Exhibit
The 33rd Annual Rock Island Fine Arts Exhibition
Augustana College Art Museum
Saturday, March 28, through Sunday, April 26
The 51 artworks included in the 33rd Annual Rock Island Fine Arts Exhibition showcase the combined talents of 43 regional artists, 18 of whom reside in the Quad Cities: Leslie Bell, Emily Christenson, Trish DeHeer, William Hannan, Mimzi Haut, Raphael Iaccarino, Katie Kiley, Kelly McGee, Tim Miller, Erik Ohrn, George Olson, Kristin Quinn, Jerry Sergeant, Devandra Shrikhande, Steve Sinner, Dave Sorensen, Douglass Wilming, and Dawn Wohlford-Metallo.
I could devote space here to the extensive list of artistic media on display, or the $4,000 in cash prizes to be handed out during April 3's awards presentation, or the fact that more information on the exhibit is available at http://www.augustana.edu/x2788.xml. But as we all know, a picture is worth a thousand words, so the artwork above constitutes a thousand courtesy of Iaccarino's Road to Zion.
Here's 4,000 more words:
Want 51,000 words total? Check out the Rock Island Fine Art Exhibition, running March 28 to April 26 at the Augustana College Art Museum.
Event
African Arts Festival
Augustana College
Wednesday, March 18, through Saturday, March 21
Famed geographer Dr. George Kimble was quoted as saying, "The darkest thing about Africa has always been our ignorance of it." With all due respect to the good doctor, who's up for making Kimble eat those words?
From March 18 through 21, Augustana College hosts the African Arts Festival, a four-day celebration and exploration of the continent's rich histories in literature, film, visual arts, and music, with ignorance-quashing events scheduled all throughout the campus.
Augustana's Wallenberg Hall, on Thursday, houses a 4:30 p.m. African poetry reading with associate professor John Tawiah-Boateng, and later that evening, the school's Evald Hall hosts an 8 p.m. screening of the coming-of-age drama The Wooden Camera, with a post-film discussion led by Assistant Professor Todd Cleveland.
The college's Art Museum, on Friday, displays a 6:30 p.m. exhibit of African art objects from the Kathy Bulucos Memorial Collection, followed by Rowen Schussheim-Anderson giving a presentation on Adinkra textile printing, and Althea Saunders offering examples of wearable African textiles.
And Augie's Centennial Hall hosts two Africa-themed events: Saturday's 8 p.m. performance by Wabash College's Wabidian World Music Ensemble (featuring choral selections sung by the Augustana College Choir), and Wednesday's 8:30 p.m. concert with historian and musician Morikeba Kouyate (pictured), who performs on the traditional stringed instrument the kora, and who is a noted Senegalese griot. According to Dictionary.com, a griot's job is "to keep an oral history of the tribe or village and to entertain with stories, poems, songs, and dances." Which I guess makes me the griot of the What's Happenin' pages. Except for the dances. And the songs. And the poetry.
For more information on Augustana College's African Arts Festival, contact John Pfautz at (309)794-7344, or visit http://www.augustana.edu/x12228.xml.
Music
The Hilliard Ensemble
Galvin Fine Arts Center, St. Ambrose University
Tuesday, March 31, 7:30 p.m.
Composed of tenors Rogers Covey-Crump and Steven Harrold, countertenor David James, and baritone Gordon Jones, the British vocal group The Hilliard Ensemble performs at St. Ambrose University's Galvin Fine Arts Center on March 31, and I'd describe the group as "accomplished" if it wouldn't be such a ridiculous understatement.
World-renowned specialists in medieval and Renaissance repertoires, yet equally adept at modern pieces written specifically for the singers, the ensemble performs more than 100 concerts annually, and recent engagements have taken them to Lincoln Center, the Getty Museum, Harvard University, and Boston's esteemed Tanglewood Music Festival.
The Hilliard Ensemble's tours have found the group's soaring vocals and stirring harmonies adored in Europe, Japan, Canada, and throughout the United States. Their extensive discography includes the 1993 CD Officium - one of the biggest-selling releases in the history of the ECM label - and 2005's Machaut, nominated for a Grammy Award as Best Chamber Music Recording.
Meanwhile, the singers' reviews have found the New York Times extolling their sound as "beautifully blended and subtly shaped," the Arizona Republic raving, "The Hilliard Ensemble does ancient music better than just about anyone," and famed composer Stephen Hartke calling the men "the Rolls-Royce of vocal ensembles."
In other words, think barbershop quartet, but in a really, really, really classy barbershop.
