22 Apr 2014

USO and WQPT Military Family Fun Night with Sesame Street's Elmo

By Lora Adams
Military Family Fun Night at Modern Woodman Park on May 9

ROCK ISLAND, IL - On Friday May 9  the USO of Illinois and WQPT - Quad Cities PBS welcome the children of Active Duty, Guard, Reserve, and Military Retirees to a free fun filled night with a special appearance from Sesame Street's Elmo. Military families will enjoy a special evening of learning, crafts, pizza and fun. All children will receive special gift bags filled with surprises containing a plush Sesame Street toy, the book "The Little Champs," and Sesame Street kits that address the challenges military kids face when family members deploy and return from combat with visible and invisible wounds of war. Children will get to meet and take photos with Sesame Street's Elmo. Everyone in attendance will also receive tickets to the Quad Cities River Bandits baseball game immediately following the event, tickets generously donated by Association of United States Army (AUSA) Rock Island Arsenal
Chapter.

WHEN:           Friday, May 9, 2013 from 5 pm - 6:30pm

WHERE:        Modern Woodman Park's Sky Deck

SPECIAL NOTE: Media wanting to cover this event are required to RSVP with Marco LaNave at marco@riverbandits.com by Thursday May 8. Media interviews and photo opportunities will be available with both USO of Illinois and WQPT - Quad Cities PBS.

ABOUT USO OF ILLINOIS
The USO lifts the spirits of America's troops and their families. The mission of the USO is to enhance the quality of life of the U.S. Armed Forces personnel and their families and to create a cooperative relationship between U.S. military communities and involved or supporting civilian communities. The USO of Illinois is a civilian 501(c)(3) registered non-profit, not a government agency. We are supported solely by the generosity of the American people. For more information about the USO of Illinois, visit: usoofillinois.org.  USO of Illinois Discovery Kids program provides free recreational and educational opportunites to military kids and families and is supported by the Chicago Blackhawks. This USO Discovery Kids Program is supported by WQPT - Quad Cities PBS and USO, Inc.

ABOUT WQPT "EMBRACING OUR MILITARY"
Embracing our Military is a two-year initiative led by WQPT Quad Cities PBS in support of the Quad City military community. The initiative brings together partner organizations who serve military families, veterans and activie duty soldiers focusing on : Families, Resourcess and Workforce.

WQPT's "Embracing our Military" is supported by Unity Point - Trinity and R.I.A. Federal Credit Union.  Dozens of area partners are assisting in this effor including Association of the United States Army, CBS4, The Dispatch, Jason's Box, Moline Public Library, USO of Illinois, Western Illinois University-Quad Cities, WILL Interactive, WLLR, WOC, and WVIK Quad Cities NPR. For more information about Embracing Our Military visit wqpt.org/embracing.

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21 Apr 2014

The Old Creamery Will Host Courtyard Concerts This Summer!

By Lily Allen-Duenas

The Old Creamery Theatre will host Courtyard Concerts this summer, one Friday per month, May through September featuring local bands and food. The concert will be free to everyone with a ticket to that Friday night's Main Stage theatre performance or $5 admission without a theatre ticket.

The shows will all take place from 5-7 pm in the Old Creamery's Courtyard on the following evenings: May 9, June 13, July 18, August 8, and September 12. The first Courtyard Concert of the season features Lojo Russo.

Lojo Russo is described "as a songwriter with a lot of lyrical power, a guitarist with powerful playing and a singer with one heckuva voice who performs with the energy and rocking empowerment of Ani DiFranco, the graceful folksiness of the Indigo Girls and the gritty blues of Susan Tedeschi."  Russo is comfortable making music no matter where she is - whether playing festivals or front steps, coffeehouses or concert halls her music, her style and her stories never cease to amaze and amuse. Her enormous stage energy, powerful voice and percussive playing style belie her small frame. As one promoter put it, "This is a one woman show that shows you only need one woman."

Each show will also feature a different food vendor. The first Courtyard Concert on May 9 will feature Maggie's Farm Wood-Fired Pizza.

Call the box office at 319-622-6262 or go online to www.oldcreamery.com for more details. Find out more about Lojo Russo at lojorusso.com

The Old Creamery Theatre is a not-for-profit professional theatre founded in 1971 in Garrison, Iowa. In 2014, the company is celebrating 43 years of bringing live, professional theatre to the people of Iowa and the Midwest.
18 Apr 2014

Iowa's Own Pianist Jim McDonough to perform in Coralville April 26

By Susan Bohlken

MONTICELLO, IA (April 2014) – Spring is in the air, as are the sounds of a nationally-acclaimed Iowa pianist in concert halls across the state. International Steinway Artist Jim McDonough and His Orchestra are currently touring Iowa with his "2014 SPRING TOUR."

