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Jazz and Blues Lounge

June 24th, 2008

The New Releases for that Last Week in June

I can’t believe how fast this year has gone so far. I cannot believe it is now summer and we are almost in the month of July. Who the heck hit the Fast-Forward button on my life and why didn’t they bother to tell me about it? It will be the 4th […]

By balaspa -- 0 comments

June 23rd, 2008

The Jazz You Can Find in St. Louis

St. Louis is a pretty cool town. I went to school in St. Louis and that is where I developed my love and appreciation for jazz. They have a great radio station down there, WSIE, that is student run and out of Southern Illinois University that plays jazz. It’s pretty cool. […]

By balaspa -- 0 comments

June 20th, 2008

Blues in Bloomington

The twin cities of Bloomington and Normal sit about two hours to the south of Chicago. They are maybe three hours north of St. Louis. Bloomington is the international headquarters for State Farm Insurance and is also a big college town. It is also the LONGEST part of the drive either to […]

By balaspa -- 0 comments

June 19th, 2008

Dave Brubek at Ravinia

There is this very cool outdoor music theater and venue in north-suburban Chicago and it is known as Ravinia. For a long, long time it was a music venue strictly for classical music. The entire atmosphere is kind of geared for it. The lawn is actually flat, like a park, with trees […]

By balaspa -- 0 comments

June 18th, 2008

The Illinois Blues Festival

Continuing the theme of festival week (or month or whatever) I thought you might want to know about the Illinois Blues Festival which is right downtown in beautiful (ahem) Peoria Illinois. Yes, the same Peoria people used to use when they would say, “Yeah, but will it play in Peoria?” The home of […]

By balaspa -- 0 comments

June 14th, 2008

Sorry, I’m Late!!!!!

OK, sorry about this one being so late. Heck, if you are in Chicago, you are probably already out and about doing things and seeing shows on a Saturday night. I do apologize. Between Father’s Day and it being my birthday, I just got caught up doing family things.
I also did some […]

By balaspa -- 0 comments

June 13th, 2008

Chicago’s Weekend Concerts and Events

Well, the big event this weekend in Chicago is the TOTALLY FREE Blues on the Fox blues festival located in nearby Aurora Illinois. It is right on the Fox River and the big headliner is Kenny Wayne Shepherd. Sadly, I will not be able to attend as this weekend is also my birthday […]

By balaspa -- 1 comment

June 12th, 2008

Jazz in Milwaukee

I have a brother. That’s not all I came here to tell you about today, but he and his lovely family live in Milwaukee. Milwaukee is a great town despite being in Wisconsin (relax Wisconsiners, I am in Illinois, we cannot resist picking on you). It is just close enough to Chicago […]

By balaspa -- 0 comments

June 9th, 2008

The Next Blues Festival in the Chicago Area

Well, as I have mentioned before, this is festival season around here. I have had many a friend tell me, “Jeez, you have a lot of festivals in Chicago.” This is true, and there are even more when you factor in the suburbs. So, one week after the huge, momentous Chicago Blues Festival, […]

By balaspa -- 0 comments

June 7th, 2008

More Jazz for the Weekend

Jeez, it’s a busy weekend as far as live music in Chicago this weekend. Not only is the 25th Annual Chicago Blues Festival (the largest totally free blues festival in the country, by the way) going on all weekend, but there are so many live jazz performances that I couldn’t fit the entire weekend […]

By balaspa -- 2 comments