It's no surprise that Jen Chapin was pulled in several directions.

Her father, the late Harry Chapin, is most famous for writing and performing "Cat's in the Cradle" but was also a humanitarian, co-founding World Hunger Year (http://worldhungeryear.org) in 1975. (He died in an automobile accident in 1981.)

Jen Chapin, who will perform at the Redstone Room on Saturday, March 17, is following her own social-justice calling. She chairs the World Hunger Year board of directors, and will lead a forum on "Music & Social Action" at the Unitarian Church of Davenport on Sunday, March 18.

He has the magisterial licks and unbound ambition of Billy Corgan without the self-seriousness. He has the expressive, expansive palette of Andrew Bird but with an arena-rock heart. He's an insatiable omnivore like Mike Patton, stirring everything together into a sometimes-ugly stew, but without the aggressiveness and with most of the rougher edges buffed off. He has a fascination with twee '60s pop, and with muscular prog rock.

Although I have not been a dedicated reader of the Reader, I have never seen criticism of it as "anti-business." (See "Defining Pro-Business News," River Cities' Reader Issue 622, February 28-March 6, 2007.) What people need to understand is that criticism is often a great way for businesses to understand their weaknesses and improve on them. Since a business can never objectively look at itself, it should rely on the feedback of clients and the community to identify and solve problems or expand and grow.

Twelve Quad Cities-area artists have been selected by a jury to create works for an exhibition and auction in conjunction with a major show at the Figge Art Museum. The artists will donate the 12 pieces to benefit the Figge, where the local artworks will be displayed from the week before a fundraising gala until May 27, or whenever the winning bidders choose to take possession of the artworks. The selected artists were Emily Christenson, Catherine Jones Davies, Diane Dexter-Wall, Sara Jane Fellin, Kristin Garnant, Ulrike Goerlich, David Heffner, Heidi Hernandez, Nancy Lindsay, Jim Riesberg, Bruce Walters, and Peter Xiao. The museum will present its fundraising gala "Under the Big Sky" on March 24, when guests can see the major exhibition of Deborah Butterfield's horse sculptures as well as the Follow the Horses show of locally created works. To make reservations for the gala, contact special-events coordinator Mary Davidson at (563) 326-7804 extension 2046. Admission is $125 per person, which includes heavy hors d'oeuvres, live music, wine, and cocktails.