development considerations), the Levitt AMP [Your City] Grant Awards are specifically designed to meet the needs and capacity of small to mid-sized towns and cities.

Since 2015, the Levitt Foundation has awarded $1.4 million total to 29 communities across America through the Levitt AMP grant program.

Springfield is currently eighth place in the running. Go to the Levitt Amp site and vote right here – you will have to register on their site (which entails giving them a name and email address) before voting.

Downtown Springfield Inc. has reached out to us at Black Sheep saying they would like us involved in some of the organizing for at least one of the events if we win the grant!