Hello and welcome, yet again, to the latest installment of Appealing Arts, a blog for those with a taste for the finer things in life. Since the title of the blog is “Appealing Arts” and not “Appealing Music Found in Bars”, I decided to leave the booze filled taverns behind, and traveled up to Parkland to check out this ongoing exhibit they have there called “Layered Images”. Now, I never claim to have a great eye for art (and usually roll my eyes at those who do), and find it very hard to differentiate between “high brow” and “low brow”. However, I am very good at picking out pieces that I like, and there were quite a few in Hoag’s gallery. He uses a great number of colors, in original and sometimes peculiar combination’s. Every piece in the gallery contained a crudely drawn face , though it was often hard to discern with all the other colors and shapes. Some of the canvases were so layered, it was impossible to tell what the original coat had been. This was not a great venue for my usual five sense review, since the room was kept clean and orderly, with no smells or sounds to disturb the patrons. However, Hoag’s paintings provide enough visual stimulation to make up for this, and the gallery is definitely worthwhile to check out. More information can be found in the arts section of the website.

Hello and welcome, once again, to the blog with the information about the sensation, Appealing Arts. I apologize for the hiatus, but nice weather and beautiful women caused me to lose focus temporarily. However, I’m back, this time reviewing one of Champaign’s finest bars, Blind Pig Co. Now the first thing that stands out to me about The Blind Pig is the smell. Most of the bar is wooden, and the rich scent of timber greets anyone curious enough to enter. Something else unique about the place is the overall absence of smooth. Apart from the actual bar and the table tops, almost every inch of the Blind Pig is rough and imperfect. The decorations are eclectic, and wonderful, with old beer bottles lining the rafters, and business cards pressed under the glass table tops. Giant, cave-like booths can be found near the rear of the bar, in case you and your friends want to temporarily seclude yourselves from the rest of the patrons. They have a fairly fantastic beer and liquor selection, which allows you literally millions of different combination’s with which to get drunk. Now, as for the sounds, there was something special in the air when I visited. Emerald Rum, a local Irish session band, was laying down some sweet Celtic melodies, as they do every Sunday from 5-8. Emerald Rum don’t look all to Irish. In fact. I didn’t see red hair or freckles on a single band member. However, their musicians, clad as they were in sandals and overalls, played some really wild music. There is honestly few things more enjoyable to listen to while drinking a fine beer, than a well played Irish tune. If you enjoy drinking on a Sunday as much as I do, then head on down to the Blind Pig and listen to Emerald Rum play a few songs. You’ll be wondering how you ever started the week off without some accordion.