Comings and Goings

Comedy, soccer and GO Music Awards news.

Comedy Making a Comeback

Sure we love the Skinny Improv, but sometimes we just want some vulgarity thrown in with our gut-busting belly laughs. Good news for us! On the heels of Brian Regan’s show at the Gillioz Theatre on March 30, regular standup is coming back to South Campbell Avenue. The Electric Cowboy, the south side’s new country bar in the old Sir Gregory’s spot, has two comedians each and every Tuesday night. Best thing about it? It’s free if you’re 21 and older ($10 18-21), and happy hour starts at 2 p.m. That’s freaky!

Shows start April 8; see page 20 for a list of upcoming comedians. We don’t immediately recognize any of the names, though we’re told they’ve appeared on HBO and Comedy Central. Not that it matters. It’s just nice to have standup back in town.

Where’d You Get Demize?

Last issue we brought you up to speed on two local semi-pro gridiron franchises. Now it’s time to update you on the Springfield Demize, the local United Soccer League squad (USL is a developing ground for Major League Soccer—that’s where Beckham plays!) that begins its second season at Lake Country soccer complex on May 10. The squad just held local tryouts, so rosters should be fleshed out soon. Another exciting development for the team: They’ve recently added an indoor squad, to begin play this fall. The side—that’s a soccer term, you know—will play at the soccer dome on Pythian. They will provide a year-round venue for top local and national soccer talent. Keep your eyes on springfielddemize.com for ticket info and roster news.

2008 GO Music Awards Update

This year, we decided to announce the order and times of performances by our five Best Band finalists ahead of time, the better for their fans and Rock’n Ribs patrons to get front-row dancing room for their favorite group on April 19. By random drawing, the finalists were slotted like so:

12:30 p.m.: Hotbox
1:30 p.m.: TBA
2:30 p.m.: McGill
4 p.m.: Sweetwater Abilene
5 p.m.: The Verbs

Why the TBA? That’s because, on deadline, we found out that The Dropouts would have to... um, drop out... of the music awards, since their drummer will be touring with The Osmonds in April. We’ll go back to the vote tallies and let you know who takes their place quicker than you can say “Donnie and Marie”.

• Music fans, here’s your chance to be involved. We’re looking for one local music fan (without a close tie to any of the bands involved) to serve on our panel of four judges as “The Voice of the Fan”. The only requirements: You must be 21, you must be available to stay all day (from 12 to 6 p.m.) and you must love local music. Contact our editor at editor@springfieldgo.com to nominate someone (or yourself) to be the voice of the fan. Nominations are due by Friday, April 4. We’ll announce our choice in the April 9 issue of GO Magazine.

Congratulations Are In Order!

Big props to GO Associate Publisher Logan Aguirre for being named to the Springfield Business Journal’s annual 40 Under 40 list. It’s the second straight year a Whitaker Publishing type has made the list, and we’re proud as punch.