MidCoast Fine Arts re-invented its annual pastel competition this year. The high-school-driven event was moved to the Bettendorf Family Museum campus and expanded beyond a visual-arts competition to a "trade show" of sorts that showcased our area's high-school talent in digital media, film, and music.
In her fifth month as director of the River Music Experience, Connie Gibbons is working against time. There was the time she's missed - more than a year of planning and community discussion - and the time still ahead, 12 months to the museum's anticipated opening in the renovated Redstone building on Second Street between Main and Brady in downtown Davenport.
Musically, we Quad Citians have a lot to be thankful for. Never mind the bullocks of national and statewide headline-making surveys, measuring our "cool" factor; the Quad Cities has it going on! Consider the number of opportunities this past weekend for music-related recreation.
Minimalism in rock music is a big risk. When an artist chooses to keep it simple – with pared- down instrumentation, lyrics, and vocals, and songs that move with the energy of a funeral procession – only the best material survives scrutiny, because there’s nothing to fall back on.
The Red Hot Chili Peppers and Queens of the Stone Age supplied the Quad Cities with some heartfelt rock, a little funk, a psychedelic harmony, and just a touch of the blues at their May 9 show – things that have been missing from The Mark in recent months.
You won't notice a lot of new features at this year's Hornucopia, because - as the first festival this year in The District of Rock Island - it carried with it some uncertainty. Namely, questions about how far along reconstruction of the Great River Plaza was going to be.
This year's Quad Cities Jazz Festival at first blush looks less impressive than previous incarnations. But appearances can be deceiving. You won't find much contemporary jazz this year, yet fans of the classic styles won't be disappointed.
As I was walking past our managing editor’s desk, the first thing I noticed about Quad Cities veteran players Driver of the Year’s latest EP, Some Girls Would Say … , was the artwork. It’s a plain black cover with a stylized green illustration of a nude woman lying with her head resting on the stomach of another nude woman.
Most artistically successful groups evolve toward obscurity - think most recently of Radiohead and Wilco - crafting an idiosyncratic vision that wins admirers and praise but threatens to alienate the bands' core audiences.
The local outfit The Marlboro Chorus has an easygoing, ambling style that’s belied by a keen attention to production and arrangement. What you’re left with on the group’s new album, “Good Luck” , is the lo-fi charm of a singer-songwriter such as Elliot Smith combined with playful but meticulous flourishes that remind me of The Flaming Lips.

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