More Music on the Southside: Palen Music launches a concert series starting 1/15
For as much music as there is in Springfield, there is a remarkable lack of blurring lines as far as where it’s found. Record shops rarely host in-store performances by artists releasing new albums. Music stores don’t host many concerts, either, least of all on a regular basis. Hot Topic inside Battlefield Mall has done some, but there were no others on the horizon… until now.
Palen Music Center is starting a free, all-ages monthly concert series inside its Southside location (1560 E. Raynell Pl., 417-882-7000) beginning Friday, January 15 at 6:30 p.m., with the music going on at 7. The lineup for the first show includes local indie newcomers New Monsters Collective and Nathaniel Carroll & The Party Line, although you won’t see them right when you walk in. The main concerts take place inside Palen’s recital hall upstairs, a room that, according to manager Zach Houser, can hold as many as 200 people when the chairs are taken out. Outside the room you’ll find works by various local visual artists (Alex Crowder, Daniel Zender and Andrew Norton are this month’s guests) while a DJ spins records on the balcony of the main showroom. If you miss something while checking out said visual artists or DJ, you’re in luck, because the concert performances will all be recorded and made into podcasts for download from the Palen Music website or its MySpace page.
Houser says Palen has been getting word out in the local music and art communities about the show idea for more than two months. The response has far exceeded expectations, he says, so much so that the concert/exhibition series may become biweekly rather than monthly. Houser says the plan is to give music and art fans an additional option for seeing art and music that doesn’t involve going to a bar and/or downtown. It also further blurs the line between music store and concert venue, something that hasn’t happened much in recent years, if ever. Watch for more announcements of future lineups in the concert series soon.
But there's more! Check out these related posts on TAGsgf.com:
- Podcastification: Palen Music Center interviews New Monsters Collective & Nathaniel Carroll ahead of tomorrow night’s show
Palen Music Center isn’t just putting a couple of bands together in a room and calling it a show. Theirs is an event, bringing bands together in its recital room...
- The Show Report, 1/15: To the Southside!
If you want an early start to your live-music night, we suggest you head south, young man/woman. Tonight marks the first edition of Palen Music Center‘s new monthly concert series...
- From SGF to the future? Former Fools Face bassist Jim Wirt launches Crushtone Music
There was a time when Jim Wirt was the young musician fighting for recognition, the guy rolling the dice and moving away from Springfield to take a shot at making...
- The Mystery Hour turns 4, celebrates with epic concert and, presumably, gross amounts of cake
There’s no party like a birthday party. Inevitably, every one of them is either awesome or obnoxious. Chalk this one up under awesome: The Mystery Hour, the comedic take on...
- The 2009 Year in Music: The Concerts
Before 2010 gets too far along, there is one more facet of local music’s past year that deserves some reflection. After a couple of down years, the quality of shows...