McDonough has sold a quartermillion CDs, and has performed breathtaking concerts for tens of thousands of Iowans. Monticello native McDonough will appear at the Coralville Center for the Performing Arts on Saturday, April 26th at 2:30 p.m., performing on the concert grand piano, and joined by his professional 14-piece orchestra and a cast of sensational singers.

This exciting new show features spectacular arrangements of songs from the silver screen and Broadway, as well as favorite big band, patriotic, Rat Pack, inspirational, country and classical music.

Tickets are $29 - $34 (including fees), and are available online 24/7 at www.CoralvilleArts.org, or by phone or in person at the Center?s Box Office (319) 248-9370 (open Wed. - Fri. 11 a.m. - 1 p.m. and 4 p.m. - 6 p.m.; and Sat. 12 p.m. - 4 p.m.). Tickets are also available in person daily at the Coralville Recreation Center (1506 8th St). Discounts are available to groups of 10 or more.

Other "2014 SPRING TOUR" stops include : Monticello, Cedar Rapids, Manchester, Ottumwa, Elkader, and Dubuque. For more information, visit www.PianoFavorites.com, or call (800) 375-7095.

Jim McDonough has performed throughout Iowa for eleven years as part of his popular annual "Holiday Grande" concert tour. The spring tour is a result of requests from fans who also wanted to experience the spectacle of Jim?s live concert event outside of the holidays. "The spring tour gives us an opportunity to perform audience favorites from a variety of genres," McDonough says. "We?ve been hard at work to ensure that this show will be spring?s most spectacular event!"

ABOUT JIM McDONOUGH
After stints as a high school band director, cruise ship entertainer and air-traffic controller, Jim McDonough began selling his distinctive brand of soothing piano music in gift shops in eastern Iowa. Today, his CDs are available in 1,000 stores across the country and via his Web site, www.PianoFavorites.com. Jim?s independent record label, Jim McDonough Productions, Inc., has
already sold more than 250,000 of his CDs.

The road to success, though, has been paved with detours. In eighth grade, an accident nearly ended his musical career. An upright piano fell while being moved, crushing three fingers on his right hand -and nearly crushing his dreams in the process. Jim emerged from two hours of surgery with pins in his fingers and tiny fractures across his hand. But throughout more than a year of physical therapy, Jim kept playing - with a cast on his right hand - and concentrated on improving his performance with his left hand. "Playing the piano defined me," McDonough says. "It was my life, and I was determined to play again." He devoted nearly every spare moment to working to get back the dexterity in his right hand, and the rigorous rehearsing paid off. In ninth grade, instead of a car, Jim bought a Steinway grand piano to celebrate how far he?d come.

In 2010, Jim was honored by the legendary piano maker Steinway & Sons, naming him to its worldwide artist roster. As a Steinway Artist, McDonough joins an exclusive international list of the most accomplished and discriminating performing artists, from classical pianists like Lang Lang, to jazz stars like Diana Krall and Harry Connick Jr., to pop icons like Billy Joel, to "immortals" like Irving Berlin and Cole Porter. Jim McDonough?s 16 CDs are available at gift shops across the country and via his Web site, www.pianofavorites.com.

Discography includes: Requests (2002), Home for Christmas (2003), Projections: Songs from the Silver Screen (2004), An Ivory Christmas (2004), Music of the Night (2004), Simple Gifts (2005), With Love (2006), Homeward Bound (2007), Country Dreaming (2008), A Christmas to Remember (2008), Rat Pack Remembered (2009), Isn?t It Romantic (2010), Christmas Eve (2011), Young At Heart (2011), One Nation Under God (2012), and his latest release, Country Roads (2013).

For more information, visit Jim McDonough?s web site at www.PianoFavorites.com or call his music
hotline at (800) 375-7095.

14 Apr 2014

Youngblood Brass Band Concert Press Release

By EINNOC10@aol.com

Bettendorf - The Pleasant Valley High School Band Program is excited to be hosting the internationally renowned Youngblood Brass Band live in concert on May 5, 2014. The concert will start at 7:00 in the Pleasant Valley High School Auditorium with PVHS Jazz Combos followed by an hour long set by the Youngblood Brass Band. The concert is an all-ages show and is open to the public. Ticket prices are $10 for adults and $5 for students in grades K-12 and are available online at www.spartanbands.com.

Youngblood Brass Band flouts convention in an ecstatic, raucous, incendiary fashion, taking the form of a New Orleans brass band and morphing it into a punked-out hip-hop behemoth of groove and purpose. The ten-member ensemble, born in Madison, Wisconsin, now hails from all over the US (Madison, Brooklyn, Nashville, Minneapolis, Chicago) and has been unleashing their crash course in genre-bending on stages worldwide since 2000.

