Champaign-Urbana, IL - Musician, producer, composer, audio designer, and DJ Larry E. Gates II has played hundreds of stages across the nation and has shared those stages with the likes of Chuck Berry, G. Love & Special Sauce, 30 Seconds To Mars, Local H, Superdrag, Trombone Shorty, Brother Ali, The Nappy Roots, Blueprint, DJ Rare Groove, Illogic, and many others.
Friday, October 4, 2013 at 8:08AM I like it when I get to help put someone on. In this town I've done my best to give a boost to talent that I believe in. Elsinore, Krukid, Kate Hathaway, Animate Objects, Santah - mentoring, recording demos, putting them on prime shows. It's even more rewarding to see those artists climb and achieve success. Tonight I get to do that again. T.R.U.T.H. is young, smart and hungry. She'll be opening the show tonight and she's worth your time. Dig.
Animate Objects, Elsinore, Hathaways, Kate Hathway, Krukid, Music, Ruyonga, Santah, T.R.U.T.H. in Feel Good Fridays Tuesday, July 5, 2011 at 10:30AM Back in December of 2001, my band (Lorenzo Goetz) played a show at the Midwest Music Showcase here in Urbana. One of the other acts on the bill was a college band from Charleston, IL called The Last Resorts. I hit it off with their front man - a kind, humorous chap by the name of Ryan Groff. We immediately began to trade shows and LG stayed steady while Ryan alternated between his solo career and various bands (The Last Resorts, Green Jenkins and finally, Elsinore). When Elsinore was established, I booked them as the Friday house band at a campus bar called The White Horse Inn, where I was the talent buyer. Less than a year into that residency they all decided to move to Champaign-Urbana. Since then they have released 2 full length LPs, one EP and have toured the nation relentlessly. They recently landed a few solid deals through liscensing scoring spots on So You Think You Can Dance and a national campaign for Kohl's department stores. Some folks may call that selling out - I call it surviving. Unless you're talking about contributing to Michelle Bachmann's presidential run - I say get your tunes out there and let the money come in. Real Talk? Raise your kids, pay for your house. Go. Create.
