Coming to Davenport this month!

TobyMac

A Night of Unplugged Stories & Songs

Special Guest: Jamie Grace

  7:30PM  Thursday, January 19, 2012

Adler Theatre, downtown Davenport, Iowa

 Excellent seating is still available!

Tickets available at Adler Theatre Box Office, charge by phone at 1-800-745-3000, online at Ticketmaster.com or Ticketmaster outlets. 

 

Adler Theater
136 East 3rd Street
Davenport, Iowa

 

Brought to you by:
ECHO MINISTRIES

 

Tickets ($25, $35) On Sale Now!

For group sales, contact the box office 563-326-8555. Groups of 10 or more get discount of $4 off per ticket in each price category.

No added fees for sales at box office or for group sales!

TOBYMAC UNPLUGGED - A Night of Stories and Songs, featuring special guest Jamie Grace, is coming this Fall to select cities. It will be a totally different TobyMac show, a time where it's not about the lights, smoke, big stage, numerous musicians... instead it will be more intimate and personal, a "storyteller's night" where TobyMac will share where the songs came from. The song arrangements will be different... not completely acoustic, but basically acoustic–thus the name UNPLUGGED.

The ascension of TobyMac's solo career has been nothing short of spectacular.  In an era of declining music sales he has consistently defied the odds and has seen his sales increase with each new album release. Having climbed the mountain once with the group dcTalk, TobyMac knows how difficult the journey can be and how much work the process actually takes.  Upon embarking on his solo career, Toby sought to surround himself with a talented and diverse cast of characters, aptly named the Diverse City Band. The result has been a musical fusion that radiates with an unquenchable energy and a penetrating message.

Tickets available here:
* Adler Theatre Box Office
* Online at Ticketmaster.com
* Charge by phone at 800-745-3000
* and at all Ticketmaster outlets
* Special Ticket Offers available!

 

Adler Theatre Box Office:
136 East Third Street
Davenport, Iowa 52801
Phone 563-326-8555

 

Internet Purchasing: online at Ticketmaster.com

Charge By Phone: call Ticketmaster at 1-800-745-3000

The Quad City Wind Ensemble is pleased to announce the Twenty-Fourth Annual Young Performer's Solo Competition.  Auditions will be held on Sunday, March 18, 2012 at the Galvin Fine Arts Center, St. Ambrose University, in Davenport. The winner will appear as the guest soloist with the Quad City Wind Ensemble at our concert on April 29 at the Galvin Fine Arts Center. In addition to performing with the Quad City Wind Ensemble, the first place winner will receive a $250 scholarship from the Quad City Wind Ensemble for private study.  The second place winner will receive a $150 scholarship and the third place winner will receive a $100 scholarship for private study. Entrants must be students currently involved in a high school instrumental music program and complete an entry form to be received or postmarked no later than March 9, 2012.

The Quad City Wind Ensemble is pleased to announce the Twenty-Fourth Annual Charles B. DCamp Young Performer s Solo Competition. Auditions will be held on Sunday, March 18, 2012 from 2:00-5:00 p.m. in Madsen Hall at the Galvin Fine Arts Center, St. Ambrose University, 518 W. Locust St., Davenport, Iowa. The winner will appear as the guest soloist with the Quad City Wind Ensemble at our Sunday, April 29, 2012 concert at the Galvin Fine Arts Center. Please submit completed forms to: Julie Crouse, 27553 Frederick Drive, LeClaire, IA 52753. Entry forms must be received or postmarked no
later than Friday, March 9, 2012.

In addition to performing with the Quad City Wind Ensemble, the first place winner will receive a $250 scholarship from the Quad City Wind Ensemble for private study. The second place winner will receive a $150 scholarship and the third place winner will receive a $100 scholarship for private study.

All entrants must be students currently involved in a high school instrumental music program. The soloist must perform a wind or percussion solo for which a band/wind ensemble accompaniment is readily available. There is no entry fee for this competition. The guest soloist must perform the same piece in the concert as performed during the audition. Previous first place winners must audition on a different piece. All applicants must audition using piano accompaniment and furnish two copies of the solo part for the adjudicators. One of the copies may be a photo-copied reproduction of the original.

