Blacks, Whites, and Blues Festival Happening Saturday and Sunday in Southtown

Posted on August 4, 2017 by blacksheepspringfield

Our Neighbors across the street at Bourbon Street Rhythm and Ribs put on an annual festival at the end of the summer every year. This year they are stepping it up a notch and are teaming up with a new organization to host “Blacks, Whites, & Blues Festival” – an annual festival focusing on “providing the community with information on education, career opportunities, health and safety while showcasing local talents in entertainment.”

Yes, Blacks, Whites, & Blues Festival will be going on at the same time as Black Sheep Fest happening tomorrow – which isn’t that bad because this means you can check out both events! There will also be plenty of food for sale at Blacks, Whites, and Blues Festival. One downside though is that 11th street will be closed off in front of our direct lot, limiting access to our Black Sheep parking lot. Bands playing Black Sheep Fest will have to come in to our lot through the alley!

Some of the band schedule for Black, White, and Blues Festival can be seen on their website right here. Their festival also features a car show, games and activities, and more. Southtown Construction and Training and Bone L.L.C. across the street from Dumb Records are also involved as a sponsor. So this weekend the whole neighborhood has something going on!

Check out a facebook event for Blacks, Whites, & Blues Festival right here.

HISO Music Coming to Southtown

Posted on October 14, 2015 by blacksheepspringfield

Today we have some exciting news for all of our Southtown neighborhood located on the corner of South Grand and 11th Streets in Springfield. Ayo Abitogun and HISO Music Entertainment are announcing that they will be moving to Southtown in a space above Bourbon Street Bar, and also will now be involved with a new partnership with Bourbon Street. The new space will be a performance hall/dance studio as well as a recording studio for HISO artists and more. This will be another space for artists to record and perform in Southtown and we are thrilled to welcome Ayo and the rest of HISO Music to the neighborhood.

My dad always told me work hard be patient and blessing will come I guess he was right. I was offered a partnership opportunity and a chance to invest in Bourbon Street. As well as helping run the establishment i will be building 2 NEW establistments upstairs called HISO Music. This will be a performance hall/dance studio for parties and events and i will also be building a recording studio. This will all be open to the public. This is a new journey in my life and i hope I can share it with you all. If your an Artist or someone looking to throw an event at Bourbon street inbox me or email me at hisomusicentertainment@gmail.com i will be doing all the booking for inside or outside events.

-Ayo

Does this mean HISO will no longer be setting up events at Black Sheep? Nope! In fact, there will be a HISO Halloween event happening this month on Friday, October 30th that we still have yet to announce the details for. This will also mean more exciting collaborative projects to come between HISO/Bourbon Street and the rest of Southtown.

Expect more updates soon on when we can expect the new space up and running and when the first events will be taking place. For those of you that are ages 21+ there is a HISO appreciation party taking place at Bourbon Street this Saturday at 9:00 open to the public. (The new space above Bourbon Street will be all ages when it is open!)

Today in Southtown: 5th Annual Southtown Jubilee

Posted on August 29, 2015 by blacksheepspringfield

Today we have a something little different going on that Black Sheep is a part of this year, and that is the Southtown Jubilee! The Southtown Jubilee is put on every year by our friends at Bourbon Street across the street from us. This year Bourbon Street is moving the festival to our side of the street to a new recently acquired open lot right next to Black Sheep on 11th and Brown Streets. The Black Sheep will be hosting some bands at the festival today from 2:00 to 4:00 pm. Let’s take a look at who is lined up!

3:20 – Sammy and The Punk
2:40 – Roofus
2:00 – Ryan Nance

Come out at 1:00 if you are willing to help us get things set up! This event is free to the public, and also all ages. There will also be food there! Check out a facebook event for what’s going on right here, and our upcoming shows page for a list of shows coming up in Southtown.