Youngblood has headlined countless tours in the States and abroad, selling out dates in over 20 countries. Their festival re?sume? reads like a list of the heaviest music events in the world: Roskilde, Glastonbury, Lowlands, Pukkelpop, SXSW, CMJ, North Sea Jazz, WOMAD...ad infinitum. Whitehot live shows secured the band's status as an incredible group to witness, whether in an intimate club setting or in front of thousands on a festival stage.

Youngblood's new album (the first in 5 years), Pax Volumi, sees the band partnering with Tru Thoughts, the Brighton UK label that includes a roster ranging from deep soul (Alice Russell) to hiphop (Ty) to straight-up New Orleans brass band (Hot 8), and the pairing couldn't be more apt. This album sees the band finally achieving not just its musical but its production aims, capturing the live intensity of the stage as well as crafting beats and rhymes that bang right out of the speakers. It's almost as if they spent the last 15 years getting ready to become THIS Youngblood Brass Band; as though everything in the past had led up to the creation of an album that defies classification, an album that couldn't be made by any other group. On stages in the states and overseas, the verdict has been issued: the band has never sounded so good. Youngblood Brass Band has become an institution, one that demands to be seen and heard.

This appearance of Youngblood Brass Band has been made possible, in part, through an educational grant from Griggs Music, Jupiter Band Instruments, XO Professional Brass, and Mapex Drums.  Members of Youngblood Brass Band perform on Jupiter Saxophones, XO Brass, and Mapex Drums

For more information, please contact Drew Anderson at andersond@pleasval.k12.ia.us
11 Apr 2014

Nova Singers Scheduling Auditions

By Nicole Warren

Nova Singers, the region's premier professional vocal ensemble, is currently scheduling auditions for the 2014-2015 season.

Singers with extensive choral experience and vocal training are invited to audition. Interested individuals may contact Nova Singers' founder and music director, Dr. Laura Lane, at 309-341-7229 or llane@knox.edu for more information or to schedule an audition.

The award winning Nova Singers have remained committed to the highest artistic standards since their founding in 1986. The ensemble has performed throughout the Midwest, as well as at state, regional, and national conventions of the American Choral Directors Association.

Each year Nova presents an eight-concert season of outstanding choral music in Galesburg and the Quad Cities. Nova Singers has also released eight professional recordings.
11 Apr 2014

Organist Delbert Disselhorst Featured in Concert Sunday, May 4, at 4:00pm

By Trinity Lutheran Church

Dr. Delbert Disselhorst, Professor Emeritus of Organ at the University of Iowa, will be featured in concert on Sunday, May 4, at 4:00pm, at Trinity Lutheran Church, 1330 13th Street, Moline, Illinois.  The program includes works by Sigfrid Karg-Elert, Helmut Walcha, Felix Mendelssohn, and J.S. Bach.

This concert is the opening program in a trio of organ recitals in 2014 celebrating the 40th anniversary of the dedication of Trinity's pipe organ.  Handcrafted by the Canadian firm of Casavant Frères, the organ was dedicated March 17, 1974.  Designed using principles of organ construction dating back four centuries, Trinity's Casavant organ resembles organs of Baroque Europe at the time of great organists such as Buxtehude, Sweelinck, and J.S. Bach.  The organ has 32 stops, comprised of 2050 pipes, spread over 3 keyboard divisions and pedal.  The Casavant opus 3200 organ at Trinity Lutheran Church was the first of its kind in Eastern Iowa and Western Illinois and remains a premiere instrument for the presentation of music by J.S. Bach and his contemporaries.

Delbert Disselhorst holds both bachelor's and master's degrees from the University of Illinois, and the Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the University of Michigan.  He was a recipient of a Fulbright grant in organ, studying with Helmut Walcha at the Staatliche Hochschule für Musik in Frankfurt am Main, Germany.  As a concert artist, Disselhorst has performed nationally throughout the United States, and internationally in Canada, Europe, and Korea.

This 4:00pm concert is free, and Trinity Lutheran Church invites the public to attend.

Trinity Lutheran Church is located at 1330 13th Street, Moline, Illinois.  For additional information contact the church at (309) 762-3624, or visit www.tlcmoline.org

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11 Apr 2014

QUAD CITY RockFEST Saturday, July 19, 2014

By Stephani Nagle

3-11 pm

Seven Bands, Eight Hours of Rock Featuring Night Ranger and Firehouse

On Sale Friday, April 25 at 10 am!

The iWireless Center is teaming up with MetroLink and the City of Moline to bring the Quad City Rockfest to downtown Moline on Saturday, July 19, 2014 featuring Night Ranger and Firehouse.  This day-long event will feature bands inside the iWireless Center and outdoor on top of the MetroLink parking garage.  Don't miss a day of BBQ, beer, vendors, contests, and a huge line-up of acts.  Tickets go on sale Friday, April 25 at 10 am.  Watch for a complete line up of acts coming soon to www.quadcityrockfest.com.

