Backwards Day: Lost Sessions 1995

Posted on January 15, 2017 by blacksheepspringfield

Today we bring you some lost Springfield recordings from the 1990’s recently brought to light from the band Backwards Day. These are the band’s Lost Sessions from 1995, which would have been the last recording session the band took part in before breaking up. This session was engineered and mixed by Lance Reynolds formerly of NIL8, who also recorded a few bands in the early 1990’s above Skank Skates as the name Southtown Studios (which we did not know until after Brandon Carnes started the more current Southtown Studio). Backwards Day featured Scott Faingold (vocals) and Timothy Harte (drums) both who currently play in the band Epsom. Check out those recordings below.

Also our big Springfield Album Master Archive has been under progress throughout much of the first part of this year. We are not working on a page set up for the archive on this site, which you can find right here. There are currently 288 titles listed.

Absurdist People’s Theater Holding Auditions for August Wilson’s “Gem of the Ocean” January 24th + 25th

Posted on January 15, 2017 by blacksheepspringfield

Jacqueline-Williams-Tyla-Abercrumbie-A.C.-Smith.-Alfred-Wilson-and-Jerod-Haynes.jpg

The Absurdist People’s Theater is gearing up big for their second week of theater performances after a successful debut this past August with their performances of “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Wolfe” which was also the first ever theater performances to have taken place inside Black Sheep. The Absurdist People’s Theater is a newly formed DIY Theater Troupe based right here in the capital city. This time around the group will be taking on the play “Gem of the Ocean” by August Wilson. Gem of the Ocean was first performed in 2003, and is set in the year 1904.

Auditions for the new play are from 6:00 pm to 10:00 pm inside Black Sheep on Tuesday and Wednesday- January 24th and 25th. You do not have to be already a member of the Absurdist People’s Theater Troupe to audition. You can look over a list of the characters and find out more about auditions on the Absurdist People’s Theater facebook event right here.

Final performances are set to take place on March 24th, 25th, and 26th this year inside Black Sheep.

February 20th at Black Sheep: Free Kittens and Bread, Old Fox Road, Gadget, Roman Candle

Posted on January 14, 2017 by blacksheepspringfield

Time for another February show announcement. Monday, February 20th may seem like a long ways off but it’s actually only a little over a month away. Remember the band Free Kittens and Bread from Austin, Texas who played at Black Sheep back in April? Well they are coming back for this show! They released a full length album around that time which you can stream on the player below. We have a few other bands from the area to go along with this show lineup including the big band folk-rock group Old Fox Road from the Champaign area. We also have Decatur pop punk project Gadget on board. Opening things up is “Roman Candle Drive By” aka “Roman Candle” or “Roman Drive” or “Christmas Cannamela” for short.

This show will start at 7:00 pm and admission is $5. You can check out a facebook event for the show right here. Also be sure to check out our shows page for a good look at all of the shows coming up at Black Sheep in 2017.

Mikey Hash: Chicago Winters EP

Posted on January 14, 2017 by blacksheepspringfield

Screen Shot 2017-01-14 at 11.45.41 AM.png

Today we are coming at ‘ya with some brand new Springfield hip hop. This is a 5-track EP coming from local hip hop artist Mikey Hash called Chicago Winters EP. You can stream the EP on the player below or head over to Mikey’s soundcloud where you can download all of the songs individually.

Mikey last played at Black Sheep last month as part of our Resilience event. There are no current shows in the works, but keep your eyes and ears peeled for more shows from Mikey and hip hop shows happening at Black Sheep in the future! Also check out the 217 hip hop website for more of the latest hip hop and rap coming out of the Capital City.

January 28th at Black Sheep: “Specters of Revolt” by Richard Gilman-Opalsky Book Release + Undone

Posted on January 11, 2017 by blacksheepspringfield

Continuing to do new things at Dumb and Black Sheep in the new year! Today we are announcing that we are holding the first(?) (first that we know of) book release inside Black Sheep. That is happening on Saturday, January 28th for the book Specters of Revolt by Richard Gilman-Opalsky. Richard is a political science professor at the University of Illinois in Springfield. His new book focuses on social upheavals and radical politics, and he will be giving a talk in Black Sheep for this release! The event is going to be kicking off with a live music performance by Undone – who are returning to the Black Sheep stage after what has been a short break.

The book release starts at 7:00 pm. We will be taking donations for Black Sheep. Check out a facebook event for this one right here. Also check out our shows page for a good look at other things coming up in Southtown this year.

Animals With Human Names: The Studio Tape

Posted on January 11, 2017 by blacksheepspringfield

Surprise! Today we are brining you the first local music official release of 2017! This is exciting because it’s Animals With Human Names – who made our list of best albums and best songs of 2016. Also exciting because this is a full length cassette full of songs written to go as background music for the hit local television series “The Studio Show.” You can check out The Studio Tape streaming on the player below. Check out more of The Studio Show right here.

