Viva Quad Cities!
Bass Street Landing
Friday, September 5 and Saturday, September 6
So, didja see the cover? It's our 700th issue, friends! And to commemorate the occasion, we thought we'd throw a little 700th-issue fiesta to thank you all for your loyal readership. And we're calling it ... Viva Quad Cities!
The event is going to be so huge that we've decided to let it take place over two consecutive days (September 5 and 6) in an appropriately expansive outdoor locale (Moline's Bass Street Landing), and we even thought we'd go with a theme - the absolute finest in Latino music and dancing!
Among the special guests scheduled to play our party weekend are the musicians of Los Mocambos, Mariachi Jalisco, Corazon Boliviano, and El Banda Aires de Guanajuato, and dance will be well-represented through the gifted artists of Quad City Ballet Folklorico (pictured), and area experts at Brazilian, gypsy, and zumba movements.
But that's not all! There'll also be Latino food, craft vendors, children's activities, educational programming, and on Saturday, even a 5K road race! It's all just our little way of saying "thank you" for allowing us to flourish for 700 issues!
Oh ... and if you happen to see any literature telling you that Viva Quad Cities! is actually being presented by the City of Moline, and that the weekend's sponsors actually include Alcoa, H.A.B.L.O. (Hispanics Actively Building Levels of Opportunity), and even a local organization called Viva Quad Cities! Inc., you can just ... you know ... ignore that. They're probably just typos.
It's totally our idea.
Totally.
Um ... .
¡Viva Quad Cities!
For more information and a festival schedule, visit VivaQuadCities.com.
Hauntings
The Green Room
Friday, September 5 and Saturday, September 6
The Science of Ghost Hunting
Putnam Museum
Friday, September 5 through Sunday, January 11
"Oh! You startled me!
"Hello, readers! My name is Tim. I'm the ghost in the accompanying photograph, and I wanted to tell you about a pair of spectrally themed events taking place in the Quad Cities this weekend. I was planning to freak you out by whispering the events' details in your ear, but now that I've been spotted, it looks like a public forum will have to do!
"On September 5 and 6, Rock Island's Green Room theatre will present staged readings of Hauntings, a new play by Quad Cities native Toni Wilson. Concerning the complicated relationships between three generations of strong yet emotionally shattered women, this debuting work will be enacted by such familiar area performers as Susan McPeters, Peggy Freeman, Maggie Woolley, Sheri Hess, James Bleecker, and Lou and Donna Hare, and both Green Room evenings will be followed by discussions with the playwright, cast members, and director Tyson Danner.
"And also on September 5, the Putnam Museum unveils its newest traveling exhibit, The Science of Ghost Hunting. In this interactive experience, you and your family can learn about Harry Houdini's role in debunking séances during the early 1900s, discover the tricks mediums use to fool clients, and explore the history of ghost hunting through hands-on activities that involve electromagnetic frequencies, infrared thermometers, and all the tools of the ghost-hunting trade. You'll even be able to hear the Electric Voice Phenomena - called EVPs - that were recently recorded at the Putnam by paranormal investigators.
"While you're listening to those EVPs, though, I beg you not to judge us. We're usually really quiet around the museum, but it was Doug's birthday the night they were recording, and we threw a little thing for him, and we got a little louder than usual, and ... .
"Anyway. More on the Green Room's presentation of Hauntings is available by visiting TheGreenRoomTheatre.com, and more on The Science of Ghost Hunting - including information on September 5's "Be a Ghost Hunter" overnight challenge - can be found at Putnam.org. I thank you for your time, and wish you Happy Haunting!"
Riverfront Pops
Modern Woodmen Park
Saturday, September 6, 6:30 p.m.
Granted, your view of the Mississippi may be slightly different at this year's Riverfront Pops. But a riverfront setting you will still have, as the Quad City Symphony Orchestra moves its 26th-annual fall concert from LeClaire Park to neighboring Modern Woodmen Park for an evening devoted to the legendary accomplishments of composer John Williams (pictured). With Mark Russell Smith making his debut as the orchestra's new music director/conductor, this year's Riverfront Pops will feature the musicians lending their talents to some of the most beautiful, memorable film scores of the past 40 years, many of which earned Williams Academy Award recognition.
Ah ... but which ones? Of the following film titles, which five did Williams receive the Oscar for; which five was he nominated for but didn't win; and which one was he not nominated for at all?
1) Close Encounters of the Third Kind
2) E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial
3) Fiddler of the Roof
4) Harry Potter & the Sorcerer's Stone
5) Home Alone
6) Jaws
7) Raiders of the Lost Ark
8) Saving Private Ryan
9) Schindler's List
10) Star Wars
11) Superman the Movie
A) Won the Oscar
B) Nominated for the Oscar
C) Neither won nor was nominated for the Oscar
For more information on this year's Riverfront Pops, visit the Quad City Symphony Orchestra Web site at QCSymphony.com.
Answers: A) 2, 3, 6, 9, 10. B) 1, 4, 7, 8, 11. C) 5. It just goes to show that even a composer as gifted as John Williams occasionally gets slighted, and ... oh, wait ... I'm re-reading my notes here ... . Whoa. My bad. It turns out that Williams did get nominated for Home Alone. I apologize for the ... . Oh come on! It's easy to get confused - the guy's been nominated 45 times, for Pete's sake!
The Second City National Touring Company
Centennial Hall
Saturday, September 6, 8 p.m.
On September 6, Augustana College's Centennial Hall will play host to an evening of comedy with The Second City National Touring Company (the training ground for Steve Carell, Tina Fey, Stephen Colbert, Chris Farley, and other notables), whose members will lend their improvisational talents to a two-act performance boasting a series of topical, cutting-edge sketches involving what you can bet will be a series of wildly unpredictable changes in costume, dialect, and manner, you'll probably get a good idea of what to expect if you visit the group's Web site at SCTourCo.com, where you can enjoy the performers' comedic musings in such blogs as "Green Room Games," "Five Sweaty Jocks," and "Sometimes Haiku," and where you'll learn lots of trivia about the ensemble through their biographies, which feature such informational nuggets as Mary Sohn admitting that she "hopes to one day own a large-ish, curly terrier named Fannie," and Steven Yeun revealing that he "enjoys succinct sentences mixed with run-ons."
Hey! Me, too!
Tickets to the Second City National Touring Company's 8 p.m. performance are $8, and can be reserved by calling (309) 794-7306.
