Music
Little Big Town
Adler Theatre
Saturday, September 17, 7:30 p.m.
Playing Davenport's Adler Theatre on September 17, the lauded country stars of Little Big Town - Karen Fairchild, Kimberly Schlapman, Phillip Sweet, and Jimi Westbrook - have been with the group since its 2002 CD debut, have publicly admitted to being dear friends, and are all currently married with children, with Fairchild and Westbrook married (with a child) to each other.
No musician turnover over the years? No incessant squabbling? Stable relationships? What the hell kind of abnormal band is this?!
As the group's legions of fans will no doubt tell you, an absolutely sensational one, thank you very much. In the years since the release of the group's self-titled debut album, which cracked the Billboard top-40 chart and inspired hit singles in "Don't Waste My Time" and "Everything Changes," Little Big Town has been revered for its tight instrumentals and soaring four-part harmonies, the latter frequently likened to the vocals of Fleetwood Mac and the Eagles. To date, the band has charted a dozen singles on Billboard's Hot Country Songs charts - including top-10 smashes "Boondocks," "Bring It on Home," and 2010's "Little White Church" - and their talents certainly haven't gone unnoticed by the music industry. Among Little Big Town's accolades are four Grammy Award nominations (including one this year in the Best Country Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals category), eight Country Music Association Award nods, six citations by the CMT Music Awards, and nine nominations at the Academy of Country Music Awards, one of which led to a 2007 win.
Plus, beyond the adoration Little Big Town receives from audiences on its frequent tour stops, music critics have been effusive in their praise. The Associated Press' Michael McCall wrote: "With their constantly shifting dynamics and the head-turning way they layer their vocals, Little Big Town is rewriting the future of country harmony." In Entertainment Weekly, Chris Wellman raved: "For anyone waiting for a group whose four-part harmonies and musical chops are lifted right out of the vintage SoCal rock scene, Nashville's Little Big Town are a godsend." And reviewing the band's 2007 CD release, the Long Island Press' Josh Stewart simply implored: "Don't waste too much time reading this when you should already be in your car to pick up A Place to Land."
Thanks a lot, Josh. Like I don't have enough trouble getting readers to finish these articles.
For tickets to Little Big Town's Davenport engagement, call (800)745-3000 or visit AdlerTheatre.com.
Music
Steve Earle
Englert Theatre
Monday, September 19, 8 p.m.
You're familiar with the pop-culture game "Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon," right? Well, I'd argue that you could also play a version of it called "Six Degrees of Steve Earle" - in honor of the iconic country musician and roots rocker playing Iowa City's Englert Theatre on September 19 - except the game wouldn't be any kind of challenge. Given the spectrum of the man's accomplishments, we're probably all connected to Earle by six (or fewer) degrees.
Known primarily for his staggering assemblage of credits as a singer/songwriter, the 56-year-old Earle's first album, 1986's Guitar Town, hit number one on the U.S. country charts, and his most recent, this past April's I'll Never Get Out of This World Alive, peaked at number four. Meanwhile, the quarter-century between those releases yielded, you know, just a few professional highlights: a trio of Best Contemporary Folk Album Grammy Awards, 11 additional Grammy nominations, a Lifetime Achievement Award from the U.K.'s BBC Radio 2, a Rolling Stone citation as Country Artist of the Year, and covers of his songs performed by such artists as Johnny Cash, Joan Baez, Waylon Jennings, The Pretenders, Emmylou Harris, Percy Sledge, and the Highwaymen.
So anyone with a foot in the music industry's door could likely claim a connection to Earle. But so could anyone in the movie business: His soulful crooning can be heard in such films as Talladega Nights, Brokeback Mountain, and Planes, Trains, & Automobiles. And so could anyone in TV: Earle's on-screen credits include The Wire, 30 Rock, and HBO's Treme, for which he received an Emmy nomination for his song "This City."
