Music

Mike Garson

First Presbyterian Church of Davenport

Saturday, December 10, 4 p.m.

Performing in a December 10 concert at Davenport's First Presbyterian Church, the latest guest in Quad City Arts' Visiting Artist Series is acclaimed pianist/composer Mike Garson, and according to his Web-site bio at MikeGarson.com, he's a musician "to whom the word 'no' is quickly transformed into the word 'now.'" Which is funny, because that's exactly what happens whenever I say 'no' around here ... although it's always my editor Jeff who transforms it into 'now.'

Going to the cineplex or IMAX this weekend? Every Friday morning at 9 a.m. you can listen to Mike Schulz dish on recent movie releases & talk smack about Hollywood celebs on the Quad City Rocker 104.9FM, with the fabulous morning team of Dave and Darren. The morning crew previews upcoming releases, too.

Or you can check the Reader Web site and listen to their latest conversation by the warm glow of your computer.

Never miss a pithy comment from these three scintillating pundits again.

Friday, December 2, 2011: Discussion of "The Muppets," "Hugo," "Arthur Christmas," "Happy Feet Two," and "The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 1," and previews of... nothing. Nothing at all. Nothing new opens at Quad-Cities cineplexes this weekend. Which means that Mike has to spend his entire Friday stuck in the office. Poor bastard.

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THE TWILIGHT SAGA: BREAKING DAWN - PART 1

We're now four films into the five-part series of Stephenie Meyer adaptations, and The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 1 is the first one that I wouldn't hesitate to call unpredictable. As someone who couldn't care less about the tortured love triangle involving the human Bella (Kristen Stewart), the vampire Edward (Robert Pattinson), and the lycanthrope Jacob (Taylor Lautner), I was confident that this moody romance would perk up with an added dash of Rosemary's Baby, once the now-married Bella found herself pregnant with Edward's child. (So the undead have living sperm, then?) But how could I have guessed this would be the exact moment that, at least for me, the movie stopped being interesting?

It doesn't happen often, especially if you attend a lot of local theatre - where the on-stage faces tend to become familiar ones. But every once in a while, you'll be at a production that you're really enjoying, and gradually realize that you're routinely focusing on one performer above the others - and asking yourself, with a grin, "Who is that?"