Over the past few years, there have been times when the Quad City Symphony Orchestra (QCSO) has dazzled the audience and received well-deserved praise and ovation. The conductor and orchestra, working so closely, produce a fluid, uncompromised musical revelation.
Although this is the third year for the Quad City Symphony Orchestra (QCSO) series of chamber-music concerts, I had never been to the Outing Club performance. When I was finally able to attend the concert this year, I was surprised at what I found.
Nnenna Freelon's passion for singing in public was ignited at the age of seven, when she faced an audience alone for the first time. She said that she was petrified, but after finishing singing "Amazing Grace" and seeing the smiles and hearing the clapping and "Amen"s, she wanted more.
The Dave Holland Quintet might be the finest jazz group ever to perform in the Quad Cities. In the latest Downbeat readers' poll (published in the December 2002 issue), Dave Holland took first place in four categories: best jazz artist, best jazz album (Not for Nothin'), best acoustic jazz group, and best acoustic bass player.
River Cities' Reader: I'm surprised you're at home. You have a reputation for going on the road and staying there. Dave Holland: I was in England this weekend performing a bass concerto composed by a very fine British composer.
The story of Mary Cutrufello is not exactly a rarity in the music business. It's the tale of an artist who draws a lot of attention from major labels, comes this close to achieving her dream of superstardom, and then watches in disbelief as the bottom falls out.
Local hard-rock quartet Circle 7 has been testing itself over the past year. The band has been playing to small-town crowds unfamiliar with its sound and its work, played an acoustic set for the first time (at the Blackthorn Pub on New Year's Eve), and has spent time in the well-regarded Catamount studio in Cedar Falls, Iowa, recording a new record.
You know the big stories of 2002: Eminem is the King of Most Media. The White Stripes, The Strokes, The Vines, and The Hives are cool (or at least music magazines think so). Springsteen can still matter (or at least newsmagazines think so).
The big attraction at Saturday's show at RIBCO will be the Grammy-winning acid-jazz outfit Liquid Soul, but the opening act is a fresh breeze that should appeal to fans of both jazz and hip hop. The J.
What a season under the cult of celebrity! Moby takes a beating, Lisa Marie Presley is single again, David Lee Roth is suing Van Halen, and Kid Rock is firing guns with Carson Daly on TV. Any assorted boyhood home of Eminem sets off a multi-million-dollar bidding war on eBay's real-estate site! Future Slim Shady Gracelands are popping up all over gritty Michigan hamlets.

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