22 May 2012

What's Happenin': Summer 2012

By Mike Schulz, Ben Clague, and Marguerite Day

Ronnie Baker BrooksMusic

Ronnie Baker Brooks

The Redstone Room

Friday, May 25, 8 p.m.

 

Performing with his father and brother as the Brooks Family Blues Dynasty, Chicago-based singer/guitarist Ronnie Baker Brooks will be among the headliners at this year's Mississippi Valley Blues Festival, so I guess you could consider his May 25 Redstone Room concert something of a Quad Cities warm-up.

Then again, with the All Music Guide describing Brooks as "a monster guitarist with an ample supply of technique and passion," and the Boston Herald calling his most recent CD "ferocious and unrelenting," I'm thinking the temperatures in the Davenport venue might be significantly higher than "warm."

08 May 2012

What's Happenin': Thursday, May 10, through Wednesday, May 23

By Mike Schulz

Mark MellitsMusic

Rhythm Unleashed: The Music of Mark Mellits

The Redstone Room

Saturday, May 19, 8 p.m.

 

The latest presentation in the Quad City Symphony's Signature Series finds four of the orchestra's members performing Rhythm Unleashed: The Music of Mark Mellits, taking place on May 19 at Davenport's Redstone Room. And if that seems like an ill-fitting venue for a symphony offering, you should know that according to the New York Press, Mellits' compositions suggest "what classical music has in common with rock and pop."

You should also know that according to the All Music Guide, "Mellits apparently draws considerable inspiration from food" ... but then again, who doesn't?

24 Apr 2012

What's Happenin': Thursday, April 26, through Wednesday, May 9

By Mike Schulz
Andre WilliamsMusic

Andre Williams & the Goldstars

Rock Island Brewing Company

Saturday, May 5

 

Venerated R&B musician Andre Williams plays the Rock Island Brewing Company on May 5, and describing his glorious growl of a voice, punk musician Lux Interior said, "Andre Williams makes Little Richard sound like Pat Boone." The same is oftentimes said of me ... but I think that's just because when I sing, everyone I imitate sounds like Pat Boone.

10 Apr 2012

What's Happenin': Thursday, April 12, through Wednesday, April 25

By Mike Schulz

Big Bill MorganfieldMusic

Big Bill Morganfield

The Muddy Waters

Friday, April 20, 9 p.m.

 

Legendary blues musician McKinley Morganfield, better known by his nickname Muddy Waters, was born on April 4, 1913. Some 99 years and two weeks after his birth, the late great's son Big Bill Morganfield will not only headline a local blues concert on April 20, but a concert taking place at the Bettendorf venue called The Muddy Waters. Man, that's some kind of birthday acknowledgment. For my dad's last birthday, I got him socks.

27 Mar 2012

What's Happenin': Thursday, March 29, through Wednesday, April 11

By Mike Schulz

Local HMusic

Local H

Rock Island Brewing Company

Friday, April 6, 9p.m.

 

Before embarking on an East Coast tour that takes the duo to New York, Massachusetts, and Delaware, the alternative rockers of Local H will, on April 6, play a concert at the Rock Island Brewing Company.

Rock Island? Hey, that's where I live! "Rock Island! Woo-hoo! Ye-e-e-e-ea-a-ah-h!!!"

Sorry. Just thought it'd be fun to act like one of those concertgoers who does that sort of thing.

13 Mar 2012

What's Happenin': Thursday, March 15, through Wednesday, March 28

By Mike Schulz

Jessica Denney and Pat Flaherty rehearse Mr. MarmaladeTheatre

Mr. Marmalade

Village Theatre

Thursday, March 22, through Sunday, April 1

 

Mr. Marmalade, which Davenport's New Ground Theatre will stage from March 22 through April 1, is a comedy about a four-year-old girl named Lucy and her imaginary playmate of the show's title. A businessman with bipolar disorder, a porn addiction, and a considerable cocaine problem, Mr. Marmalade tends to ignore Lucy as much as her one-night-stand-seeking single mother does, frequently leaving Lucy alone to contend with her suicidal five-year-old friend and ... .

A-a-a-and I've just lost at least half of you, haven't I?

28 Feb 2012

What's Happenin': Spring 2012

By Mike Schulz

VOCES8Music

VOCES8

Galvin Fine Arts Center

Saturday, March 3, 7:30 p.m.

 

For the final performers in its 2011-12 Visiting Artists Series, Quad City Arts has booked an area residency with the renowned a cappella singers of VOCES8, and a glance at the group's three most recent CDs shows its tracks to include "A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square," "Kyrie from the Mass for Four Voices," "Shenandoah," "Me & My Shadow," "Wir glauben an ainen Gott," and "Jailhouse Rock." Because apparently, it would've killed Quad City Arts to find performers with range.

14 Feb 2012

What's Happenin': Thursday, February 16, through Wednesday, February 29

By Mike Schulz
Maggie BrownMusic

Maggie Brown

River Music Experience

Sunday, February 19, and Monday, February 20

 

The late, great Duke Ellington was quoted as saying, "By and large, jazz has always been like the kind of a man you wouldn't want your daughter to associate with." Let's be thankful, then, that this sentiment wasn't adopted by legendary composer Oscar Brown Jr., or the modern jazz scene - as River Music Experience patrons will soon realize - would've been deprived of one awfully gifted daughter.

31 Jan 2012

What's Happenin': Thursday, February 2, through Wednesday, February 15

By Mike Schulz

Chucho ValdesMusic

Chucho Valdés & the Afro-Cuban Messengers

Englert Theatre

Friday, February 10, 7:30 p.m.

 

The latest guests in Hancher Auditorium's Visiting Artists series are the renowned Cuban pianist Chucho Valdés and his Afro-Cuban Messengers ensemble, who bring their exuberant Latin stylings to Iowa City's Englert Theatre on February 10. I should tell you, though, that if you visit Valdés' Web site (at ValdesChucho.com) wanting to learn more about the man yet don't know any languages beyond English, you may be slightly disconcerted by Valdés' biography, which begins: "Nacido en 1941, el pianista, compositor, profesor de música, arreglista y director de grupa inició su formación musical a temprana edad ... ."

But fear not! I've taken the trouble of running every phrase from the site through an online Spanish-to-English translator and have now learned everything you need to know about this artist whom All About Jazz calls "among the most accomplished jazz pianists from Cuba or anywhere else."

17 Jan 2012

What's Happenin': Thursday, January 19, through Wednesday, February 1

By Mike Schulz

PimprovComedy

Pimprov

Circa '21 Speakeasy

Saturday, January 28, 7 & 9:30 p.m.

 

Here's a stumper: Based solely on the accompanying photo, what would you guess are the professions of the four gentlemen pictured?

Wow ... that's right! One is a police officer, one is a fireman, one is a computer technician, and one is a community coordinator for a Head Start program! Nicely done!

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