More information on the group is available at HilliardEnsemble.demon.co.uk, and tickets to Tuesday's concert are available by calling the Galvin Fine Arts Center box office at (563)333-6251, or visiting SAU.edu/galvin.
Theatre
Altar Boyz
First Presbyterian Church of Davenport
Saturday, March 21, and Sunday, March 22
This weekend, exuberant hymns of praise will be heard at Davenport's First Presbyterian Church. You're probably not surprised.
One of the hymns features the following lyrics: "Jesus called me on my cell phone / No roaming charges were incurred / He told me that I should go out in the world / And spread his glorious word." Surprised now?
A special offering in the church's 2008-9 Performing Arts Series, the musical-comedy smash Altar Boyz - winner of the Outer Critics Circle Award for Best Off-Broadway Musical - will be presented at 7:30 p.m. on March 21 and 4 p.m. on March 22. Still running in New York after more than four years, this hilarious, witty, yet (non-secularly) sincere boy-band parody has been called "an energetic crowd-pleaser" by Variety magazine and "a devout service of rousing silliness" by Newsday, and will be brought to life by a gifted quintet drawn from the church's music ministry: Adam Page, Tom Hales, Nolan Peterson, Chris Page, and Tom Taylor, who play, respectively, the peppy and parochial Abraham, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and Juan.
The boyz will share with us their hopes, dreams, and divine harmonies, but for a hint into their souls, try matching the characters' names with their favorite saints, as revealed at AltarBoyz.com:
1) Matthew
2) Mark
3) Luke
4) Juan
5) Abraham
A) St. Jerome the Awesome - Patron Saint of Keepin' It Real
B) St. Lily of Colgate - Patron Saint of Winning Smiles and Piercing Eyes
C) St. Ricardo de Martin - Patron Saint of Orphans Left on Church Steps
D) St. Bernard of the Swiss Alps - Patron Saint of Avalanche Rescues
E) St. Vidal of L'Oreal - Patron Saint of Flexible-Hold Hair Gel
Tickets are $12 for adults and $8 for students, and more Altar Boyz information is available by contacting the church (located at 1702 Iowa Street) at (563)326-1691.
Answers: 1 - B, 2 - E, 3 - A, 4 - C, 5 - trick question ... Abraham is Jewish and doesn't have a favorite saint. He lists his favorite color, though, as "Red. Like the sea."
Theatre
The Producers
Prospect Park Auditorium
Friday, March 27, through Sunday, April 5
"Bloom!!!"
"Uh ... yes, Mr. Bialystock?"
"I've got it! I've got the guaranteed, sure-fire, can't-miss moneymaker we've been searching for! I've got it!!!"
"Oh, um, that's wonderful, Mr. Bialystock. What's it called?"
"The Schmoducers!!!"
"Uh ... The Schmoducers?"
"Why're you making that face, Bloom?"
"Well ... uh ... it sounds an awful lot like that Mel Brooks musical The Producers. You know, the one that Quad City Music Guild is producing March 27 through April 5."
"Nonsense! This one'll have big production numbers and splashy sets and incredible songs ... and jokes! Jokes like you've never heard!"
"Um ... well, The Producers has all that. It even won 12 Tony Awards, the most ever won by a Broadway musical."
"Blah blah blah. We'll line up a great cast, and it'll have everything - greedy show-biz backers and gorgeous dancing girls and weirdo 'creative' types and a show-stopper called Springtime for Hit- ."
"Yeah, Mr. Bialystock, that's all in The Producers. And Music Guild has a great cast. There's Bruce Carmen, Nathan Bates, Erika Brown-Thomas, J. Adam Lounsberry, Mark McGinn, and Mike Millar, and Kevin Pieper is directing, and ... ."
"Fine, Mr. Smart Guy. If you're so bright, why don't you come up with a better musical-comedy idea?!"
"Oh, well, I dunno ... um ... Shmoung Shmankenshtein, maybe?"
"I like the way you think, Bloom."
For more information on Quad City Music Guild's The Producers, call (309)762-6610 or visit QCMusicGuild.com.
What Else Is Happenin'...?
MUSIC
Wednesday, March 18 - The Eagles. The legendary Rock & Roll Hall of Famers in concert. i wireless Center (1201 River Drive, Moline). 8 p.m. $58-$185. For tickets and information, call (309)764-2000 or visit iwirelessCenter.com.
Tuesday, March 24 - Rain: A Tribute to the Beatles. A Broadway at the Adler presentation, following the Fab Four from Ed Sullivan through Abbey Road. Adler Theatre (136 East Third Street, Davenport). 7:30 p.m. $27.50-$47.50. For tickets, call (800)745-3000 or visit AdlerTheatre.com.