Night Ranger's debut album Dawn Patrol hit the charts hard, going instantly Top 40 with the now anthemic single, Don't Tell Me You Love Me.  They followed with a string of best-selling albums that sold more than 16 million copies worldwide. The band's popularity was fuelled by an impressive string of instantly recognizable hit singles and signature album tracks, including, (You Can Still) Rock In America, When You Close Your Eyes, Sister Christian, Sentimental Street, and Goodbye.

Firehouse arrived at the peak of the pop metal explosion releasing their first album in 1991 The group's melodic, commercial hard rock had immediate chart success; their self-titled debut went platinum and featured two Top 20 singles, Don't Treat Me Bad and Love of a Lifetime. The following year, Firehouse released their second album, Hold Your Fire, which went gold with the strength of their mega-hit When I Look Into Your Eyes.

 

Ticket prices $29.50 with a limited number of $45 VIP tickets and a limited number of $99 four-packs  and will go on sale Friday, April 25 at 10 am at the iWireless Center box office, all Ticketmaster outlets, by phone at 800-745-3000, or online at  www.ticketmaster.com.

11 Apr 2014

7 Sins Sideshow with special guests Matt Woods and Jailhouse Poets

By Nicole Adams
April 19th - 7 Sins Sideshow with special guests Matt Woods and Jailhouse Poets
Rock Island Brewing Company, 1815 - 2nd Ave, Rock Island
Advance Tickets $8.00
Day of tickets $12.00
Show time 9:00 pm
11 Apr 2014

Get Your Groove On Tonight!

By Sarah Arp

Come get your groove on TONIGHT (4-11-14) with the Tail Fins, a famous & local 50's-80's Classic Rock Band! Located at The Celebration Hall 1035 W Kimberly Rd Davenport, IA (CASI).  Presented by the Goldbook.

Doors open at 6:30 p.m. & the Tail Fins will play from 7:30-10:30 p.m. It's just $10 at the door and a cash bar with snacks.

-   END  -
08 Apr 2014

THE MUSIC OF THE HOLOCAUST

By Jared Johnson

Davenport, IA-The Quad City Symphony Orchestra and WVIK-Quad Cities NPR are presenting Trio 826, a string trio including QCSO Principal Cellist Hannah Holman, as the fifth installment of their Signature Series. Trio 826 will be performing trios by composers that have a connection to the holocaust, either by being persecuted or helping the resistance. Trio 826 is performing on Sunday, April 13, at 3:00 p.m. at the Tri-City Jewish Center in Rock Island. This performance is presented by the Jewish Federation of the Quad Cities.

Trio 826 is comprised of Susanna Klein, violin; Hannah Holman, cello; and Julia Bullard, viola. The program will feature music by Gideon Klein, Hans Krasa, Ernst Krenek, Erno Dohnanyi, and Felix Mendelssohn. Trio 826 will be joined by Dr. Stephen J. Gaies, Director of the Center for Holocaust and Genocide Education and Professor of Languages and Literatures at the University of Northern Iowa. The concert will include discussion, reflection, and music. Trio 826 was created in 2011 by three friends to explore ideas for innovation in the performance of classical music.

The members of Trio 826 have vast experience as orchestral and chamber musicians, soloists, and educators. The mission of Trio 826 is to be an agent of change in the classical arena. Their hope is to be curious about their audience, risky in their presentations, and do everything it takes to bring classical music to life. Trio 826 performs new and standard repertoire in a variety of venues, from formal concerts to shows in intimate, informal, and unusual settings.  For 2012, the trio commissioned a work entitled "Soneando" by University of Northern Iowa Faculty Composer Robert Washut.

The Signature Series is presented by WVIK-Quad Cities NPR in collaboration with the Quad City Symphony Orchestra and Augustana College. Rebroadcast on WVIK, this versatile and intimate six-concert series features select members of the QCSO and visiting artists from across the nation. Under the artistic direction of the Quad City Symphony Orchestra's Concertmaster Naha Greenholtz, the Signature Series is a testament to the vitality of the classical music community in the Quad Cities. This performance by Trio 826 will be rebroadcast on WVIK-Quad Cities NPR 90.3 FM on Sunday, April 20, at 7:00 p.m.

WVIK/QCSO Signature Series

Forbidden: The Music of the Holocaust

Sunday, April 13, at 3:00 p.m.

Tri-City Jewish Center, Rock Island

Presented by the Jewish Federation of the Quad Cities

The Tri-City Jewish Center is located at 2715 30th Street in Rock Island. Tickets for the WVIK/QCSO Signature Series are $25, with a $10 student ticket available. Get your tickets today by calling 563.322.QCSO (7276) or visiting www.qcsymphony.com. Tickets will also be available at the door.

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