While we're at it, several people in the publishing world can claim a six-degrees-or-less relationship with Earle, as he wrote the short-story collection Doghouse Roses, and - in conjunction with his CD of the same name - the novel I'll Never Get Out of This World Alive. How about those involved in professional theatre? He wrote the death-penalty play Karla. Radio? He's hosted shows for Air America and Sirius Satellite Radio.
And bringing the game closer to home, he's also the father of noted musician Justin Townes Earle, who, in 2008, was interviewed by my boss, Jeff Ignatius, with whom I share an office - making me separated from Steve Earle by a mere three degrees! Of course, that means Jeff is only separated by two degrees ... . Bastard's always one step ahead ... .
Earle performs in Iowa City alongside musician Allison Moorer, and more on the evening is available by calling (319)688-2653 or visiting Englert.org.
Dance
Lily Cai Chinese Dance Company
Galvin Fine Arts Center
Saturday, September 17, 7:30 p.m.
In an interview in the online magazine World & I, the lauded, San Francisco-based Chinese choreographer Lily Cai said, "When I arrived in this country, I didn't know what to do next. Like most immigrants, I had no money, no job. I didn't know English. I only knew I had to dance, and even when people advised me just to forget about dance and to concentrate on making a living, I had to find a way to go on."
And go on Cai did, to the Kennedy Center, and the Virgin Islands, and the United Nations' 50th Anniversary Celebration, and - on Saturday, September 17 - to Davenport's St. Ambrose University, where the internationally renowned Lily Cai Chinese Dance Company will perform as the first guests in the Galvin Fine Arts Center's Performing Arts Series.
Now in its 23rd year of professional performances, Cai's gifted ensemble of female dancers prides itself on melding ancient Chinese forms with modern-dance moves, culminating in an inventive marriage of styles scored to original music by composer Gang Situ. Employing multimedia effects, ravishing costumes, and such visual accoutrements as ribbons, fans, and baskets, Cai's company will, in its St. Ambrose performance, celebrate the elegance and spectacle of China in its newest work, Dynasty Suite, which finds the dancers enacting members of ancient Chinese dynasties and rural minorities through 3,000 years of history. And with it, the Lily Cai Chinese Dance Company is sure to electrify audiences with the same combination of awe and excitement that has greeted the group's performances at arts venues and festivals worldwide - including, in 1994, the company's famed dance opener for the Grateful Dead at the Oakland Coliseum.
Yet reading about dance, of course, is never as enthralling as actually witnessing it. So for those of you who'd like a sense of the sensual, magical talents of the Lily Cai Chinese Dance Company prior to the group's Quad Cities arrival, I have two suggestions: (1) Visit the company's Web site at LilyCaiDance.org and watch the esteemed performers for yourselves, or (2) Stare at the accompanying image of the company's dancers in action, and shake the paper back and forth and up and down until it looks like the figures are actually moving. I assure you that one of those two ways won't make you look like an idiot.
For more information on, and tickets to, the Lily Cai Chinese Dance Company's September 17 performance, call (563)333-6251 or visit SAU.edu/galvin.
Event
Unlikely Heroes
Rock Island Main Public Library
Thursday, September 22, 6:30 p.m.
See the adorable-looking lady in the accompanying photo? She could be your favorite grandmother, couldn't she? That is, if your favorite grandmother was also a Jewish spy who traveled to Nazi-occupied Germany to collect intelligence information for the French Army.
The woman in the picture, you see, is 91-year-old Marthe Cohn, who performed staggering acts of bravery during World War II, and who is one of three women celebrated in actress Elaine Rembrandt's one-woman show Unlikely Heroes: The True Stories of Three Jewish Women Spies. Presented by the Jewish Federation of the Quad Cities, and being performed at 6:30 p.m. on September 22 at the Rock Island downtown library, the presentation will find Rembrandt enacting Cohn, Sarah Aaronsohn, and Shulamit Cohen Kishik, exploring the enormous contributions they made as Jewish spies, and offering insight into a trio of female figures largely unknown to even the most avid of European-history buffs.
