09 Nov 2010

What's Happenin': Tuesday, November 9, through Wednesday, November 24

By Mike Schulz

Maggie BrownMusic

Third Sunday Jazz featuring Maggie Brown

The Redstone Room

Sunday, November 21

 

"There is a lot of great music out here," says performer Maggie Brown in a recent Chicago Defender interview. "It is not popularized. It's not going to come to you on the radio, or on a CD. You have to look for it."

Well, folks, you can stop looking; great music can be found at Davenport's Redstone Room on November 21. Appearing as the latest guest in Polyrhythms' monthly Third Sunday Jazz Series, the Chicago-based Maggie Brown will present a 3 p.m. jazz workshop and a 6 p.m. concert of bound-to-be-thrilling solos, underscoring why the Defender describes her as "a phenomenal artist who has loads of individual style."

07 Nov 2010

Brains, Heart, Courage, and the Wizards of Odd: "Megamind," "Waiting for 'Superman,'" "For Colored Girls," and "Due Date"

By Mike Schulz

MegamindMEGAMIND

Since Universal Pictures' fizzy, funny animated hit Despicable Me was released a mere four months ago, it's hardly possible that DreamWorks' new Megamind could be considered an intentional ripoff, despite a plot that also finds an über-villain gradually morphing into an über-hero. And despite the film's haughty, antagonistic protagonist performing his evil deeds alongside a goofy, tag-along minion. And despite this blobby little homunculus being named Minion. (Seriously, are there no fresh ideas in Hollywood?)

04 Nov 2010

"Whoa. What Is This?!": Todd Green Plays Dozens of Unusual Musical Instruments as Quad City Arts' Latest Visiting Artist

By Mike Schulz

Todd GreenTodd Green, the latest guest in Quad City Arts' Visiting Artist series, began his professional career as a guitarist. Yet the musician knows that whenever he performs at one of his many school engagements, the guitar is perhaps the last instrument the kids will be interested in.

"I have a berimbau," says Green during a recent phone interview, "which is a very unusual, bow-and-arrow-looking thing that you play percussion on. They really like that. And then, you know, there's silly stuff. Like, I have animal toenails, I call them. It's actually goat hooves that are all hooked together and make a percussion sound.

"Usually it's the weirdest ones, you know?" says Green with a laugh. "Especially with the really young kids. You can read their faces - their mouths are open and their eyes are all big - and you can just see them going, 'Whoa. What is this?!'"

31 Oct 2010

Shut Your Stinkin' Traps!: "Saw 3D" and "Conviction"

By Mike Schulz

Naomi Snieckus in Saw 3DSAW 3D

In the first 10 minutes of Saw 3D, a grim-faced cop enters an interrogation room and addresses his visitor with a curt "Let's get this over with." I couldn't agree more!

26 Oct 2010

What's Happenin': Tuesday, October 26, through Wednesday, November 10

By Mike Schulz

Tomas KubinekMusic

Tomáš Kubínek & Orchestra Iowa: Professor Kubínek Meets the Symphony

Iowa City West High School

Friday, November 5, 7:30 p.m.

 

Czech-born entertainer Tomáš Kubínek, who has displayed his ingratiating talents everywhere from Tokyo's Asahi Hall to Broadway's New Victory Theatre, is a multi-hyphenate if ever there was one: a musician-comedian-magician-director-vaudevillian-inventor-clown-award-winning-housefly-catcher. (Check out his Web site at Kubinek.com. I am so not kidding about that last one.)

24 Oct 2010

Demonizing: "Paranormal Activity 2"

By Mike Schulz

Paranormal Activity 2PARANORMAL ACTIVITY 2

Paranormal Activity 2, which serves as both sequel and prequel to last October's low-rent horror smash, employs the same scare tactic that made its predecessor such a shivery good time: An unbroken, stationary, nighttime shot that we stare at for long seconds while waiting - and waiting - for an unseen demon to subtly (or not-so-subtly) announce its presence. The difference, though, is that instead of a nocturnal view of a young couple's master bedroom, director Tod Williams' follow-up gives us six camera setups of its type, each positioned in a different part of a sprawling California dwelling. You'd think this would result in six times the spooky fun, but sadly, Paranormal Activity 2 is only about one-sixth as scary as the original, and even that might be a generous estimate.

24 Oct 2010

Dead and Not-So-Gone: "Hereafter"

By Mike Schulz

Cecile de France and Matt Damon in HereafterHEREAFTER

It's been a couple of days since I've seen it, and I still find myself unable to explain to friends why I enjoyed Clint Eastwood's Hereafter as much as I did. I wonder if that has anything to do with the movie being an almost complete mess.

20 Oct 2010

Men Behaving Badly: "Jackass 3D" and "RED"

By Mike Schulz

Johnny Knoxville in Jackass 3DJACKASS 3D

Well, it finally happened. Having frequently wept with laughter during MTV's Jackass series, 2002's Jackass: The Movie, and 2006's Jackass Number Two, Johnny Knoxville and his incorrigible extreme-stunt companions, in director Jeff Tremaine's Jackass 3D, got me crying for an altogether different reason.

12 Oct 2010

What's Happenin': Tuesday, October 12, through Monday, October 25

By Mike Schulz

Bill Birdsong MillerMusic

Bill Birdsong Miller

Galvin Fine Art Center

Friday, October 22, 7:30 p.m.

 

If you're familiar with our calendars of events at RCReader.com, you know that event listings are separated into a number of different categories, among them "Music," "Lectures," "Visual Arts," "Movies," and "Kids' Stuff." Bill Birdsong Miller might be the only visiting artist I've run across whose credits make him a good fit for all of them.

10 Oct 2010

Bringing Up the Rearing: "Life as We Know It," "It's Kind of a Funny Story," "My Soul to Take," and "Secretariat"

By Mike Schulz

Katherine Heigl, Josh Duhamel, and Alexis, Brooke, or Brynn Clagett in Life as We Know ItLIFE AS WE KNOW IT

For whatever else it is, the romantic comedy Life as We Know It is certainly the year's most inaptly titled movie, since it doesn't present a version of life as anyone would know it.

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