The Quad City Wind Ensemble, founded by Charles B. DCamp in 1987, is comprised of some of the Quad City area s top wind and percussion players who audition for membership in this select group. It is recognized as one of the finest adult wind ensembles in the nation.

The QCWE is dedicated to music education in public schools. The Charles B. DCamp Young Performers Solo Competition is one way it supports music education of the QC area s youth. In addition, all participants in school band programs are admitted free to all QCWE performances.

Please feel free to make photocopies of this letter and the attached application as needed. If you have any questions about the solo competition, please contact Julie Crouse, the competition coordinator, at 27553 Frederick Drive, LeClaire, IA 52753 or by email at crousefamily2001@gmail.com.


Sincerely,
Susan Hanford
QCWE Chairperson

The Java Jews, an Iowa-based Klezmer band, will perform a free concert at the Moline Public Library on Thursday, January 19th at 7:00 p.m.  Music lovers of all ages will not want to miss this "highly caffeinated" performance from this seven piece ensemble. No registration is required.  This performance is sponsored by the Jewish Federation of the Quad Cities.  For more information, visit the Moline Public Library at 3210 41st Street, Moline or call 309-524-2470.

A staple in Iowa coffee shops and jazz festivals, the Java Jews perform their energetic version of Klezmer, the traditional Jewish music of Eastern Europe.  In addition, the band performs Klezmer interpretations of Miles Davis, standards, and Israeli pop.

The Java Jews performance is presented in conjunction with the traveling exhibit In a Nutshell: The Worlds of Maurice Sendak, on display December 28th, 2011 through February 24th, 2012.  In a Nutshell: The Worlds of Maurice Sendak was organized by the Rosenbach Museum & Library, Philadelphia, and developed by Nextbook, Inc., a nonprofit organization dedicated to supporting Jewish literature, culture, and ideas, and the American Library Association Public Programs Office. The national tour of the exhibit has been made possible by grants from the Charles H. Revson Foundation, the Righteous Persons Foundation, the David Berg Foundation, and an anonymous donor, with additional support from Tablet Magazine: A New Read on Jewish Life.

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2011 National Film Registry More Than a Box of Chocolates: "Forrest Gump," "Bambi," "Stand and Deliver" Among Registry Picks

"My momma always said, 'Life was like a box of chocolates. You never know what you're gonna get.'"  That line was immortalized by Tom Hanks in the award-winning movie "Forest Gump" in 1994.  Librarian of Congress James H. Billington today selected that film and 24 others to be preserved as cultural, artistic and historical treasures in the National Film Registry of the Library of Congress.

Spanning the period 1912-1994, the films named to the registry include Hollywood classics, documentaries, animation, home movies, avant-garde shorts and experimental motion pictures.   Representing the rich creative and cultural diversity of the American cinematic experience, the selections range from Walt Disney's timeless classic "Bambi" and Billy Wilder's "The Lost Weekend," a landmark film about the devastating effects of alcoholism, to a real-life drama between a U.S. president and a governor over the desegregation of the University of Alabama.  The selections also include home movies of the famous Nicholas Brothers dancing team and such avant-garde films as George Kuchar's hilarious short "I, an Actress."  This year's selections bring the number of films in the registry to 575.

Under the terms of the National Film Preservation Act, each year the Librarian of Congress names 25 films to the National Film Registry that are "culturally, historically or aesthetically" significant.  "These films are selected because of their enduring significance to American culture," said Billington.  "Our film heritage must be protected because these cinematic treasures document our history and culture and reflect our hopes and dreams."

Annual selections to the registry are finalized by the Librarian after reviewing hundreds of titles nominated by the public (this year 2,228 films were nominated) and conferring with Library film curators and the distinguished members of the National Film Preservation Board (NFPB).  The public is urged to make nominations for next year's registry at NFPB's website (www. loc.gov/film).

In other news about the registry, "These Amazing Shadows," a documentary about the National Film Registry, will air nationally on the award-winning PBS series "Independent Lens" on Thursday, Dec. 29, at 10 p.m (check local listings). Written and directed by Paul Mariano and Kurt Norton, this critically acclaimed documentary has also been released on DVD and Blu-ray and will be available through the Library of Congress Shop (www.loc.gov/shop/).