With her theatrical credits including such productions as Fiddler on the Roof, Crossing Delancy, and, in the role of Golda Meir, William Gibson's Golda, Rembrandt is sure to provide an evening of marvelously informative entertainment in Unlikely Heroes. And for a primer on September 22's event, try matching the following descriptions with the spy with whom they're associated:
1) Was a survivor of the Holocaust
2) Oversaw spy-ring operations for British agents in World War I
3) Began work as a Mossad agent in Beirut in 1947
4) Was a former prostitute and madam
5) Was a member of the spy organization "the Nili"
6) Was awarded France's Medaille de la Reconnaissance de la Nation
7) Was sentenced to death - a sentence later commuted - in 1962
8) Hoped that her actions would lead to a national home for the Jews in Eretz, Israel
9) Co-authored a book of her experiences titled Behind Enemy Lines
A) Sarah Aaronsohn
B) Marthe Cohn
C) Shulamit Cohen Kishik
Admission to Unlikely Heroes is free, and more information is available by contacting the Jewish Federation of the Quad Cities at (309)793-1300 or JFQC.org.
Answers: 1 - B, 2 - A, 3 - C, 4 - C, 5 - A, 6 - B, 7 - C, 8 -A, 9 - B. Wow. And I thought my grandma was impressive for knowing all the lyrics to "The Whiffenpoof Song."
What Else Is Happenin'...?
MUSIC
Thursday, September 15 - Texas Hippie Coalition. Southern rockers in concert, with an opening set by Drama Major. The Redstone Room (129 Main Street, Davenport). 9 p.m. $10. For tickets and information, call (563)326-1333 or visit RedstoneRoom.com.
Thursday, September 15 - Bomba Estéreo. A dance fusion of electronic dub and hip hop in a Hancher Auditorium presentation. Iowa Memorial Union Main Lounge (125 North Madison Street, Iowa City). 9 p.m. $10-25. For tickets and information, call (319)335-1160 or visit http://www.Hancher.UIowa.edu.
Friday, September 16 - Hijinks & Home: Songs of the Civil War. Narrative songs sung by balladeer Judy Cook, featuring choruses interwoven with historical details, anecdotes, and family letters from the Civil War era. Butterworth Center (1105 Eighth Street, Moline). 7 p.m. Free admission. For information, call (309)743-2701 or visit ButterworthCenter.com.
Friday, September 16 - Meth & Goats CD Release Show. Alternative rockers in concert, with openers Tambourine and Jamey Cummins. Rock Island Brewing Company (1815 Second Avenue, Rock Island). 9 p.m. $5. For information, call (309)793-4060 or visit RIBCO.com.
Friday, September 16 - Larry Gatlin & the Gatlin Brothers. Grammy Award-winning country-music legends in concert. Quad-Cities Waterfront Convention Center. (1777 Isle Parkway, Bettendorf). 7:30 p.m. $20-30. For information and tickets, call (800)724-5825 or visit Bettendorf.IsleOfCapriCasinos.
Sunday, September 18 - Ernest Dawkins. Musicians Dawkins, Miguel De La Cerna, Junius Paul, and Isaiah Spencer perform and educate as part of Polyrhythms' Third Sunday Jazz Matinée & Workshop Series. The Redstone Room (129 Main Street, Davenport). 3 p.m. all-ages jazz workshop - $5/adult, children free; 6 p.m. concert - $10-15. For tickets and information, call (309)373-0790 or visit Polyrhythms.org or RedstoneRoom.com.
Sunday, September 18 - Caliendo Barcelona Flute/Guitar Duo. Original world music in the styles of tango, gypsy, farandula, flamenco, jazz, classical, samba, bossa nova, and milonga. Augustana College's Wallenberg Hall (3520 Seventh Avenue, Rock Island). 7 p.m. Free admission. For information, call (309)794-7833 or visit Augustana.edu.