Animals With Human Names of course will be playing a rare battle set against DJ Tariq aka “New York’s Deadliest DJ” inside of Dumb Records tonight as part of the store’s 3 year anniversary. Who will win? Tune in to find out. The show tonight starts at 7:00 pm and is free. AWHN will have these tapes as well as The First Tape on cassette available, and we will also be carrying them at Dumb Records.

Today at Dumb Records: Free Record Day + In Store Show

Posted on January 11, 2017 by blacksheepspringfield

freerecordflier2

Today is a big day lined up for our own little record store Dumb Records which actually turns three years old today! Hard to believe it’s already been three years since we launched Dumb Records in Southtown, and since then the volunteer-ran store has expanded in size, expanded our hours to be open every day of the week, and even bought our very own elephant. To celebrate the anniversary of Dumb Records, today is the first ever Free Record Day. If you walk in the store any time between 10:00 am and 10:00 pm today, you will get handed a free pre-wrapped record. You don’t know what you are going to get.

In addition to all of that, there will also be some music acts playing a free show in the store tonight at 7:00 pm. Tonight we have a collab set that is going to be one for the books between Animals With Human Names and DJ Tariq. Things are sure to get wild for that one. Then we have Peaches & Bacon for a little something different – an old time music duo from here in town. Opening things up is a performance by a newer solo Springfield musician, Alec James. Stream some of Alec’s music on the player below.

Check out a facebook event for all of that right here. Also check out our shows page for a good look at what else is coming up in Southtown this year.

New Band Pages: Stereo Static

Posted on January 9, 2017 by blacksheepspringfield

14063721_1796773517226293_4002232018319683707_n

Today we are bringing you a new band page that is long overdue on our site, and that is one for Stereo Static – a three piece rock group that has been rockin’ it at Black Sheep since the middle of 2015 now. On the band page you can read up more about the band, listen to some tunes, and find links to other websites and social media. Check out their page on our site right here. Stereo Static played at Black Sheep two nights ago, but do not currently have any other shows lined up here as of right now.

We cleaned up our current bands page up a bit and now have a total of 45 pages for active bands in Springfield right now! There are much more now on the past bands page. If you play in a Springfield band that has not yet gotten a page set up with us, email us at blacksheepspringfield@gmail.com and we will work with you to get one going!

January 21st at The Radon Lounge: Rebecca Rego & The Trainmen, Bed Bedford, Mike Butler, Johari Idusuyi

Posted on January 8, 2017 by blacksheepspringfield

Time to for us to tell you about the next show that is happening over at Springfield basement venue The Radon Lounge! This one is happening on Saturday, January 21st and we do not have any shows lined up at Black Sheep for that night so we can all go. For this show the lounge has great musical act Rebecca Rego & The Trainmen lined up from Champaign, Illinois. You can stream some of their music on the player below. In addition to that they also have solo artist Ben Bedford from the area performing. Looks like there is also a solo performance by Mike Butler (of Vonne and Starlorde). How nice. And The Radon Lounge appears to be mixing things up a bit for this one and featuring poetry peformed by Johari Idusuyi! And there is also a book performing! Cosmic Fate by Jonathan A Meyer will be taking the big stage!

All of that over at The Radon Lounge will be starting at 7:00 pm that night for just $5. For The Radon Lounge’s secret location you will have to dig around their website a little bit. Check out a facebook event for this one right here. Also check out our Springfield Shows page for (maybe) a look at some shows happening in town outside of Black Sheep.

More on Free Record Day Surprise Packages

Posted on January 8, 2017 by blacksheepspringfield

Free Record Day is coming up at Dumb Records this Wednesday, and yes FREE Record Day is a REAL thing, we REALLY are giving out those records you see in the above picture for free. Just so everyone knows what will be in store for them when they walk into Dumb Records at any time this upcoming Wednesday January 11th! Here is what you can expect in *most* of the packages:

A free 12″ record (can be new or used)
A sticker (Black Sheep or Dumb)
A Springfield 2016 Mix CD *in most packages, not all of them

Looking at that picture above looks like everyone has a chance at getting Metallica, The Beatles, David Bowie, Nirvana, Oak Ridge Boys, Black Sabbath, Prince, and more. We are going to be wrapping up 200 records total to pass out (hopefully that is a good number for us).

Dumb Records will be open this special day from 10:00 am to 10:00 pm. Don’t forget there is an in-store show that night at 7:00 pm featuring DJ Tariq / Animals With Human Names, Peaches & Bacon, and Alec James. Check out a facebook event for all of that right here. Also check out that Dumb Records Record of the Night page while you’re at it!