5th Annual Southtown Jubilee This Weekend Saturday + Sunday

Posted on August 26, 2015 by blacksheepspringfield

Each year at the end of August, Bourbon Street Bar (1031 S Grand East, across from Black Sheep) puts on the Southtown Jubilee featuring live music, food, and other vendors. This year they are expanding the festival, moving it across the street to the open lot on 11th and Brown Streets and getting the Black Sheep involved. We have our own time slot on the outdoor stage this upcoming Saturday, August 29th where we have a few acts playing. The Jubilee will also be happening for the rest of the night Saturday and also all day Sunday.

Saturday:
3:20 – Sammy and The Punk
2:40 – Roofus
2:00 – Ryan Nance

This show features Pana, IL acts Roofus and Ryan Nance who are also a part of getting a new community space and venue in Pana recently going called the Rose City Underground – The Refuge. We are excited to see some of the things coming out of Pana, and are thrilled to have them as a part of the Jubilee! The Black Sheep stage is from 2:00 pm to 4:00 pm on Saturday, August 29th. The event is free and there will be food! Check out a facebook event for the show right here. Also check out our Black Sheep shows page for a list of upcoming shows happening in Southtown.

State Journal-Register 1978 Southtown Article

Posted on July 12, 2015 by blacksheepspringfield

An article in a Saturday feature edition of The State Journal-Register, which was published in April of 1978 has been dug up from the archives. The feature is all on Southtown, which may have been a bit different 37 years ago. Businesses mentioned in the article include The Cracked Crock Tavern, Spoon River, Black Thumb, The King Harvest Food Co-op, The Southtown TV, Southtown Motors, Coast To Coast, and Southtown Lounge. Here’s a quote from the article:

A tall, red-haired man wearing a bowler derby and wide suspenders over his collarless shirt, wags a finger at his companions. “That’s what I said,” the man repeats. “The neighborhood sure has gone to hell. Nothing left around here but hippies and hobos. I remember when this was a family neighborhood, respectable you know, working class people who kept decent hours and knew the value of a hard-earned buck.”

The article talks a lot about the history of Southtown prior to 1978, such as an ice cream shop called The Sugar Bowl existing at some point, and The Southtown Grill was located next to that. Other older businesses (existing as early as the Prohibition days included The Rialto Tavern, The Air-Dome, The Empress Movie House (admission for movies was twenty cents), Zupancic’s, A pool hall, The Southtown Theater, Jim McManus Saloon, Herman Oger’s Shoe Shop, Fassero Brothers Butcher Shop, Art Lehne’s Bakery, The Southtown Barber Shop, Sanger Dairy, Jefferson Bank (which was around until 1927), Kerst Hardware, and more. You can check out other pages from the article below (click on the images to zoom in), or check out our historic Southtown album on flickr for these pages as well as many more old photos of our neighborhood.

To top all of that all off, here is a photo of Kevin slam dancing inside of Black Sheep at some point during our early years.

PROJECT SOUTHTOWN

Posted on April 26, 2015 by blacksheepspringfield

As many of you know, Southtown is made up of a number of volunteers and businesses that work hard to make a dream of having a music, arts, and skating community in an otherwise neglected area of Springfield. For as many years as Black Sheep has been around, we have been a dedicated group of volunteers who have never earned a dime for providing an all ages venue and safe space, but instead have poured out lots of our own time and money in order to keep what we have going alive.

In more recent months, the costs of keeping our spaces running and our buildings maintained have become more than problematic. Black Sheep itself is currently facing insurance costs that can not be met with our usual $5 cover charge, on top of hefty electric bills from our new heating/cooling system. Any upgrades to sound or minor changes to our space have had to be done out of pocket by a number of volunteers because the money taken in at shows simply is not enough.

We are quickly running out of options and new ways to try to stay afloat in Southtown and are constantly looking for more permanent solutions to ensure that we can continue for more years to come. At this time we are ready to start a new non-for-profit Southtown organization that will represent all of the Southtown businesses and our community. The goal of this new organization will be to preserve and better our side of town as well as take on new projects and improvements through grant writing and more organized volunteer work.

Forming a new non-for-profit however is not easy. In order to file as an official non-for-profit we will need close to $1,000 and also time to be reviewed. Because of these ever-growing costs of our mission, we can not pull off doing this alone. We are turning to crowd funding and a new Kickstarter campaign.

