23 Nov 2004

Future Appletree Celebrates Two Years with Showcase

By Jeff Ignatius
Anybody expecting a big expansion for the Future Appletree record label is likely to be disappointed. The bands obviously hope to make a big splash, but the label itself is trying to keep things intimate. "It started as a thing among friends, and with the exception of A Is Jump, it's pretty much stayed that way," said Pat Stolley, one of the label's founders and a member of The Marlboro Chorus.
02 Nov 2004

Label Stakes Out Radical Turf for the Quad Cities

By Jeff Ignatius
In this day and age, making music is easy. What's hard is getting somebody to pay attention. "Anybody with a computer can make music," said Jeff Konrad, the founder of the Rock Island-based Radical Turf record label.
12 Oct 2004

Putting Nature First

By Jeff Ignatius
Ken Hoffman stands in a muddy bean field near Milan, showing off the 72 acres of land that he plans to turn into a housing development called The Conservancy. To the north is a grove. "All the trees will remain," Hoffman said, referring to the wooded area.
05 Oct 2004

A Genre-Hopping Joy

By Jeff Ignatius
In 1989, the avant-garde composer and sax player John Zorn released Naked City, which I’ve always described as “death jazz.” The album featured an all-star band tackling music that ranged from short blasts of violent noise (with tracks as short as eight seconds) to beautifully atmospheric interpretations of classic film music, including a kick-ass version of the theme from the James Bond movies.
28 Sep 2004

Can Arts and Culture Put Heads in Beds?

By Jeff Ignatius
Don Wooten says the Quad Cities have a vibrant enough collection of cultural organizations to support a much larger population. "We have so many different arts and cultural organizations," said Wooten, the primary artistic force behind the Genesius Guild's classic theatre and the chair of Quad Cities Presenters, Incorporated.
28 Sep 2004

Driver of the Year Delivers Some Statik

By Jeff Ignatius
Driver of the Year’s Jason Parris promised a few months ago that the band’s new full-length release, Statik, was going to be as “bare bones” as possible. That phrase is vague when it comes to music.
21 Sep 2004

Salvaging a Pearl Near the Muscatine Riverfront

By Jeff Ignatius
Tom Meeker has a folksy charm, speaking in a low voice that can sound gruff and clipped on the phone but is transformed when you meet him in person. His face is open and warm, and he comes off as one of the friendliest people on the planet.
21 Sep 2004

The One-Man Soul Band

By Jeff Ignatius
It was Rob Cimmarusti, the owner of the Real Trax recording studio in Davenport, who turned me on to Martin Sexton. The most incredible live performer he'd ever seen, he said. Don't mess with the studio recordings, he advised; go to Live Wide Open, his double-disc live set from 2000.
14 Sep 2004

Riverssance Grows, with Big Hopes for the Future

By Jeff Ignatius
With the economy emerging from the doldrums, Director Larry DeVilbiss expects big things out of the 17th Annual Riverssance Festival of Fine Art, held on Saturday and Sunday at Lindsay Park in the Village of East Davenport.
14 Sep 2004

Wineries Confront the Challenges of Making Quality Iowa Wines

By Jeff Ignatius
There are many ways to make wine in Iowa, but one of the biggest differences among the state's wineries is the degree to which they use Iowa grapes. The three wineries in the Riverssance wine garden will give festival-goers an opportunity to sample the results from across that spectrum.

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