Tuesday, September 20 - Weedeater. Sludge-metal musicians in concert, with openers Saviours, Bison, and Fight Amp. Rock Island Brewing Company (1815 Second Avenue, Rock Island). 7 p.m. $13-16. For information, call (309)793-4060 or visit RIBCO.com.
Wednesday, September 21 - .357 String Band. Americana, bluegrass, and country musicians in concert, with openers Hellwater. Rock Island Brewing Company (1815 Second Avenue, Rock Island). 8 p.m. $5. For information, call (309)793-4060 or visit RIBCO.com.
Saturday, September 24 - Dave Eggar. Cello music and martial-arts demonstrations with the Juilliard and Harvard graduate and Quad City Arts Visiting Artist. St. Ambrose University's Galvin Fine Arts Center (2101 Gaines Street, Davenport). 7 p.m. Free admission, with donations encouraged. For information, call (309)793-1213 or visit QuadCityArts.com.
Saturday, September 24 - Augustana Symphonic Band Tsunami Relief Concert. Concert in preparation for director James Lambrecht's departure for a guest residency in Japan. Augustana College's Centennial Hall (3703 Seventh Avenue, Rock Island). 8 p.m. Free-will offering taken for tsunami relief. For information, call (309)794-7833 or visit Augustana.edu.
Wednesday, September 28 - An Evening with Savoy Brown. Famed acoustic, blues, and rock musician in concert. The Redstone Room (129 Main Street, Davenport). 8 p.m. $17. For tickets and information, call (563)326-1333 or visit RedstoneRoom.com.
THEATRE
Thursday, September 15, through Sunday, September 25 - Time Stands Still. The Curtainbox Theatre Company's presentation of Donald Margulies' war-correspondent drama, directed by Tyson Danner. Village Theatre (2113 East 11th Street, Village of East Davenport). Thursday-Saturday and Tueday 7:30 p.m.; Sunday 3 p.m. $12-20. For tickets and information, call (563)322-8504 or visit TheCurtainbox.com.
DANCE
Thursday, September 22, and Friday, September 23 - Hubbard Street Dance Chicago 2. A Hancher Auditorium presentation featuring world-premiere choreography and pieces from the company's repertoire. The University of Iowa's Space/Place Theatre (North Hall, on the corner of Madison and Jefferson streets, Iowa City). 7:30 p.m. $15-30. For tickets and information, call (319)335-1160 or visit http://www.Hancher.UIowa.edu.
Saturday, September 24 - Carmen. Ballet Quad Cities' production of the ballet inspired by Georges Bizet's legendary opera. Ballet Quad Cities Dance Studio (613 17th Street, Rock Island). 2:30 & 8:15 p.m. For tickets and information, call (309)786-3779 or visit BalletQuadCities.com.
LITERATURE
Wednesday, September 28 - Gerald Stern. New Jersey's former poet laureate reads from his works in a presentation in the "River Readings at Augustana" series. Augustana College's Denkmann Memorial Hall (3520 Seventh Avenue, Rock Island). 7 p.m. Free admission. For information, call (309)794-7833 or visit Augustana.edu.
ART
Saturday, September 17, and Sunday, September 18 - 2011 Riverssance Festival of Fine Art. MidCoast Fine Arts presents the 24th-annual juried art fair featuring more than 100 artist booths, live music, a children's activity tent, wine garden, and more. Lindsay Park (River Drive and Mound Street, Davenport). Saturday 10 a.m.-5 p.m., Sunday 10 a.m.-4 p.m. $4. For information, call (309)737-8910 or visit MidCoast.org/riverssance.htm.
Saturday, September 17, through Sunday, January 29 - Restoring the Spirit: Celebrating Haitian Art. Exhibition celebrating Haiti's complex visual traditions and the devotion of artists to creative endeavors in the face of national adversity. Figge Art Museum (225 West Second Street, Davenport). Tuesday-Saturday 10 a.m.-5 p.m., Thursday 10 a.m.-9 p.m., Sunday noon-5 p.m. Free with $4-7 museum admission. For information, call (563)326-7804 or visit FiggeArt.org.