With your help this project will provide funding to:
– Cover the costs of fees to file a new Southtown non-for-profit organization
– Cover new high-risk insurance costs at Black Sheep
– Preserve and convert video footage from Skank Skate’s history

Our goal for this campaign is to raise a minimum of $5,000 in 60 days. This may seam a lot to ask for, but this is the minimum that we feel “Project Southtown” will need to get off the ground so we can take on new levels of neighborhood revitalization. We truly believe that with your help we can reach our goal and continue to raise funds to improve our spaces.

DONATE HERE

WUIS: “Black Sheep Founder Hands Over Reins to DIY Music Venue”

Posted on March 24, 2015 by blacksheepspringfield

WUIS’s Rachel Otwell did an interview with well loved Kevin Bradford, who has been running Black Sheep for the past 10 years. He recently made the life decision to step down from his post as owner and move his energies elsewhere, specifically a place where people can enjoy coffee and hang out, while still pursuing his lifelong love of spirituality. Kevin will be remaining in Springfield and will still actively take part in our music scene. As for the state of Black Sheep, things will continue to go strong in the wake of his hard work. Check out the interview right here for the full details of what was discussed. From the interview:

Kevin Bradford could justifiably be called the godfather of Springfield’s underground punk music scene. He’s only 32, but he’s managed to help create and feed a culture of do-it-yourself musiciansand their fans in a way that is truly incomparable in the city. Bradford recently announced he’ll be stepping down as the owner/operator of Black Sheep Cafe (1320 S 11th St.) The good news is, he’s not going far. He spoke with WUIS about the challenges and rewards of fostering the city’s underground music scene.

For more in depth information on the details of Kevin’s departure, please check out this article of gratitude thanking him for all he has done. It includes statements from him as well as information on who will be “taking the reins” as Rachel said. Also, the fact is that we need help now more than ever from anyone who is willing to show they care about the continuation of Black Sheep, as well as the rest of Southtown. We are seeking a period of revitalization for Black Sheep as well as the whole neighborhood of Southtown, so check out this article discussing a recent community meeting we had and do what you are able to get involved!

Old Southtown Photos (1988-2009) Recovered

Posted on December 2, 2014 by blacksheepspringfield

After a long day of scanning close to 400 photographs to a computer and carefully logging dates and organizing photos, those of us at blacksheepspringfield.com headquarters are happy to bring you a good chunk of Southtown’s past today with a pretty heavy batch of old photos. These photos range in dates from 1988 with the start of the construction on Skank Skates, all the way up until the middle of the Black Sheep-era in 2009. Above you can see some of the construction on some of the ramps inside of Skank Skates in 1992 (other ramps were constructed in 1988). Directly below you can also see a picture of Black Sheep before it was actually Black Sheep as we know it, and it was being used for storage.

Check out all 265 photos that were scanned this weekend on our newly created Historic Southtown flickr album. Also head over to our flickr page for a collection of now close to 4,000 photos and fliers from all different eras of Black Sheep’s and Southtown’s past.

The Illinois Times: “Punk Paradise In Southtown”

Posted on November 13, 2014 by blacksheepspringfield

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.

South Town Celebration at Bourbon Street This Weekend

Posted on August 26, 2014 by blacksheepspringfield

We feel it is important to keep you all informed on the going-ons around the South Town neighborhood in which Black Sheep is located. This upcoming weekend is going to be a good one for our friends and neighbors across the street over at Bourbon Street as they are having their South Town Celebration this upcoming Saturday and Sunday. As you can see in the flier above this is the 4th Annual “Jubilee’ at Bourbon Street and they plan on having both outdoor and indoor music, food, and entertainment both days.

Black Sheep also has a show coming up this Saturday featuring Wanna, Built In A Day, Blind Social, and Trepidus so you might want to check out what’s going on at Black Sheep and also check out the South Town Celebration at Bourbon Street.

Dumb Records

Record Store And All Ages Show Space In Downtown Springfield

Category Archives: Southtown