13 Dec 2006

The Blue Band Turns Silver: Iowa Outfit Celebrates Anniversary with DVD, CD, and Quad Cities Show

By Karen McFarland

Bob Dorr & the Blue Band They're not quite in the league with The Who or the Stones, but Bob Dorr & the Blue Band are celebrating their silver anniversary this year. And to mark those 25 years, they've released a retrospective two-DVD set of live performances (produced with the help of Iowa Public Television) and a separate live CD of their 25th-anniversary concert recorded in April.

06 Dec 2006

Punch Drunk Love: Local Band Tries to Find an Audience for Its Reggae-Infused Rock

By Brad Vidmar

Rude PunchAt 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.

06 Dec 2006

Aspiring to Universality: The Spiral Band, "The Spiral Band"

By Matthew Dusenberry

The Spiral Band, "The Spiral Band" Imagine if Dave Matthews moved back to South Africa to find inspiration for a new album. After contemplating what really matters in life and taking some elements of the native music styles, including hand-drum percussion and backing vocals that at times sound similar to tribal choirs, that new Dave Matthews album might sound a lot like the debut recording from the Spiral Band.

29 Nov 2006

Living Muddy's Music

By Administrator
Bob Margolin(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. 
29 Nov 2006

Double Your Pleasure: Quad City Symphony Orchestra, December 2 and 3 at Centennial Hall

By Audra Beals

the Quad City Symphony led by David Bellugi At this weekend's Quad City Symphony concerts at Augustana College, David Bellugi will be the guest conductor and the soloist. For much of the concert, he'll actually be playing the recorder as he conducts. And that's just one of the elements of this concert that make it unusual.

22 Nov 2006

The Complete Package: The Parish Festival, "Handshakes & Heartaches"

By Culley Smith

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.

15 Nov 2006

Wise Beyond Her Years: Shannon Curfman, November 18 at the Redstone Room

By Administrator

Shannon Curfman Shannon Curfman is an old soul in a young person's body.

"Buddy and I were ... talking about that actually - Buddy Guy," Curfman said in a phone interview last week. "He was kind of making fun of me. ... He's like, ‘You know what? That's bullshit. ... You're 20 years old and you've already gone through this. It took me until I was almost 70 to realize half this stuff.'"

"This stuff" is the nearly inevitable souring of a major-label musician on the business of selling records. Many performers need decades of being exploited by big corporations before they realize there's a better way. Curfman, who is now 21 and will be performing this Saturday at the Redstone Room, figured it out in her teens.

15 Nov 2006

North Scott Continues Tradition of Great Jazz

By Jimmie Jones

Antonio HartI 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?"

31 Oct 2006

Beethoven's Work Continues to Grow for Pianist: Quad City Symphony Orchestra, November 4 and 5

By Administrator

Sergio Tiempo Pianist Sergio Tiempo and the Quad City Symphony Orchestra will perform Beethoven's third piano concerto as Beethoven never could - on a modern piano. But when the composer wrote the piece in 1800, that's certainly how he intended it to be played.

His Mozart-era piano couldn't sustain the heavy style of playing Beethoven envisioned; it actually snapped the strings.

"In a way, it is the first Romantic concerto which only found its true vehicle through later instruments," Tiempo said in an e-mail interview from Belgium.

The 34-year-old pianist has played the concerto for years, but he has yet to tire of the work. "It is one of those pieces that keeps growing inside of you throughout your life," Tiempo said.

24 Oct 2006

Sunny Days for Winter: The Winter Blanket, "Golden Sun"

By Culley Smith

The Winter Blanket The Winter Blanket has undergone dramatic changes in its six-year career, and the evidence is Golden Sun, a transitional EP that could prove as important to the band's direction as "Good Vibrations" was to the Beach Boys.

When band members Doug Miller and Stephanie Davila migrated from the Quad Cities to Minneapolis in 2002, one would think the move to a colder climate (for a band named The Winter Blanket) would have resulted in starker, more somber music. Golden Sun, as evidenced by the title, is anything but.

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