COMEDY
Friday, September 23 - Joe Raiola: American Heretic. One-man show on religion, politics, and American culture, with the touring artist and senior editor of Mad magazine. Englert Theatre (221 East Washington Street, Iowa City). 8 p.m. $15-20. For tickets and information, call (319)688-2653 or visit Englert.org.
MOVIES
Thursday, September 15, through Saturday, September 17 - Black Earth Film Festival. Eighth-annual screening of independent features and shorts, featuring Thursday's 7 p.m. premiere of Paul Bonesteel's documentary The Day Carl Sandburg Died. Carl Sandburg College Fine Arts Theatre (Building F, Tom L. Wilson Boulevard, Galesburg). Thursday 7 p.m. screenings, Friday 7 and 10:30 p.m. screenings, Saturday noon and 7 p.m. screenings. $5 per session, $20 for a three-day all-session pass. For information and a film schedule, call (309)342-7415 or visit BlackEarthFilmFestival.org.
EVENTS
Saturday, September 17 - 2011 Brew Ha Ha. WQPT's 12th-annual celebration of locally and nationally brewed beers, featuring cheeses provided by Cabot Creamery Cooperative of Vermont and performances by Wicked Liz & the Bellyswirls and the improv comedians of the Blacklist. LeClaire Park (River Drive and Ripley Street, Davenport). 1-5 p.m. $20-25. For tickets and information, call (309)764-2400 or visit WQPT.org/brew.
Saturday, September 17 - 2011 Celtic Festival & Highland Games. Annual event featuring vendors, food, athletic competitions, a parade, live music, information booths, and more. Centennial Park (Beiderbecke Drive and Marquette Street, Davenport). 9 a.m.-7 p.m. Free admission. For information, e-mail infocelt@celtichighlandgames.
Tuesday, September 20 - Vintage Voices' Couples. Performances of radio scripts from My Favorite Husband, George Burns & Gracie Allen, Fibber McGee & Molly, and The Bickersons. Broadway Presbyterian Church (710 23rd Street, Rock Island). 5 p.m. light supper, 6:15 p.m. program. $10. For information and to reserve, call (309)764-3968 or visit BroadwayQC.org.
Wednesday, September 21, through Friday, September 23 - 2011 Upper Mississippi River Conference: Balancing Nature & Commerce. Fourth-annual conference featuring guest speakers, lectures, workshops, exhibitors, field trips, and more. Isle of Capri Convention Center (1777 Isle Parkway, Bettendorf). Tuesday 4:30 p.m., Wednesday 7:30 a.m., Thursday 6:30 a.m. $99-200. For information and to reserve, call (563)322-0916 or visit RiverAction.org.
Thursday, September 22 - Booked for the Night: A Signature Event. Fundraising event for the Moline library featuring a silent auction, cocktails, hors d'oeuvres, music by the Edgar Crockett Jazz Quartet, and more. Moline Public Library (3210 41st Street, Moline). 6 p.m. $25 per person and $45 per couple in advance; $30 per person at the door. For information and to reserve, call (309)524-2473 or visit MolineLibrary.com.
Sunday, September 25 - Project Chocolate with a Glass of Wine Fundraising event hosted by The Project of the Quad Cities, featuring chocolate samples, catered hors d'oeuvres, a wine tasting, live entertainment, a raffle, and more. Hotel Blackhawk (200 East Third Street, Davenport). 2 p.m. $35 per person, $60 per couple. For information and tickets, call (309)721-7804 or visit APQC4Life.org.
Sunday, September 25 - Quad Cities Marathon. Annual event beginning at the i wireless Center (1201 River Drive, Moline) and ending at the John Deere Pavilion (1400 River Drive, Moline), featuring a marathon, a half-marathon, a marathon relay, a 5K walk/run, a one-mile walk, a kids' run, vendors, live music, and more. 7:30 a.m. $20-175 registration for adults, depending on the race; $10-15 registration for the kids' run. For information and to register, visit QCMarathon.org.
