10 Feb 2004

New Disc Melds Old and New Hip-Hop

By John James
• Topaz Records has just released a salute to yesterday's hip-hop artistry with the Old School New Style tribute compilation, breathing fresh life into a baker's dozen of classics such as A Tribe Called Quest's "Left My Wallet in El Segundo" and Spoonie Gee's "Love Rap.
03 Feb 2004

Bluegrass Pioneer Gets His DVD Due

By John James
• I've always said that if I make it to the pearly gates, I'd like to hear Jimmy Martin's voice or the hillbilly boogie of the Delmore Brothers in the heavenly house band. One of founding pioneers of bluegrass is graced with a fascinating DVD documentary this week from Straight Six Films.
27 Jan 2004

Funk Brothers Honored with Grammy, Disc

By John James
• Next week the foundational powerhouse of Motown, known coolly as The Funk Brothers, will be honored with a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award and an edition in the label's 20th Century Masters/Millennium Collection CD series.
20 Jan 2004

Artist Offers Music School in a Book

By John James
Author, musician, and filmmaker Michael Dean has just released the follow-up to his excellent $30 Film School guide with a new 518-page tome sharing lessons from his hard-knock years touring with his band Bomb and the 12 records he's created.
13 Jan 2004

City Opera Company Sparkles with "The Magic Flute"

By Jodie Shagrin Kavensky
The fat lady didn't sing, so I guess the opera isn't over. Instead, it's just beginning, with City Opera Company of the Quad Cities' first self-produced opera, Mozart's The Magic Flute. And if you think opera is stuffy, the production the organization staged this past weekend at the Galvin Fine Arts Center would have proved you wrong.
13 Jan 2004

Take This Advice for Soulful Grooves

By John Roman
• Big funk and big love are back on the map with the soulful vibes of Big Advice and its appropriately titled album Love Shines. Comprised of Juan Nelson, bassist of Ben Harper's Innocent Criminals, and vocalist Ahaguna Sun of Sunbear, Big Advice is a smooth house party and romantic after-hours gem wearing its heart on its sleeve for classic soul grooves.
06 Jan 2004

Metal and History Mix on New Release

By John James
• Hey! You've got history in my heavy metal! No, you've got heavy metal in my history! Former Judas Priest vocalist Tim Owens is now a part of Iced Earth, with a new album due this Tuesday that focuses on historical people, places, and events such as Attila the Hun, the Red Baron, Waterloo, Gettysburg, and Valley Forge.
23 Dec 2003

Interesting Projects Slated for 2004

By John James
• The Neverland Ranch burns like a scene out of Equus, and major record labels are diving for a warm seat in a game of musical chairs. Even Wal-Mart is taking a stab at the MP3 game as iPod devices, cell phones, and PDAs morph into the next killer application.
16 Dec 2003

The Art of a Limited Palette

By Tom Swanson
The Winter Blanket is one of those bands that the more you listen to them, the more you want to know. My first experience with the group, which originally hailed from the Quad Cities but is now based in Minneapolis, came when I stumbled across its sophomore effort, Actors & Actresses (see "Building a Better Sedative," River Cities' Reader Issue 358, January 23-29, 2002).
16 Dec 2003

Exploring the Power of The Messiah

By Abbie Dombrock
Two hundred sixty years after its composer set the words to music, The Messiah still draws hundreds of spectators to enjoy the tradition in the Quad Cities. What makes The Messiah different from hundreds of other masterpieces created through the years? Perhaps its history can give us a clue to why crowds flock to see performances.

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