Artwork by William Crook Jr.

This poster was designed for us by William Crook Jr. of Springfield, Illinois. Stay tuned for a printable pdf file of the scanned image.

Welcome to our new website on the Spectra Network! We hope that everything is easy to find. Please contact us if anything needs fixing: info[at]hotbagodonuts[dot]com or call (217) 691-1301

A lot has happened in the last two years since we started this project. We firmly believe that any good band takes a couple years to gel and find their collective voice. In the first year we played at the Decatur 4th of July festivities, at private parties, and hosted an open mic at Broadway Nites in Springfield, plus we played at a political rally at the Capitol Building and at several fundraisers for the Access 4 Producers Group and the Illinois Stewardship Alliance as well as several Third Thursday Art Shows.

We played our first out-of-town gig in St. Louis at the Crack Fox last May (2011) with the Legendary Clampetts (see the video section), a fish fry for Basement Radio, and have been assisting Roger Smith in helping to revitalize the near East Side by playing at Bourbon Street on 11th & South Grand, and we played at the Pre-show at New Salem's Theatre in the Park.

Flyer for the BRN Fish Fry we played at in May 2012.

And we did all this without a DEMO! But that has now been rectified by Casey Cantrall, our bass player, singer and songwriter, who has recorded our first awesome studio recordings at the Casa through Nature Calls Recordings so we expect to start booking a line up of shows in the next year.

2012 will be the year of the Donut!

Update 1/28/12: The Women's team voted unanimously to have us play!!!! Here's the show page for details and directions, etc: [click here]

Hot Bag O' Donuts at the Drop In Derby, Jan 22, 2012 - Photo by Ean Arth.

" . . not only was there a unanimous 'YES' vote, and not just for any band, they want 'Hot Bag O' Donuts' back . . . me too, you guys were great, I really enjoyed having you play while we skated." - Coach Moore

Photo by Ean Arth.

 
Sunday, January 22nd, 2012, Hot BOD played at Skateland South during the Drop In Derby night with the Lincoln land Roller Derby League. Except when there is a game (they call it a bout), Sundays are practice night (they call it Drop In Derby) and we showed up to play while they ran drills as an audition for the upcoming Mardi Gras Bout on February 19th.

Flyer for the Mardi Brawl, Feb 19th, Lincoln Land Roller Derby

The following Tuesday the League will meet to vote on details for the bout which will include whether or not they want to have a live band play at the rink. Based on the reception we received last night, there is a good chance they may want us to play on the 19th. Here is some of what they said about the Drop In Derby when we played:

"WOW! It was so awesome to see so many girls at Drop In Derby tonight! We love seeing new faces and old ones we have been missing. Kudos to the live band that played tonight as well and the awesome skills & drills we did! My heart is pumping with a derby high still 3 hours later. What a great night!!!"

"Hey Ted, what's your bands name again? You guys were really something!"

"It was just such a great atmosphere and so positive! Can't wait to skate again!"

"The best DID ever! All kinds of positive energy and enthusiasm! Andrea's coaching, jammin live band tunes, and a few new enthusiastic skaters ...everything just seemed to click and flow...loved it! Thank you Darrel...Derby is Fun!"

"DID was awesome last night! Thank you everyone for being there and making it great. Next week I'm jumping over two skaters!"

"I had the best time last night! I will definitely be back Sunday! And the next, and the next..."

" . . you guys were great, I really enjoyed having you play while we skated."

"That was intense for drop in, the band was fun!"

PS From Ted - I wore my Great Uncle's old hat, Everett Neihart from Decatur. He was really into big band and one of the first relatives who influenced me to be interested in music. I hope he was there in spirit!

Hot Bag playing at Drop In Derby at Skateland South for the Lincoln Land Roller Derby League. Photo by Brad Erret.

From Ted:

I remember when George Sinclair started Skank Skates indoor skate park on the NorthEast corner of 11th & South Grand. It was 1988 and I was in high school at Southeast at the time. My friend, Kristopher Zander, and I helped make one of their first stickers. I played there in elevator_shoe, Black Ops, and Laughing Boy and now in Hot Bag O' Donuts!

We got in to play at Justin Smolenski's going away party on Friday January 20th, 2012. He is going to California and the gathering was helping to raise money for his trip. Here is a link to a video of Justin at Skank's from YouTube:

Our friends Texas Trucker Speed Fiends also played along with DJ Me. Thanks so much to Caitlin and Kelly (DJ Me) for allowing us to play!

Roger Smith

Bourbon on the Rocks

Our friend Roger Smith (Neon Rebels/Arjuna Records/Black Sheep Cafe) has always been a champion of causes.  HBoD shares an interest with Roger in creating spaces within the community which are racially and culturally diverse  with the intention of helping different people who all live in Springfield get along with and help one another more.

To that end, Roger has been booking local music at Bourbon Street Rhythm and Ribs on South Grand and 11th Street where the Underground and Bruce's Tavern used to be (the old home of Tom Irwin's Hootenanny Love Train Express).

Neon Rebels at Bourbon Street

Each time Hot Bag played a show, we tried to raise money for our favorite causes: Access 4 Producers Group, Illinois Stewardship Alliance, and now the Central Illinois Food Bank.

Pay Up, Give Three Cans, or Bring Donuts!!

Click here to see the show page: 2/11/12 Bourbon Street Rhythm

Saturday, February 11th, at 9:00 P.M. - Hot Bag and Appamac Dance Show!

Hot Bag at Bourbon St. with Carolyn Palmer on sax, September 2011

Hot Bag will be playing with Casey and Zach's new project, Appamac! This is going to be a DANCE SHOW!!! Ya'll, better dance. That's just all there is to it.

YOU DECIDE IF THE BAND GETS MONEY OR IF THE FOOD BANK GETS FOOD!

It's up to you if you want to give $3 to the bands or even better, bring 3 cans of food for the Central Illinois Food Bank.

You can also get in if you bring us donuts.

(You could also bring $3, bring 3 Cans, AND bring us donuts if you want!!!)

The Hot Bag O' Donuts Family of Performers

From left to right in the photo:

Carolyn Palmer - sax, trumpet, flute (middle)
Craig Ripka - drummer (above)
Erin Baker - percussionist, hula hooper (below)
Ted Keylon - singer and ukulele (middle)
Russ Harrington - drummer (above)
Damion Davis - drummer
Shane Quigley - guitar
Casey Cantrall - bass and singer (below)
Dan Rodhe - drummer (above)
Zach Eymann - harmonica, Theremin, keyboard player

New drummer not pictured here: J.J. Moffet and Brycen Turnbull