03 Aug 2004

The Metrolites Aim High with Fall Release

By Jeff Ignatius
Forming the band The Metrolites was just "something to do," said the band's leader, Scott Morschhauser. Oh, how things change in less than two years. The story of the Quad Cities best (if only) surf spy noir spaghetti-western lounge band is one of steadily increasing expectations and aspirations.
27 Jul 2004

Moline Takes Charge

By Jeff Ignatius
In the eyes of Jim Bowman, Moline's downtown is full of "sales waiting to happen." With the Mark of the Quad Cities and various John Deere-related tourist destinations, the city's downtown should be thriving.
27 Jul 2004

Future Appletree Branches Out with New Release

By Jeff Ignatius
Less than two minutes into A Is Jump’s My Ice-Fingered Ghost, it’s readily apparent that even though this isn’t a typical release from the Quad Cities-based Future Appletree label, it’s a good match for the imprint’s oddity-laced pop sound.
20 Jul 2004

Should the Iowa Values Fund Be Resurrected?

By Jeff Ignatius
Nobody expected it to happen this soon, but the Iowa Values Fund is up for its first performance evaluation, and the results are mixed. The program - which was supposed to attract high-paying positions in natural areas of growth for Iowa such as agriculture - has brought new jobs, but not nearly as many as promised.
20 Jul 2004

Fest Tries to Find a Youth Movement

By Jeff Ignatius
After 32 years, the Bix Beiderbecke Memorial Jazz Festival's audience isn't getting any younger. "Our crowd is usually quite old" - typically over 45 - said Ray Voss, president of the Bix Beiderbecke Memorial Society, which runs the annual festival featuring jazz styles from the 1920s and '30s.
13 Jul 2004

Fixing Problem Properties

By Jeff Ignatius
As Rock Island and Davenport both undertake the issue of rental-property inspections, it will be worth following to see how similar - and different - their programs end up being. The issue is important because rental inspections are a major way a city can help maintain and even improve its housing stock.
13 Jul 2004

Rocker Lennon Commits Career Suicide

By Jeff Ignatius
Lennon hates playing acoustic. It makes her "scared to death," she said in a recent interview with the River Cities' Reader. "I have terrible anxiety. I don't like being alone." So, naturally, she ended last year with an acoustic tour.
06 Jul 2004

Does Fahrenheit 9/11 Connect the Dots?

By Jeff Ignatius
Does Michael Moore's Fahrenheit 9/11 Connect the Dots?

As a screed against George W. Bush to justify the feelings, suspicions, and thoughts of people who already dislike the president and plan on voting against him in November, Fahrenheit 9/11 is strikingly effective.

06 Jul 2004

Don't Mess with The Hobbit

By Jeff Ignatius
If Peter Jackson taught the world anything with his epic three-movie The Lord of the Rings series, it's that audiences want their Tolkien to be faithful to the original work. So when Susan Holgersson started comparing J.R.R. Tolkien's The Hobbit with Patricia Gray's script, "I started to realize there was a situation there," she said. Playcrafters Barn Theatre decided about a year ago to do the play, and Holgersson was selected as its director in August.
29 Jun 2004

Master of Many Styles

By Jeff Ignatius
Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown will not have the blues when he performs at the Mississippi Valley Blues Festival this weekend and receives the RiverRoad Lifetime Achievement Award. There's too much music in him. He plays guitar, harmonica, violin, mandolin, viola, and drums, and he simply doesn't abide by any musical boundaries, comfortable in the Cajun music of his birthplace and the Texas blues and country styles of his youth, along with jazz and R&B and calypso and pretty much anything else he can get his hands on.

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