Marc Rizzo

The Redstone Room

Wednesday, April 9, 8:30 p.m.

Solo musician and Soulfly guitarist Marc Rizzo plays the Redstone Room on April 9, and if the artist's recent interview in Crusher magazine is to be trusted, his audience will likely be composed of two types of individuals.

The first, Rizzo said, are Soulfly fans "who are just moshing and tearing shit up to the heavier stuff." The second, he said, are "all the guitar fans, and I know who they are because they're always right up front with their arms crossed, just watching me. They don't move at all; they study every move I make."

A-ha! All this time I thought my editor, Jeff, was being disapproving of me - it turns out he's just a guitar fan!

In all seriousness, though, not for nothing is the 30-year-old Rizzo an object of musical study. In addition to serving as lead guitarist for the Brazilian metal band Soulfly, he has thus far released two critically-acclaimed solo CDs that showcase his unique blend of metal, hard rock, jazz, classical, and flamenco stylings - Rock Something magazine raved that the guitar work of this "fantastic musician" on 2006's Colossal Myopia is "quite simply stunning" - and as an endorser for Peavey's guitar line, the artist performs educational guitar clinics for fledgling and pro players around the globe.

By all accounts, Rizzo is a guitar virtuoso, but I do have one question in conjunction with that photo: He knows he's holding it upside-down, right?

More on the musician's Davenport appearance is available at (http://www.redstoneroom.com).

Cirque du Soleil's Saltimbanco

i wireless Center

Tuesday, April 15, through Friday, April 18

In a production described by Variety magazine as "artful, enchanting, and lyrical," those staggeringly inspired acrobats and clowns of Cirque du Soleil return to the i wireless Center with Saltimbanco, being presented April 15 through 18. Like all of the legendary circus troupe's productions, the show promises to be an exhilarating spectacle of light, color, sound, music, humor, and jaw-dropping feats of athletic prowess, but while you may be familiar with such previous Cirque du Soleil miracles as Quidam and Dralion, how much do you know about their latest offering?

According to the Cirque du Soleil Web site (http://www.cirquedusoleil.com), which of the following is not an act in Saltimbanco?
1) Adagio (three performers employing strength and flexibility to create startling figures)
2) Boleadoras (two performers twirling percussion instruments with weighted attachments)
3) Chinese poles (four performers offering a gravity-defying aerial ballet)
4) Russian swing (a family performing acrobatics while being catapulted 30 feet in the air)
5) German-Danish author (one man simultaneously typing, pacing, bouncing a racquetball, and drinking a bottle of wine)

More information on Saltimbanco can be found at (http://iwirelessCenter.com).

Answer: 5). For that act, you have to visit my apartment.

B.D. Wong

North Scott High School and Augustana College

Friday, April 11, and Saturday, April 12

I'm not sure what B.D. Wong's opinion is on the subject of groupies, but I'm hoping that the veteran of TV's Law & Order: SVU and Oz is preparing for a few in conjunction with his area appearances next week.

Delivering public lectures and workshops as Quad City Arts' 2008 Cary Grant Residency Artist, the gifted performer and author just might find his audiences, especially those equally passionate about acting, following him from gig to gig to gig to gig.

At 7 p.m. on April 11, Wong - familiar from such hits as Jurassic Park and Father of the Bride - takes the stage at Eldridge's North Scott High School with his presentation "An Artist's Journey, An Actor's Vision," and returns to the school the following morning for the 10 a.m. workshop "A Conversation with B.D. Wong...," offering thoughts on the audition process.

Then, at 1 p.m., the Tony winner for 1988's M. Butterfly arrives at Augustana College's Wallenberg Hall for "... the Conversation Continues," in which he'll provide insight into character development and performing for both stage and screen.

And finally, at 7 p.m., Wallenberg finds the co-star of The Freshman, And the Band Played On, and The Ref delivering a lecture titled "Life Is a Roller Coaster: Hang On & Enjoy It." Much like what Peanuts' Linus does with his blanket, as the actor knows from playing the role in 1999's Broadway production of You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown.

Yeah. He's amassed a credit or two.

Further information on Wong's area appearances is available at (http://www.quadcityarts.com).

Mother & Child: Henry Moore's West Dean Tapestries

Figge Art Museum

Saturday, April 12, through Sunday, January 11

Yes, you are reading those dates correctly - the Figge Art Museum's new exhibit, Mother & Child: Henry Moore's West Dean Tapestries, is scheduled to be displayed from this Saturday through the early days of 2009. Works inspired by the birth of Moore's daughter, in an exhibition lasting nine months. Coincidence?

Perhaps, as the lengthy engagement is probably less a pregnancy metaphor than an indication of just how big a deal the exhibit actually is. In what executive director Sean O'Harrow calls "an exciting new direction for the Figge and the local community," Mother & Child marks the United States debut of eight of Moore's most astonishing works - a series of charcoal, wax crayon, pastel, chalk, and felt-tipped pen drawings, washed over with watercolor, and subsequently re-interpreted (some at 10 times their original size) in wool, cotton, and silk. The pieces, among them the pictured Two Seated Women & a Child, were first displayed to great acclaim in London in 1980, and the Figge's exhibit will showcase both the tapestries and the 1940s-era drawings they originated from.

With art connoisseurs nationwide expected to view the famed pieces, a nine-month run seems quite reasonable, and just think: When Mother & Child finally closes, we'll only be nine days away from the inauguration of a new president. Think we'll have a Democratic candidate by then?

For more information on this and other Figge exhibits, visit (http://www.figgeartmuseum.org).

Death in Character

Black Hawk College

Thursday, April 10, through Thursday, April 17

Black Hawk College's latest theatrical production, opening April 10, is the mystery-comedy Death in Character, by British playwright Stuart Ardern (pictured). Yet the real mystery is what the show is actually about. Seriously, type "Death in Character, Stuart Ardern" into a Google search, and you'll find a link to the play's U.K. publishing company - Lazy Bee Scripts - and the following description: "A humorous murder-mystery in one act." That's it.

Hints to the production's plot are given in its setting ("a stage littered with old scenery, props, and costumes") and its list of characters (two of whom are detectives), but, intrepid reporter that I am, I thought I'd get the inside scoop from director Dan Haughey... only to be thwarted yet again when he told me (albeit agreeably), "I'm not going to give you everything." But Haughey did share that Ardern's piece involves a pair of pantomime artists, a company of high-minded thespians, an unexpected killing, Scotland Yard, and a "sardonic, melodramatic twist," and added that "it starts out like Neil Simon and ends up like Agatha Christie."

Okay, so apparently the show involves transgender surgery... I'm getting closer, at least... .

The mystery will finally be solved when Death in Character is performed in Black Hawk's Building 1, room 306, on April 10, 12, 16, and 17, and more - but not all - information is available by calling (309) 796-5419.