The political landscape is heating up with controversy over the war with Iraq, all in the name of freedom of speech and the First Amendment. It would be highly amusing if it weren't such a critical issue both in terms of our national esteem and the potential dangerous long-term consequences.
The local outfit The Marlboro Chorus has an easygoing, ambling style that’s belied by a keen attention to production and arrangement. What you’re left with on the group’s new album, “Good Luck” , is the lo-fi charm of a singer-songwriter such as Elliot Smith combined with playful but meticulous flourishes that remind me of The Flaming Lips.
The River Cities' Reader's first-ever short-story contest generated a tremendous response, with 86 entries, including one from halfway around the world (Australia). Most of the stories came from right here in the Quad Cities, though.
The first must-hear record of the year comes from the Blue Man Group, a trio of nameless, faceless cobalt-silver surfers of the double helix as both pop-culture artists and electronic-music stream-clashers. With the group's new album, The Complex, this mute alien threesome goes beyond the grid and becomes the grid themselves, collaborating with guest vocalists and lyrics for the first time.
The big business of asbestos litigation is encroaching upon the livelihood of Iowa's small businesses. Small companies with as few as 20 employees are finding themselves mired in this unending legal morass.
Three big players in Davenport an nounced last week that they are launching the Go Davenport initiative, a public-image effort designed to "boost Davenport's image." It's a noble goal, and the community should actively promote its strengths and pat itself on the back for its accomplishments.
The state's new deputy governor, 29-year-old New York native Bradley Tusk, evidently has a lot to learn. Tusk was appointed to the important job not long ago even though he has absolutely no Illinois political experience and has never managed anything larger than a tiny staff.
Things could get a little less peaceful in Rock Island now. You might not be able to tell the difference yet, but once word gets out, citizens will probably take to the streets en masse, making loud and unusual noises at will, perhaps even beating sounding vessels or hallooing.
You might have heard that Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich wants to "re-finance" some state debt, which will supposedly free up $1.9 billion to help close the state's massive $4.8-billion budget deficit. But the media coverage of this plan has been ill-informed, at best, mainly because the governor has done a good job of obfuscating the issue.
The world's shortest story was written by Augusto Monterroso: "Upon waking, the dinosaur was still there." We're not asking you to replicate that feat, but we are asking for your entries in a limbo contest for fiction writing.

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