At first glance, you wouldn't guess that the guys in Rude Punch are ambassadors for reggae rock in the Quad Cities. Often sporting T-shirts, jeans, and baseball caps, the three band members look like typical white, early-20s college kids.

The trio - singer/guitarist Brady Jager, bassist Robb Laake, and drummer Adam Tucker - has been working this fall on its debut album and is gearing up for shows in Iowa City and in the Quad Cities over the next two months. And while the young band is at stylistic odds with most of its peers in this area, it is hell-bent on bringing its brand of Jamaican-flavored jingles to the masses.

(Editor's note: Although the December 2 Adler Theatre "Legends of the Blues" concert was canceled, the River Cities' Reader thought readers - particularly blues enthusiasts - would appreciate this interview with Bob Margolin of the Muddy Waters Reunion Band.)

"For me, ‘the crossroads' is in Boston, not Mississippi."

That's how guitarist Bob Margolin explained his luck at finding himself playing beside a true musical giant, the father of deep "old school" blues - Muddy Waters - from 1973 until 1980. 

While places such as MySpace offer musicians an affordable alternative to high-risk record deals and still provide undeniably lucrative exposure, the trend hasn't been without costs. The number of artists to choose from is overwhelming, making it difficult to tell one from the other.

With what seems like a thousand new bands coming out every week, it all does really start to sound the same after a while. So for a band to make its mark in today's market, it needs to work even harder at distinguishing itself from the crowd.

I know of no other town or high school in the Quad Cities area - or of any place in the world - that is doing the great things the citizens of Eldridge and the North Scott High School are doing in terms of educating their children and adults on America's original art form: jazz music.

East Moline-born and -bred Bill Bell - known as "The Jazz Professor" for his three decades of educational efforts in the San Francisco area - conducted a workshop at North Scott High School during a Mississippi Valley Blues Society residency several years ago, and stated that he had never seen a music department with comparable equipment and supplies at any educational institution he had been involved with. He asked: "Where and how do they get all that money?"