20 Dec 2004

The Best Music of 2004

By John James
From "lip-stinking" to iPod envy, this past year was another whirlwind of technology gone wild and taste often misplaced. Bob Dylan went from hawking Victoria's Secret to his new signature wine, Planet Waves, and while perhaps better suited to sponsor a line of rolling papers, the Doobie Brothers followed suit with their own private label, Doobie Red.
14 Dec 2004

This Blanket Continues to Grow

By Jeff Ignatius
Loud drums and a driving guitar kick off the album, and from most bands, this would hardly be remarkable. But coming at the beginning of a record from The Winter Blanket, it’s downright shocking. After all, this is a group whose sound rarely eclipses the musical equivalent of a whisper, following in the delicate, subdued, austere slowcore tradition of Low.
14 Dec 2004

Rock Posters Top List of Year's Best Music Books

By Administrator
'Tis the season to shake off the cold and retreat under the comfort of hot chocolate, lots of blankets, and a good book. An armload of cool new selections are worth snuggling up with, aiming to feed your head and pop-culture addictions.
07 Dec 2004

New Hipster Christmas CDs Restore the Holiday Spirit

By John James
The culture war is rising like my heating bill. Macy's and other Federated department stores have banned "Merry Christmas" from their customer greetings this season, so as not to offend. All references to Christmas are being stripped from public spaces, replaced with candy canes (sugar!), snowmen, and foil-wrapped presents (buy now!).
07 Dec 2004

Guest Conductor Leads Symphony Through Demanding Program

By Abbie Dombrock
With a flick of the wrist and a sweeping downbeat, guest conductor Catherine Comet led the Quad City Symphony Orchestra into the first strains of its concert on Saturday, December 4. The musicians, under the graceful yet commanding baton of Comet, performed Georges Bizet’s Symphony in C and Aaron Copland’s Symphony No.
07 Dec 2004

Willie Nelson Finally Brings His Ageless Act to the Quad Cities

By Jeff Ignatius
He toured minor-league baseball parks with Bob Dylan earlier this year. His latest album puts Tom Waits material next to Toby Keith’s, and includes duets with the popular jazz crooner Norah Jones and the ever-respected alt-country goddess Lucinda Williams.
30 Nov 2004

The Legendary Blue Band Approaches 25 Years

By Jeff Ignatius
Bob Dorr has fronted the Blue Band for 23 years, and he promises that he'll keep it going through a major milestone: a quarter century. "Our immediate goal is to make it to 25 years, and that's less than 18 months away," Dorr said.
30 Nov 2004

Unexpected Artists Get Bluegrass and String Tributes

By John James
• For a number of years now the CMH Records imprint has churned out a bizarre array of tribute CDs under the "A Bluegrass Tribute to" banner, serving up a down-home finger-pickin' twist on artists including Metallica, the Dave Matthews Band, and Cat Stevens.
23 Nov 2004

Holiday Pops Delivers a Varied, Energetic Concert

By Lars Rehnberg
After a mere two rehearsals last weekend, the Quad City Symphony Orchestra (QCSO) treated roughly 7,000 audience members to a smart, polished Holiday Pops concert Saturday at The Mark. Joining the QCSO’s 82 musicians were 109 singers from the Davenport First Presbyterian Church Sanctuary Choir, a 97-voice children’s chorus, 22 members of the Figure Skating Club of the Quad Cities, and jazz quintet The Hot Club of San Francisco – a rather grand total of 315 performers.
23 Nov 2004

Future Appletree Celebrates Two Years with Showcase

By Jeff Ignatius
Anybody expecting a big expansion for the Future Appletree record label is likely to be disappointed. The bands obviously hope to make a big splash, but the label itself is trying to keep things intimate. "It started as a thing among friends, and with the exception of A Is Jump, it's pretty much stayed that way," said Pat Stolley, one of the label's founders and a member of The Marlboro Chorus.

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