A lot of 14-year-olds pick up an instrument to emulate their idols. It's just not often they choose the harpsichord.

But that's what George Shangrow did, and decades later, he's the director and founder of Orchestra Seattle and the director of the Seattle Conservatory of Music. This weekend he's performing on the piano and harpsichord as one of four musicians in the Black Hawk Chamber Music Festival.

The "Mostly Mozart Festival" celebrates the 250th birthday of the composer with two concerts each at Moline's First Congregational Church (on July 28 and 30) and Iowa City's Congregational Church (July 29 and 31).

Back before Blockbuster, Netflix, and other instant-gratification services, seeking out that elusive hipster film took a lot of praying and the luck of an art-house theater in your city to satisfy one's craving. One of those great rock-and-roll films that brought the excitement of a live concert was Rude Boy from 1980, a gritty street drama mixed with live footage from The Clash in 1978 performing every song from their white-hot self-titled debut. For years, fans passed around poorly copied dubs of its 1991 VHS release or searched for a copy on eBay, but the film returns this coming Tuesday in full DVD glory. The Epic Records' Legacy imprint release is packed with bonus goodies, including BBC sessions, interviews with sex-shop-worker-turned-roadie Ray Gange and band manager Johnny Green, a gallery of photography and sketches, and the original theatrical trailer. Also extended with four deleted scenes and two songs cut from the original presentation, the DVD technology allows the viewer to play only the concert footage, uninterrupted. A mesmerizing peek into the politically volatile times of the United Kingdom in the late 1970s, this is the early history of "the only band that ever really mattered."

It should come as no surprise that the District of Rock Island has secured terrifically talented bands for its eighth annual Hornucopia festival, taking place on Friday, July 14, and Saturday, July 15. If you've attended Hornucopia in the past, you know the drill: two stages showcasing the finest in R&B, funk, soul, jazz, rock ... basically, any genre that incorporates a little brass. As the festival's motto states, "If it has horns, you'll find it at Hornucopia."

No surprises there. But while researching the first group to perform this weekend - local favorites The Gray Wolf Band, whose set begins at 5 p.m. on Friday - I was floored to discover that drummer Tom Drabek not only served as Alpine Race chairperson for several U.S. Ski Association events, but is a former Special Forces Green Beret, to boot. And he's not the only Gray Wolf performer with an interesting history. According to the group's Web site (http://www.graywolfband.com), Kenny Carleton began his musical career at age 18, playing bass on riverboat cruises with his brother; Jim Ryan, employing the Isabel Bloom technique, has spent two decades years making original concrete sculptures; and Larry Burns has been described as "the biggest rock star that no one has ever heard of."

So much I didn't know about these classic-rock performers! What other gems could I unearth if I did a little Web-site digging on the Hornucopia bands?

Rapper Aesop Rock and illustrator Jeremy Fish have collaborated on a new limited-edition book aimed at adults but crafted as an old-school children's book, complete with a seven-inch record that tells the reader when to turn the page with the beat. Entitled The Next Best Thing, the Upper Playground release deals with the "creative block" that all artists go through. Fish's artwork is amazing - check out (http://www.sillypinkbunnies.com) - and catch his work on tour this summer and fall in art galleries in Los Angeles, Dallas, and Philadelphia.