If you haven’t heard of Pygmalion Music Festival, then you might not frequent this site very often, or really any art or community website in the area. But I’m here to tell you one thing: if you do nothing else worthwhile in Champaign-Urbana during your time here, do this:

Go to Pygmalion Music Festival.

It’s absolutely incredible that we have such an amazing weekend for us here in CU. Acts are coming from all over the country, and local bands have a chance to play alongside well-known bands. It’s a win-win for everyone.

Anyone who says CU is just a town in the middle of nowhere, that there’s nothing fun to do here, etc. is just plain wrong. The list goes on and on, but I believe Pygmalion to be the epitome of cool in the area.

Now in its fourth year, and building credibility daily, Pygmalion is being covered by national publications such as Pitchfork and The Onion. Artists are submitting their stuff from all over. And if you don’t take advantage of it, you might be a fool.

Even if you don’t want to spring for the festival pass (which, at $50, is extremely reasonable, not to mention the tote bag full of goodies you get along with it), you can still check out different shows. Think of it as a way to find new music that you might have never heard of. Be enchanted by the four part harmonies and face-melting guitar of Elsinore. Dance your ass off at Dan Deacon. Revel in the indie-rock of Black Mountain. Whatever you do, do yourself a favor and see at least one show this weekend (starting tonight). If you need any recommendations or help, the fine folks in CU have made it easy for you:

-Carlye Wisel, a former buzz writer and Music Editor and founder of OverUC.com, has done an excellent job in pre-coverage for the festival.

-smilepolitely.com, a self-proclaimed “Champaign-Urbana culture blog” and online magazine has run various previews for the fest.

-And of course, we here at the217.com have made every effort to keep you informed, and will continue to do so throughout the weekend.

So get out there, grab your camera, and rock. You won’t regret it, I promise.

pygmalionmusicfestival.com

I’ve been receiving a lot of inquiries about writing blogs lately for the site, and it’s great! But we’re pretty stuffed in the blog department right now. For the summer (until mid-August), we are only accepting blog applications for the following categories:

Food + Drink
Stage
Arts
LGBT

If you’re interested in blogging in any of these areas, email me at producer@the217.com. If you’d like to write in another area, please hold off until mid-August (I’ll post another entry when we’re looking for more people).

Thanks everyone!

Here’s some features you might not have known about the217 — or maybe forgot about:

-WPGU Playlist: Did you hear a song at 2:17 AM? How about 9:49 PM? Search through our playlist to find out what it was. While you’re there, you can read/write reviews, buy albums online, and view discographies and bios for the artists.

-Find a buzz near you: Don’t know where to pick up a hard copy of buzz magazine? Use our interactive map, click on your location, and we’ll show you where the closest buzz magazines are to you! They might be just around the corner…

-Restaurants open now: If you’re hungry, you’re hungry. That’s why we’ve got a complete list of restaurants that are open this second. It’s available all the time, and if you want pancakes at 9 PM or a hot fudge sundae at 7 AM, we’ve got you covered.

-the217.com myspace: This is new, and we’re working on the design and content currently, but this is where you can learn more about the site, talk to us and interact with our favorite local artists and personalities through our friends. If you make your way over there, friend us!

-the217 Flickr group: If you enjoy how beautiful Champaign-Urbana can be, join our Flickr group and add your photos. We even have a contest where we pick our favorite every week! Click here to see the contest rules.

And, as always, email me if you have any problems or questions about the site. We love feedback!

Don’t wait to buy your Pygmalion passes for the fall — they’re on sale now at pygmalionmusicfestival.com. This is the easiest and cheapest way to see all your favorite acts from Champaign-Urbana, as well as great national acts, all in your own back yard!

Head over there now to buy your tickets.

We’ve got some new happenings here at the217, so here they are:

We’ve added a local artist index, with a list of local bands from the Champaign-Urbana area and information about them. You can find their bios, discographies, contact info, photos, and more! If you’re in a local band and you’d like to be in the local artist index, please email me at producer@the217.com and I will add you to the index.

Our calendar search function is up and working! If you’ve tried to search the calendar for the last few days and it hasn’t been working, we’re sorry — hopefully you found what you were looking for. However, it’s working again, so head on over to the calendar and search by date, venue, title, and more.

Keep out on the lookout for:

New photo galleries coming soon! We’ll have a module in the sections where you can view photo galleries better than ever, and I’ll let you know when that happens. Expect a lot of photos from the summer.

New bloggers:

Liam on “With Tongue“: A blog about LGBT lifestyles, issues, and more. He’s been sparking a lot of debate and conversation lately, so head on over there and join the conversation.

We’ll be getting many more bloggers soon, so keep your eye out for more blogs on LGBT, music, and summer life in Urbana, which will be written by Sarah Clemmons, a current WPGU staff member and a pretty rockin chick.

That’s all! Stay tuned for more updates!

the217.com and WPGU are hiring!

We’re hosting an info night on Monday, May 12 at 6:00 PM. If you’re going to be here in the summer, this is a great way to get some job experience while you’re not as busy.

Link for facebook event:
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=12926508299

We’re hiring promotions, production, on-air, music, and engineering interns, as well as bloggers and possibly writers for the217.

facebook marketplace listing with info:
http://www.facebook.com/marketplace/listing.php?classified_id=13292268578

Hope to see you there!

Probably the biggest event to hit Champaign-Urbana, Ebertfest is the must-see local event of the year. Every year, Roger Ebert himself picks out select movies to show at the Virginia Theater, and people from all corners of the movie industry come to watch these films and participate in discussions. The tickets are only $8 for students and $10 for general public, with a festival pass costing around $100 for 5 days of movies.

We’re going to be providing extensive coverage of the festival all weekend, with buzz and Daily Illini writers coming together to provide the best possible content on the events and the films. They’ll be sharing their experiences, thoughts and insights into the choices and the actual events occurring around each movie, so keep your eyes peeled for very frequent updates to the Movies + TV section.

We’re all really excited about this event and we hope you are too!

So apparently there’s a freezer the size of a football field on campus, which has to be run on ammonia (because it’s the most cost-efficient option). If the ammonia starts to leak, there’s enough ammonia in there to kill the entire population in Champaign.

But don’t worry, there’s alarms and sensors and stuff to keep you all safe.

Carry on.

This is the first installment of the217 Sessions - a component to my blog that involves me interviewing people in the CU community with my camera. I started in my own backyard because it was a little easier to start, but I’ll be branching out in no time.

This one’s a bit long, they won’t all be this long, but enjoy learning more about what goes on at WPGU while we get to the bottom of the word “randomocity” and the car spike from Wayne’s World.

Even more new blogs added recently, check them out:

708 Bass Place: A music blog written by Josh Fisher, who loves those deep bass guitar tones and wants to share the love with you.

Streetwalker: No, it’s not what you think (get your mind out of the gutter). If you see Erin Gillman out with her camera, strike a pose! She’s taking pictures of fashionable people in every day life.