Nancy Schricker, the music teacher at Wilson Elementary in Davenport, arrived to greet us with six students in tow. Debbie Bond - the guitar player and bandleader for the the Alabama Blues Project, the group that the Mississippi Valley Blues Society (MVBS) brought in for a "Blues in the Schools" residency last November - told them, "Some of the equipment will be heavy."

"Sweet," exclaimed one little boy, already won over for this prestigious "work," as they followed Debbie to the van to unload what was needed for the afternoon's performance. Soon, the Alabama Blues Project had its school-kid "roadies" participate in setup by hauling plastic tubs that would be used by classmates as drums.

I've always thought of Bo Ramsey as the Bob Dylan of Iowa. And not just because of their hats - late additions, both.

No, it's the way both can write a song whose images and music stay with you after only one listen, cover a song and make it their own, and deliver a hybrid American music that has their particular sound stamped all over it. When I first heard the start of Ramsey's just-released CD Stranger Blues, I thought I'd mistakenly put on Dylan's new release Modern Times instead. And Dylan's "From a Buick 6" (blues from Highway 61 Revisited) fit right in to Ramsey's live set the other week in Des Moines.

OPEN CITIES ANNOUNCES 2006-07 FILM SERIES  

The Open Cities Film Society has a new name :  Open Cities Cinema.  “We wanted a name that reflects our new mission statement—The Quad-Cities’ premiere window to the world, projecting culture, education, and entertainment,” says the organization’s incoming president, Ted Priester. 

 
The upcoming season also reflects other changes, including a new venue. Open Cities’ 28^th season begins Saturday, September 23 and will feature 27 films in four categories:  Award-Winners, British, Favorites, and Quad-City Premieres.  “The Quad-City Premieres movies will be noted films from 2005 and 2006 that haven’t been shown in the area, now that there’s no longer a Brew & View or Rocket Theatre to fill that need,” says Priester. That category includes Junebug, Tristram Shandy, and Water. The season opener will be the Scandinavian classic Babette’s Feast, with other features including M*A*S*H, A Clockwork Orange, The Third Man, Lone Star, A Room with a View, and Stop Making Sense. 

The new venue for the Open Cities Cinema season is the Davenport Public Library at Fairmount Street.  The viewing room has 80 seats, and patrons have access to a well-lit parking lot and refreshments from the library’s Slanted Straw Café.   All films will be shown on Saturday nights, beginning at 7 p.m., with doors opening at 6:45.  Seating is on a first-come, first served basis.  Suggested donations are $5.00 for individual tickets, $3.00 for students showing a college ID, and $45.00 for season tickets, which are available at the door or by calling 563-322-5386.  More information is available at the Open Cities Cinema’s new website:  www.opencitiescinema.org

Besides the film series, Open Cities Cinema has other projects in the works, including co-sponsoring the Avati Film Festival at the Figge Art Museum September 15-17.

for more information contact: Karen McFarland at somanybonnets@hotmail.com or Ted Priester at 563-322-5386  

 2006-2007 Open Cities Cinema Season

Sept. 23--     Babette’s Feast

Sept. 30--     North by Northwest

Oct. 7--         Secrets and Lies

Oct. 14--       Junebug

Oct. 21--       Blow-Up

Oct. 28--       The Blue Angel

Nov. 4--        A Room with a View

Nov. 11--       Me and You and Everyone We Know

Nov. 18--       M*A*S*H

Nov. 25--       The King of Comedy

Dec. 2--        The 39 Steps

Dec. 9--        Nine Lives

Dec. 16--      8 ½

Jan. 6--         A Clockwork Orange

Jan. 13--       Tristram Shandy

Jan. 20--       Barton Fink

Jan. 27--       Brazil

Feb. 3--        The Third Man

Feb. 10--      L’Enfant

Feb. 17--      All About Eve

Feb. 24--      Lone Star

Mar. 3--        Topsy Turvy

Mar. 10--      Wah-Wah

Mar. 17--      Mephisto

Mar. 24--      Stop Making Sense

Mar. 31--      The Go-Between

Apr. 7--         Water

(Listen to this interview here.) 

The song is "Mannish Boy." Bo Diddley wrote it, Muddy Waters adapted and adopted it, and now a supergroup from the Los Angeles blues scene has taken it as their name.

The song as Muddy does it has a deep Delta groove with Chicago blues instrumentation, and Muddy sings it as a high-energy shaman would, full of boast and swagger: "I'm a man / I spell M-A-N / That represent man / No B-O-Y / That mean mannish boy." A Big City Rhythm & Blues review of the Mannish Boys' first CD, 2004's That Represent Man, notes that "The Mannish Boys had better deliver with so audacious a name, lest the memory of Muddy Waters and a handful of other blues greats from the same era be slandered. Remarkably, this band manages to earn the right to call themselves anything they like."