For each title named to the registry, the Library of Congress Packard Campus for Audio Visual Conservation works to ensure that the film is preserved for future generations, either through the Library's massive motion-picture preservation program or through collaborative ventures with other archives, motion-picture studios and independent filmmakers.  The Packard Campus is a state-of-the-art facility where the nation's library acquires, preserves and provides access to the world's largest and most comprehensive collection of films, television programs, radio broadcasts and sound recordings (www.loc.gov/avconservation/).

The Packard Campus is home to more than six million collection items, including nearly three million sound recordings. It provides staff support for the Library of Congress National Film Preservation Board, the National Recording Preservation Board and the National Registries for film and recorded sound.

Founded in 1800, the Library of Congress is the nation's oldest federal cultural institution. It seeks to spark imagination and creativity and to further human understanding and wisdom by providing access to knowledge through its magnificent collections, programs and exhibitions. Many of the Library's rich resources can be accessed through its website at www.loc.gov and via interactive exhibitions on a personalized website at myLOC.gov.

2011 National Film Registry

Allures (1961)   
Called the master of "cosmic cinema," Jordan Belson excelled in creating abstract imagery with a spiritual dimension that featured dazzling displays of color, light, and ever-moving patterns and objects. Trained as a painter and profoundly influenced by the artist and theorist Wassily Kandinsky, Belson collaborated in the late 1950s with electronic music composer Henry Jacobs to create elaborate sound and light shows in the San Francisco Morrison Planetarium, an experience that informed his subsequent films.  The film, Belson has stated, "was probably the space-iest film that had been done until then. It creates a feeling of moving into the void." Inspired by Eastern spiritual thought, "Allures" (which took a year and a half to make) is, Belson suggests, a "mathematically precise" work intended to express the process of becoming that the philosopher Teilhard de Chardin has named "cosmogenesis."

Bambi (1942)
One of Walt Disney's timeless classics (and his own personal favorite), this animated coming-of-age tale of a wide-eyed fawn's life in the forest has enchanted generations since its debut nearly 70 years ago.  Filled with iconic characters and moments, the film features beautiful images that were the result of extensive nature studies by Disney's animators.  Its realistic characters capture human and animal qualities in the time-honored tradition of folklore and fable, which enhance the movie's resonating, emotional power.  Treasured as one of film's most heart-rending stories of parental love, "Bambi" also has come to be recognized for its eloquent message of nature conservation.

The Big Heat (1953)
One of the great post-war noir films, "The Big Heat" stars Glenn Ford, Lee Marvin and Gloria Graham.  Set in a fictional American town, "The Big Heat" tells the story of a tough cop (Ford) who takes on a local crime syndicate, exposing tensions within his own corrupt police department as well as insecurities and hypocrisies of domestic life in the 1950s.  Filled with atmosphere, fascinating female characters, and a jolting?yet not gratuitous?degree of violence, "The Big Heat," through its subtly expressive technique and resistance to formulaic denouement, manages to be both stylized and brutally realistic, a signature of its director Fritz Lang.

A Computer Animated Hand (1972)
Ed Catmull, co-founder of Pixar Animation Studios, renowned for its CGI (computer generated image) animated films, created a program for digitally animating a human hand in 1972 as a graduate student project, one of the earliest examples of 3D computer animation. The one-minute film displays the hand turning, opening and closing, pointing at the viewer, and flexing its fingers, ending with a shot that seemingly travels up inside the hand. In creating the film, which was incorporated into the 1976 film "Futureworld," Catmull worked out concepts that become the foundation for computer graphics that followed.

Crisis: Behind a Presidential Commitment (1963)
Robert Drew was a pioneer of American cinema-verite (a style of documentary filmmaking that strives to record unfolding events non-intrusively).  In 1963, he gathered together a stellar group of filmmakers, including D. A. Pennebaker, Richard Leacock, Gregory Shuker, James Lipscomb, and Patricia Powell, to capture on film the dramatic unfolding of an ideological crisis, one that revealed political decision-making at the highest levels. The result, "Crisis: Behind a Presidential Commitment," focuses on Gov. George Wallace's attempt to prevent two African-American students from enrolling in the University of Alabama?his infamous "stand in the schoolhouse door" confrontation?and the response of President John F. Kennedy. The filmmakers observe the crisis evolve by following a number of participants, including Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy, Gov. Wallace and the two students, Vivian Malone and James Hood.  The film also shows deliberations between the president and his staff that led to a peaceful resolution, a decision by the president to deliver a major address on civil rights and a commitment by Wallace to continue his battle in subsequent national election campaigns. The film has proven to be a uniquely revealing complement to written histories of the period, providing viewers the rare opportunity to witness historical events from an insider's perspective.

