Live and Local with Kevin Kelly

I'll be taking a break from the show through August 10. In its place we'll offer the opportunity to spend an hour with some fine Chicago-area musicians for a daily concert at noon.

Rodney Jones is one of the most recorded guitarists in history, having played with jazz, blues, pop and R & B artists. He's in Urbana this weekend for a series of workshops and seminars and will play live for us on the Friday edition of "Live and Local." Also live with us: flutist Rebecca Johnson, who teaches at Eastern Illinois University in Charleston.

Helen Todd is general director of Sugar Creek Symphony & Song in Watseka, which will present an operatic double bill in August with Leoncavallo's "Pagliacci" and Copland's "The Tender Land." Helen will be my guest on Thursday's "Live and Local." We'll also hear about a summer program for young string players in Charleston.

Theater-musical and not-will be the focus of Wednesday's "Live and Local," beginning with Gilbert & Sullivan's The Gondoliers, a production of Prairie Fire Theatre in Normal. Then it's Bleacher Bums, a comedy set on the bleachers of Chicago's Wrigley Field, from Bah Humbug Productions in Champaign.

"The Sound of Music" opened on Broadway in 1959, Rodgers and Hammerstein's final collaboration. It has been a staple for professional and community theater companies ever since. The Urbana Park District Youth Summer Theater will present "The Sound of Music" beginning on Thursday, and we'll have members of the cast in our studio on the Tuesday edition of "Live and Local."

Stephen Fiol is a noted singer, actor, stage and musical director, conductor and administrator. He recently retired from Millikin University, where he was director of Lyric Theatre, director of the School of Music, dean of the College of Fine Arts and much more. Steve will join me for a chat and to play some favorite records on Monday's edition of "Live and Local.

On the Friday edition of "Live and Local," we'll meet Hathaways, a brother-sister folk music duo who will open for Funkadesi Outside at the Research Park in Urbana Friday night. And we'll talk with Clayton Penrose-Whitmore, a high school student formerly of Springfield who will appear on NPR's "From the Top" this weekend on FM 90.9.

On the Thursday edition of "Live and Local," I'll talk with Zachary Carrettin, director of the Illinois Baroque Music Institute, happening this weekend, and Janet Largent, director of the Champaign County Fair Talent Show. We'll also hear from last year's senior first place winner, Brittany Johnson.

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Since its beginnings in the 1940s, bluegrass music has grown, matured, and evolved, reaching a wider and wider audience in recent decades. On the Wednesday edition of "Live and Local," we'll visit with the two-person bluegrass and gospel band called Grass Roots Revival, with a live performance in our studio.

Ward Gollings has been booking live entertainment in Champaign-Urbana for about 20 years now. He's currently the booking agent and special events coordinator for Highdive and The Cowboy Monkey in downtown Champaign. Ward will be my guest on the Tuesday edition of "Live and Local," and he'll bring along a few favorite CDs.