When the original pipe organ at St. Mark Evangelical Lutheran Church in Davenport was removed in 1969 and replaced with an electronic organ, the shift was meant to be temporary.

But the temporary has a way of taking hold, and the “interim” instrument lasted until 2003.

Now, as the culmination of a sanctuary renovation and a component of the church’s strategic-planning process, the congregation has a new pipe organ. The organ has been used in services since Palm Sunday and will be featured in a concert by Michael Burkhardt on Sunday, June 4.

 

The story of the “anti-folk” musical duo the Bowmans – twin sisters Sarah and Claire Bowman – might be tired and cheap if it weren’t so compelling and poignant.

They grew up in the Quad Cities, operate out of New York City, and are making their return this week, opening for Lowry (a band in which they also play) at the Redstone Room on May 24. Hometown girls made good!

Neither Tardo Hammer nor Charles Davis can explain their success in jazz.

Hammer, who has been called “the best jazz pianist you’ve never heard,” said he never planned on a music career when he was starting out in the late 1970s.

“To me it was ridiculous to think of a career,” he said in a phone interview this week. “There wasn’t a lot of work, and jazz was really not popular. ... You hardly saw an upright bass player, and almost every piano player had to get a Fender Rhodes. If you played ‘Straight Ahead,’ that was considered something that was just about to vanish off the planet, holding onto something that was ready to expire.

“I was thinking, ‘I’ll do this now because this is what I love to do. I’ll go where this is and see what happens. I’ll worry about tomorrow tomorrow.’”

Nearly 30 years later, Hammer has stumbled into that jazz career, performing regularly with singer Annie Ross and also releasing three discs as a bandleader. He’ll be playing in a quartet with the venerable saxophonist Davis at the Figge Art Museum later this week. (The pair will be joined by drummer Jimmy Wormworth and bassist Lee Hudson.) 

 

Still brutal - and baked - after all these years, the Melvins are back this coming Tuesday with Houdini Live 2005: A Live History of Gluttony & Lust, a live opus that squeals and cascades the sickest guitar tones in memory.