The proposed merger between the Canadian Pacific (CP) and Kansas City Southern (KCS) railways, if approved by the Surface Transportation Board (STB) of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in the coming weeks, will mean increased levels of downtown train activity, especially in Davenport.

Watching the Ghanaian-born drummer Paa Kow (pron PAH-Koh) perform with his Afro-Fusion Orchestra last Thursday evening, 7 October, at the Redstone Room in Davenport, one wondered briefly if he functions on pure enthusiasm. His fellow-musicians were alert to every key- and tempo-change, and Paa Kow often surprised his audience by leading them down different melodic paths when a song seemed instead to signal its conclusion.

Giallows photo by Katie Parry

The members of the band Giallows, who were slated to perform on Tuesday, 13 November, at 8PM at Rozz-Tox (2108 3rdAve, Rock Island), have watched Hell blaze across the streets of the Quad Cities.

Well, not Hell, exactly. That may be overstating matters. And nothing purgatorial or bardo-esque, for that matter. But they’ve seen some stuff occur. They also seemed to agree that they would never really agree on the nature of such stuff — so they might as well play music.

Ian Svenonius, long associated with the Washington DC music scene, is slated to perform Tuesday, 10/30, at 8PM at Rozz-Tox (2108 3rd Ave, Rock Island, IL). He has been making music since the late Eighties, and recording it since 1990. If there is any one musician who knows what’s possible in making music, it’s Svenonius – and Svenonius has never seemed the sort to acknowledge any kind of limitations. Catch one of his shows under his current project, Escape-ism [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PDomSeWAUPs], and you will see imagination and talent at work – and a form of charisma, however awkward, capable of attracting people to these qualities.

I met and spoke with Raj and Bacon on Thursday, 20 September, at Rozz-Tox (2108 3rdAve, Rock Island). After playing a number of schools in the QC during their too-brief stay here, they will return to DC on Saturday. I’m already looking forward to seeing them again…

In 2017, the last three days of September and the first of October brought an unexpected surprise. The All Senses Festival debuted its multi-media enterprise last year with more than 20 artistic performances and was held at Rozz-Tox, the Rock Island Brewing Company (RIBCO), and the Figge Art Museum. Though smaller in scale compared to other regional festivals, in particular Iowa City’s Mission Creek, All Senses had, judging by the number of the acts, its own Homeric air to it.

Tim Story found his true calling while enrolled at the University of Toledo in the late Seventies as an English Literature major. Upon graduating in 1980, he began recording ambient music, starting with 1981’s Threads. His collaborations with the German musician Hans-Joachim Röedelius began with 2000’s Persistence of Memory. It continues with their recent installation, The Röedelius Cells, showing at the Figge Art Museum from September 25 through 27. Story cordially consented to explain their project.

Let’s assume you love cats and/or dogs. And you see an ad for The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS), on television or on the Internet (RCReader.com/y/hsus1). Do you get emotional over the sight of stray cats or dogs living in Dickensian squalor before being euthanized? And do you consider writing out a check to the national organization based on the work it does on behalf of those animals, consistently depicted in rescue shelters?

It’s an impulse you may want to reconsider.