Music

International Chamber Soloists

Galvin Fine Arts Center

Friday, November 8, 7:30 p.m.

A very special guest is set to amaze audiences at St. Ambrose University's Galvin Fine Arts Center, and when I first learned that the Toronto Star called this individual "a superbly equipped player with a rock-steady bow arm and ultra-confident technique," my initial thought was: Awesome! Katniss Everdeen!

And then I remembered that the guest in question was actually Dmitri Berlinsky, the lead violinist and front man for the acclaimed musicians of International Chamber Soloists. And then I remembered that Katniss Everdeen is fictional. Sometimes I'm a bit slow on the uptake.

CARRIE

(Author's note: Spoilers will abound. Given that the movie under consideration is an oftentimes word-for-word updating of a 37-year-old work, I hope I'll be forgiven for them.)

As remakes of beloved genre classics go, I suppose there's little point in being bothered by the new Carrie. Director Kimberly Peirce's outing, after all, is easy to sit through, smartly staged, generally well-acted, and, in most regards, incredibly faithful to Brian De Palma's 1976 original (which was, itself, reasonably faithful to Stephen King's debut novel of 1974). The CGI effects are pretty weak, and the movie isn't even slightly scary, and considering that nearly all sentient beings know what happens to poor Carrie White at the prom - with the movie's entire advertising campaign based on post-prom imagery - there's almost nothing in the way of storyline surprise, but whatever. It's fine.

Music

T. Hardy Morris

Rozz-Tox

Thursday, October 24, 9 p.m.

Founding Dead Confederate musician T. Hardy Morris performs a special concert at Rock Island's Rozz-Tox on October 24, and in reviewing the singer/songwriter/guitarist's solo debut Audition Tapes this past summer, Paste magazine wrote, "It's like Morris abandoned the 'shrooms in favor of a nice Americana-nodding spliff." The review went on to call the CD's title track "a simple slice of alt-country pie" with "a scoop of emo melting across the molasses-drenched crust," and the album itself "an all-ages potluck" and "worth a toast."

Gosh, that's an awful lot of food references. Are we sure it's not the Paste author who favored that nice Americana-nodding spliff?

GRAVITY

Alfonso Cuarón's space thriller Gravity opened this past weekend, and if you haven't seen it yet, you really should. Like, now. I'm serious. Step away from whatever electronic device you're using to read this and get in line at the cineplex - or, if the cineplex isn't currently open for business, drive over there and wait. Don't be one of those people who procrastinates until the movie hits home video and then whines about missing it on its initial release. Because I'm telling you: You're gonna want to catch Cuarón's latest on the big screen, and preferably on the biggest screen possible with your 3D glasses firmly in place. No kidding, folks: This thing is going to blow your mind.