Live from Peoria, Illinois it’s Saturday Afternoon and Saturday Night starring this week’s hosts, Rhythm Kitchen and The Red Barn with musical guests, Uke Jam Peoria, Matt Shane, Encounter At L-5 and Lark’s Tongue!
Now please welcome the Saturday afternoon host, The Rhythm Kitchen!
Here we are at the Contemporary Art Center on Water Street the home of Rhythm Kitchen, which hosts the Uke Jam Peoria ukulele fun strum event on the last Saturday of every month.
I got here a little early and it’s not open yet, but check out the crowd that’s also waiting for it to open! These are some of the fine people waiting to take part of this local ukulele jam fest! It’s a friendly crowd and some have traveled from Bloomington and Springfield, Illinois for today’s strumming session!
The door has opened and I followed the crowd to the back room where the ukulele jam happens. I see a familiar face up at the front of the room…
It’s my friend Kathy, who’s the host of Uke Jam Peoria and she puts together the set list for every month’s jam session.
Kathy also has a ukulele store online and you can check that out by clicking here.
As I was talking to Kathy, I looked over at the far wall and had quite a surprise. The wall has framed pictures of my brother Jim’s artwork!
I had no idea that his artwork was featured here and I found out that a friend who had some of Jim’s artwork has donated it for this space! I’m really happy that it’s hanging here and that people can see and appreciate his artwork.
This really made my day!
Okay, time for the ukulele jam session to begin. Kathy is talking to the crowd and there’s a video screen behind her with the lyrics and chord changes of the songs to make it easy to follow along.
As you can see, there’s a good crowd assembled today! The mood is lively and fun and you don’t need to be an expert player to come and join in on the fun, in fact some people just come to strum without really knowing any chords. And if you don’t have a ukulele, no worries, there’s extras on a table in the room.
Phil Luciano wrote about this monthly event in the PJ Star and you can read that article here.
It’s really a relaxing and fun vibe in here with all of the ukuleles playing and people singing along with the songs. Check out all the details on their facecrack page!
Okay, night has fallen and time for more live music at one of Peoria’s beloved places and home for local live music for decades, The Red Barn!
I came in and Thomas was quick to serve me up an ice-cold bottle of Budweiser! The night is off to a wonderful start!
I’ve been coming here since the ’70’s when I was 16-years-old with a fake ID! It always feels like home in here!
Here’s some of the smiling faces in the crowd this evening! Great to see everyone and now…
It’s time for some live music from The Red Barn! The stage is just about set and now, ladies and gentlemen, please welcome…
Matt Shane!
Matt played a stunning solo set and the crowd loved his one man show! Obligatory online link is right here.
Next up is…
Lark’s Tongue was the third and final band of the evening and they tore it up onstage and the crowd loved their psychedelic and trippy music!
The members of Lark’s Tongue are: Chris Bennet, guitar and vocals; Jeff Hyde, guitar and vocals; Mike Wiley, bass; Andrew Sledd, drums and Jonathan Wright, keyboards.
Click here for their facecrack page and check them out on Bandcamp here.
This was such a fun afternoon and evening!
Thanks to all the musicians for the entertainment and it was great to see everyone, thanks for letting me take your photos and now let’s get ready for more live music in 2020!
Related Posts: Saturday Night @: Harvest Supper Club, Castle’s Patio Inn and Kenny’s Westside Pub.