Imagine if you will: You're six years old. You've been playing the violin for six months. And you're about to make your professional debut on live television.
For most youths, this would be the recipe for a panic attack. But not for acclaimed violinist Bella Hristova, here as Quad City Arts' latest Visiting Artist. After all, the Bulgarian native had her cat to comfort her.
Sort of.
The
third record from the Quad Cities' Minus Six, Hidden
Deep in the Green, has the
vibe of a musical-theatre soundtrack. If the idea of a pop record
that invokes Broadway makes you recoil in horror, then you're wise
to avoid this. If you're intrigued, you're likely to be carried
away by singer/songwriter Kevin Carton and his band.
Nancy
Schricker, the music teacher at Wilson Elementary in Davenport,
arrived to greet us with six students in tow. Debbie Bond - the
guitar player and bandleader for the the Alabama Blues Project, the
group that the Mississippi Valley Blues Society (MVBS) brought in for
a "Blues in the Schools" residency last November - told them,
"Some of the equipment will be heavy."
I was talking to someone, and she hadn't ever seen an opera," recalls Stacy Eckert, who performs the title role in Opera Quad Cities' new production of Carmen. "And I was trying to explain Carmen, and I said, 'Well, I bet you know more tunes from the show than you think you do.' And she said, 'Aw, no, I don't know any of them.'
There's
a look that passes between brothers Robert and Scott Cerny when I
interview them. It's merely a glance, but in that split second,
they've communicated which of them will answer the question.
When
you open your copy of the River
Cities' Reader to see
what's being offered in the way of live entertainment, you might
come to the conclusion the Quad Cities has little to provide in the
way of indie rock.
Year-end
lists of the best albums of the past 12 months are cruel, because
either you'll go bankrupt buying all these fantastic records or
you'll resent how much great music you're missing because you
can't afford to buy them.
Augie
March, Moo, You Bloody Choir. Charting number-one singles
on the Australian home front, it's shocking that Augie March
achieved close to no notice in the States. Elegant in its simplicity,
the band's brand of rock can be compared to post-alt-country-era
Wilco, but with a definite Aussie influence - think elements of
Midnight Oil, but more literate. Past albums saw Augie March rushing
forth like a speeding train, but this time the songs are built around
acoustic, rather than electric, guitar parts, so they have a more
cautious and quiet path to their destinations. From pop anthems to
grandiose ballads, singer-songwriter Glenn Richards uses lyrics as
instruments strung together to shimmer like violin strings or crash
into one another like cymbals. While Australian critics sing the
band's praises, and fans sing their songs, one can't help but
wonder if we Yanks are simply mooing in the wrong bloody choir.
