Michael BurksWhen Michael Burks was 12, he wrote a letter to his idol B.B. King, "telling him that, hopefully, one day I could meet him and show him I could play like him," he said in a recent interview.

That wish actually came true when Michael was 39. In 1996, King celebrated his 71st birthday at a show in Little Rock, Arkansas, and Michael played alongside the blues icon. "All my life I'd been loving this man, admiring this man!" he said. It was a defining moment, and just the start of well-deserved recognition for Michael's lifelong immersion in the blues.

Mark Stuart has only himself to blame. The name was his idea - even if he didn't mean it to stick - and the stories associated with it are good ones.

But Stuart is considering hanging up Bastard Sons of Johnny Cash as a band name when he moves to Austin, Texas, from San Diego next year.

"I think now that he's gone ... it means less," Stuart said of Cash's 2003 passing. "And I think there was a certain knee-jerk reaction to the name ... . [And] to be quite honest, I just get tired of answering questions about Johnny Cash."

This statement comes, of course, after he's patiently answered a series of questions about Johnny Cash.

I am saddened and frustrated (again) by the reports of another young person killed, here where we live - the Quad Cities. The latest victim is a 19-year-old girl from Davenport who was shot while sitting outside talking, minding her own business.

Jihad Jerry & the Evildoers - Mine is Not a Holy War With the world gone crazy in the Middle East, what better to wash it all down than Devo? Next week Gerald Casale of Devo slides on the Roy Orbison shades and turban of his alter ego, Jihad Jerry, for a nutty, beat-crazy romp in Jihad Jerry & the Evildoers' Mine Is Not a Holy War on Cordless Records. Casale's wit shines in this first solo venture, as his war is a "war on stupidity" with a never-ending list of first-class offenders. Flanked by vocalists Geri Lynn and Alex Brown, and guests appearances from Devo bandmates Mark and Bob Mothersbaugh and Robert Casale, project drummer Josh Freese sums it up as the "best Devo record that never was." A real hip-shaker and house-rocker, I'm ready to sign up for active duty in "Army Girls Gone Wild," the Talking-Heads-meets-Heaven-17 funk of "What's in a Name?," and the frantic fury of "I've Been Refused."

X-Stream Clean-UpNearly 1,500 volunteers cleaned area streams, creeks, drainage ways, rivers, and illegal-dump sites on Saturday, August 19, and removed more than 150,000 pounds of garbage, tires, and other illegally dumped items. Xstream Cleanup, which took place from 8:30 a.m. until noon, targeted 31 sites in both Scott and Rock Island counties. Volunteers removed an estimated 5,200 tires, 2,200 bags of trash, 58 pieces of furniture, 36 appliances, 25 bicycles, and 22 pallets from area waterways. In addition, site coordinators reported finding bags of clothing, a wine rack, shopping carts, automotive parts, hair and beauty supplies, toilets, various electronics, boat carpet, blankets, barge cable, safety cones, recliners, and wire. At one site near Milan, volunteers found nearly everything one would need to build and furnish a home including carpet, appliances, furniture, wood, metal, drywall, siding, and shingles. Volunteers donated more than 4,500 hours of work during the cleanup. Organizers estimate that nearly $100,000 in staff time, equipment, collection, and disposal costs were avoided with the help of volunteers and in-kind donations for the event. Cleanups took place in Bettendorf, Davenport, and LeClaire, Iowa; and East Moline, Milan, Moline, Rock Island, and Taylor Ridge, Illinois. For more information and to view photos from Xstream Cleanup, visit (http://www.xstreamcleanup.org).

 

St. Ambrose has become the first credentialed physical-therapy residency program in Iowa - and one of only 12 orthopedic residency programs in the country. The status was conferred by the American Physical Therapy Association. Offered in collaboration with Rock Valley Physical Therapy, the Orthopedic Physical Therapy Residency Program is a post-professional experience providing employment and clinical mentoring, upper-level academic and continuing-education classes, and teaching opportunities in a defined area of specialty practice. The residency program is the latest addition to the SAU Doctor of Physical Therapy Program and promotes standards of quality and consistency in the teaching and practice of physical therapy. For more information, contact the physical-therapy department at (563) 333-6403 or go to (http://www.sau.edu/pt).

 

Reader issue #596 When the Davenport Museum of Art brought in Lauren Greenfield's Girl Culture exhibit in 2003, it was the institution's boldest exhibit to-date. A venue not known for being confrontational showcased Greenfield's high-gloss photographs with their blunt, distressing messages about the status of girls and women in the world.

This fall, the DMA's descendant, the Figge Art Museum, will be getting edgy again, but in an entirely different way. In addition to the current show of landscape photography (on display through October 8) and an upcoming display of African-American quilts (November 18 through February 11), the Figge will have two exhibits that are likely to alternately unsettle, excite, and confound audiences. And even the landscape and quilt shows break some boundaries.

AlsoTo be blunt about it, there's no way people in the Quad Cities have any reason to know of the Los Angeles-based rock band Also, performing Sunday at the Redstone Room in downtown Davenport.

Unless you listen to L.A.'s KCRW - the West Coast's premier public-radio station - it's highly unlikely you've ever heard of Also beyond promotion for the group's Quad Cities show.

The trio is a young and independent band, meaning they have no name recognition, no label, no touring support, and no airplay outside of their own market. The closest the band has been to Iowa - hell, the Midwest - was "the very nearby, adjacent city of Tempe, Arizona," said singer, guitarist, and lyricist Drew Conrad. When they aren't playing within an eight-hour drive of their home base, they go to Europe, where audiences are more open to ... well, bands they've never heard of.

Now is as good a time as any to remind ourselves of the community issues that still need constant vigilance and nonnegotiable accountability. City Administrator Craig Malin figures prominently in this, as do the city council (both collectively and individually) and department heads.

If a city-related problem exists, there is a general protocol to follow. Contact your alderman so that he or she can delegate it to City Administrator Malin and to the appropriate department head(s). Requests from individual aldermen cannot legitimately be negated, refuted, or denied by the mayor or other aldermen. Each alderman is considered an employer of City Administrator Malin, department heads, and all city staff.

So why did Republican gubernatorial nominee Judy Baar Topinka go with a Chicago casino idea to help fund her education, property-tax, and infrastructure proposals?

Well, a general tax increase had all but been ruled out months ago. Polling and focus-grouping showed high levels of opposition to a tax hike. Plus, Topinka already has enough troubles with her Republican base without doing something like that.

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