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.
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.
(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.)
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.
Shannon
Curfman is an old soul in a young person's body.
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.
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.
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.
On the list of things that are tough to get youths on board with - right up there with meeting curfew and putting down their cell phones - attending the ballet has to rank near the top. Consequently, Ballet Quad Cities Executive Director Joedy Cook has, for years, been bringing the ballet to them.
