Posts about Music
An Old Master returns home ‘Doc’ Bradshaw, July 19, 1962
Kenneth “Doc” Bradshaw, one of the more accomplished pianists to come out of the Twin Cities, returned home in July 1962 after a sevent...
The Great Levant, February 1950 Pianist performs in Bloomington
Oscar Levant (right), the famed American pianist, composer, and actor, performed with the Bloomington-Normal Symphony on two consecutiv...
The Shattertones June 1966
Timothy P. Irvin (left, kneeling in front of the guitar) formed The Shattertones in 1960 as a high school freshman. Six years later the...
Aaron Copland at IWU February 1958
Composer Aaron Copland was the featured guest for Illinois Wesleyan University's Seventh Annual Symposium of Contemporary American...
The Duke in Pontiac June 11, 1957
This is a photo of one of Duke Ellington’s many visits to this stretch of Central Illinois. Ellington and his orchestra performed at th...
Kickapoo Creek Rock Festival Lunch & Learn Talk Today, 12:10 to 12:40 p.m.
On Thursday April 14, 2016 Illinois State University Professor Emeritus Robert Bradley gave a talk entitled “Sex, Drugs, and Rock &...
Illinois Soldiers’ Orphans’ Home Home Band, 1930
The Sunday April 3, 2016 Pantagraph recounted the story of the Soldiers’ Orphans’ Home Band, organized in 1897-98 and active into the 1...
Happy New Year! Dale Miller’s Orchestra, mid-1930s
Beginning in Roaring Twenties, area ballrooms, dance halls and clubs featured tuxedo-clad bands (or orchestras, as they were often call...
October Means ‘Rocktober’ Kickapoo Creek Rock Festival Aerials, May 31, 1970
The Kickapoo Creek Rock Festival was held outside of the McLean County community of Heyworth on L. David Lewis’ 320-acre farm over Memo...
October Means ‘Rocktober’ The Defenbaughs Meets Elvis, 1957
Back in the spring of 1957, Bloomington teenagers Nancy Defenbaugh and her older brother Jim were vacationing in Memphis, TN, with thei...
Photo of the Week, 118: Acid Flashback! Local Rock Festival Held 45 Years Ago
This weekend marks the 45th anniversary of the Kickapoo Creek Rock Festival held outside of the McLean County community of Heyworth, Ma...
Photo of the week, 79: And a one, and a two, and a three …
In late July 1935, a large crowd gathered at the Miller Park bandstand to listen to the Pumpernickel Band, also known as the Spinach Bl...
Big Dance in Colfax—100 years ago!
Museum volunteer Amy Miller recently donated a sizable collection of dance cards and ot...