Saturday, March 28 - Bob Dorr & the Blue Band. Blues and soul band in a concert fundraiser for the Mississippi Valley Blues Festival. The Redstone Room (129 Main Street, Davenport). 8:30 p.m. $10. For information and tickets, call (563)326-1333 or visit RedstoneRoom.com.
THEATRE
Saturday, March 21 - Hard to Believe. Staged reading of a new musical by Jonathan Turner, based on the Book of Job. With Wendy Czekalski, Dave Arnold, Jenny Winn, Nicholas Nolte, Nicole Freitag, Jim Pearce, Randi Turner, Greg Bouljon, Steph Perry, Kris Preston, and Tim Stoller. Zion Lutheran Church (1216 West Eighth Street, Davenport). 2 p.m. Suggested donation $5. For information, call (309)757-4992.
Wednesday, March 25, through Saturday, June 6 - Church Basement Ladies. Musical comedy set in the kitchen of a Lutheran church. With Tom Walljasper, Nicole Savitt, Emily Bodkin, Molly Laurel, and Regina Webster. Circa '21 Dinner Playhouse (1828 Third Avenue, Rock Island). Wednesdays, Fridays, and Saturdays 6 p.m. dinner, 7:45 p.m. show; Sundays 4 p.m. dinner, 5:45 p.m. show; Wednesdays matinée 11:45 a.m. plated lunch, 1:30 p.m. show. $44.28-$46.28. For tickets and information, call (309)796-7733 or visit Circa21.com.
Thursday, March 26, through Sunday, April 5 - Cowbird. Julie Marie Myatt's dramatic comedy on motherhood, produced by New Ground Theatre. With Patti Flaherty. Village Theatre (2113 East 11th Street, Davenport). Fridays and Saturdays 7:30 p.m., Thursdays and Sundays 2 p.m. $12-$15. For information and tickets, call (563)326-7529 or visit NewGroundTheatre.org.
Thursday, March 26, through Saturday, April 4 - La Llorona. Kathleen Anderson-Culebro's modern re-telling of the conquest of Mexico. With Steve Quartell, Josh Kahn, Anastasiya Bauswell, Tracy Pelzer-Timm, and Annie Shortridge. Harrison Hilltop Theatre (1601 Harrison Street, Davenport). Thursdays through Saturdays 7:30 p.m. $15. For tickets and information, call (309)235-1654 or visit HarrisonHilltop.com.
Friday, March 27, through Saturday, April 4 - Who Am I This Time? Kurt Vonnegut Jr.'s comic fantasy about the greatest, shiest actor in North Crawford, California. Scott Community College Student Life Center, through Door 5 (500 Belmont Road, Bettendorf). Fridays through Saturdays 7 p.m. $5. For information, e-mail sflanigin@eicc.edu.
DANCE
Thursday, March 19 - Peter & the Wolf and Other Dances. Sergei Prokofiev's classic, performed by Ballet Quad Cities. Adler Theatre (136 East Third Street, Davenport). 10 a.m. For tickets and information, call (309)786-3779 or visit BalletQuadCities.com.
EXHIBIT
Tuesday, March 24, through Friday, April 24: Private Musings. Multimedia drawings, sketchbooks, handmade stamps, and a self-portrait by artist Michael Roberts. St. Ambrose University's Catich Gallery (Galvin Fine Arts Center, corner of West High and North Gaines streets, Davenport). Tuesdays through Fridays, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Free. For information, call (563)333-6444 or visit http://web.sau.edu/catich.
LITERATURE
Saturday, March 21 - The Pen-in-Hand Mini-Conference. Writing workshops on nonfiction, blogging, getting published, and more, led by Sarah Gardner, Leslie Klipsch, Leslie Langtry, Sean Leary, Mike McCarty, Mark McLaughlin, and Roald Tweet. Midwest Writing Center (Bucktown Center for the Arts, 225 East Second Street, Davenport). 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. $25/workshop, $75/four workshops. For information, call (563)324-1410 or visit MidwestWritingCenter.org.
LECTURE:
Saturday, March 21 - Vaccine Awareness. Speakers include researcher Marry Tocco, Defeat Autism Now! practitioner Dr. Ashly Ochsner, and Desiré Rinehart, mother of a vaccine-injured child. Radisson Quad City Plaza (111 East Second Street, Davenport). 5:30 p.m. $10. For tickets and information, call (563)505-8369 or e-mail docjackie@healthfromwithin.net.
