• Long gone are the days when the search for that out-of-print LP required hours of thumbing vinyl in used-record shops, tingling to find that goofy, rare oddity for a lovelorn mix tape, or that missing link in the history of an artist you're really digging lately.
It's not quite miraculous that The M's will be performing on Friday at the Redstone Room, but given the group's origins, it's a surprise that the band is making public appearances at all. It started out as a lark, four guys recording dozens of songs at home.
• I've got goose bumps - and an urge to pogo - from the time-traveling rush of two new books that wonderfully chronicle the magic age of punk and "post-punk," a faraway time when creative, disenfranchised youth on both sides of the pond were set free to try anything, encouraged by a vibrant, young record industry.
Multicultural festivals might bring to mind images of food and music from Asia or Africa, but Augustana College's inaugural Pulse of the River "multicultural music festival" is staying much closer to home. The free event, which kicks off at 1 p.
National touring acts Martin Sexton, Greg Brown, Bo Ramsey, and Pieta Brown were the main draws for the grand-opening celebration of the River Music Experience's Redstone Room, but the new nightclub's star attraction could be its sound.
• This coming Tuesday Rhino Records offers an open microphone for a wild list of celebrities to show off their vocal chops. Opening with Scarlett Johansson's take on the George Gershwin classic "Summertime," Unexpected Dreams: Songs from the Stars also promises John C.
Death. Everyone will face it. The Quad City Symphony Orchestra and the Handel Oratorio Society jointly presented a concert April 2 that addressed the power of death, the frailty of life, and the comfort we seek in the face of both.
It has been more than a dozen years since Quad Citians have had the opportunity to catch an internationally known jazz act playing in a local nightclub, but on Sunday, April 30, jazz pianist and educator Willie Pickens will perform with his trio at the brand-new Redstone Room on the second floor of the River Music Experience in downtown Davenport.
• Three old friends from the 1980s are back on the radar next week, all with new CDs worth seeking out. No longer growling over the driving churn of The Psychedelic Furs, Richard Butler re-emerges with a self-titled solo album that's calm, mature, and a bit theatric.
Most bands are extensions of their leaders, but Scotland's Battlefield Band is something else entirely, nearly a living organism beyond its members. The group has been around since 1970, and a full-time affair since 1975, but Alan Reid is the only original member still in the band.

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