The moon's turned pink again with a "perfect storm" of projects revolving around Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon from 1973, led by a new interpretation of the album and culminating in Roger Waters' fall tour of the United States, performing the album in its entirety. Following up on its recent Back Against the Wall tribute, earlier this month Purple Pyramid Records released Return to the Dark Side of the Moon, boasting Adrian Belew, Colin Moulding of XTC, Tommy Shaw of Styx, John Wetton of Asia, Gary Green of Gentle Giant, Robby Krieger of The Doors, and actor Malcolm McDowell.

Is your turntable as dusty as your mind?

Dino Felipe The psychedelic conspirators at Melted Mailbox Records have the lysergic solution, looking to use your tone arm's needle instead of a syringe to trip your light fantastic. Later this month the wax-friendly label will issue the first limited-edition 12-inch single in its new Melted Mailbox Vinyl Club, a bi-monthly program that for $70 could be the best pen pal an experimental- music aficionado could ever have. 

Jazz pianist, composer, arranger, educator, and East Moline native Bill Bell will be the third jazz artist to bring a group to the River Music Experience's Redstone Room when he performs and conducts a workshop on Sunday, June 18.

Best of the Land of Nod Store Music Volume 2 Following up on a collection of kids' music that won't drive adults bonkers, the manufacturer of exceptional children's bedroom furniture, The Land of Nod, has released a second CD to entertain the little one in all of us. For the XTC fan, the 14-track disc features two lost songs by Andy Partridge, "Don't Let Us Bug Ya" and "Everything'll Be Alright," originally written in 1996 when he thought he had sealed the gig to score the film adaptation of James & the Giant Peach. Other tickles for your ears come from Cake, which turns in a zippy take on the classic ditty "Mahna Mahna" (sound it out; you'll recognize it!) and the Mr. T Experience, getting its learn on with "Unpack Your Adjectives."

 

Bruce Springsteen's "We Shall Overcome" First you hear an old-timey banjo, then a voice like early Dylan, but soon a rousing chorus, full Americana, kicks in: drums, twin fiddles, and horns that sound like Van Morrison wrote the charts. That's "Old Dan Tucker," the opening cut on Bruce Springsteen's We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions, a multi-layered tribute not just to Pete Seeger but to "roots" music in general.

 

N'Awlins Gumbo Kings The Quad Cities' first summer festival - Gumbo Ya Ya: Mardi Gras in the District - has a moniker that's pretty self-explanatory.

 

Cheap Trick's "Rockford"Cheap Trick is back at the top of its game with an all-new CD this coming Tuesday, Rockford, named for the group’s Illinois hometown. The Big3 Records release features a handful of songs recorded by post-punk champion Steve Albini, and the first single, “Perfect Stranger,” was co-written and produced by star-making songwriter Linda Perry of 4 Non Blondes.

 

Ellen Bowlin 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.

 

Four new cover projects have caught my attention, with Pat DiNizio's classy cocktail-lounge croon topping the list. Big thumbs up to Fuel 2000 Records for putting the Smithereens founder in such an intimate setting with pianist Jay Rowe, as they ply their talents on 16 selections from the American songbook.
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!

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