The Cry of the Children (1912)
Recognized as a key work that both reflected and contributed to the pre-World War I child labor reform movement, the two-reel silent melodrama "The Cry of the Children" takes its title and fatalistic, uncompromising tone of hopelessness from the 1842 poem by Elizabeth Barrett Browning.  "The Cry of the Children" was part of a wave of "social problem" films released during the 1910s on such subjects as drugs and alcohol, white slavery, immigrants and women's suffrage.  Some were sensationalist attempts to exploit lurid topics, while others, like "The Cry of the Children," were realistic exposés that championed social reform and demanded change. Shot partially in a working textile factory, "The Cry of the Children" was recognized by an influential critic of the time as "The boldest, most timely and most effective appeal for the stamping out of the cruelest of all social abuses."

A Cure for Pokeritis (1912) 
Largely forgotten today, actor John Bunny merits significant historical importance as the American film industry's earliest comic superstar.  A stage actor prior to the start of his film career, Bunny starred in over 150 Vitagraph Company productions from 1910 until his death in 1915. Many of his films (affectionately known as "Bunnygraphs") were gentle "domestic" comedies, in which he portrayed a henpecked husband alongside co-star Flora Finch. "A Cure for Pokeritis" exemplifies the genre, as Finch conspires with similarly displeased wives to break up their husbands' weekly poker game. When Bunny died in 1915, a New York Times editorial noted that "Thousands who had never heard him speak...recognized him as the living symbol of wholesome merriment." The paper presciently commented on the importance of preserving motion pictures and sound recordings for future generations: "His loss will be felt all over the country, and the films, which preserve his humorous personality in action, may in time have a new value. It is a subject worthy of reflection, the value of a perfect record of a departed singer's voice, of the photographic films perpetuating the drolleries of a comedian who developed such extraordinary capacity for acting before the camera."

El Mariachi (1992)
Directed, edited, co-produced, and written in two weeks by Robert Rodriguez for $7,000 while a film student at the University of Texas, "El Mariachi" proved a favorite on the film festival circuit. After Columbia Pictures picked it up for distribution, the film helped usher in the independent movie boom of the early 1990s. "El Mariachi" is an energetic, highly entertaining tale of an itinerant musician, portrayed by co-producer and Rodriguez crony Carlos Gallardo, who arrives at a Mexican border town during a drug war and is mistaken for a hit man who recently escaped from prison. The story, as film historian Charles Ramirez Berg has suggested, plays with expectations common to two popular exploitation genres?the narcotraficante film, a Mexican police genre, and the transnational warrior-action film, itself rooted in Hollywood Westerns. Rodriguez's success derived from invigorating these genres with creative variants despite the constraints of a shoestring budget.  Rodriguez has gone on to direct films for major studios, becoming, in Berg's estimation, "arguably the most successful Latino director ever to work in Hollywood."

Faces (1968)
Writer-director John Cassavetes described "Faces," considered by many to be his first mature work, as "a barrage of attack on contemporary middle-class America." The film depicts a married couple, "safe in their suburban home, narrow in their thinking," he wrote, who experience a break up that "releases them from the conformity of their existence, forces them into a different context, when all barriers are down." An example of cinematic excess, "Faces" places its viewers inside intense lengthy scenes to allow them to discover within its relentless confrontations emotions and relations of power between men and women that rarely emerge in more conventionally structured films. In provoking remarkable performances by Lynn Carlin, John Marley and Gena Rowlands, Cassavetes has created a style of independent filmmaking that has inspired filmmakers around the world.

Fake Fruit Factory (1986)
An expressive, sympathetic look at the everyday lives of young Mexican women who create ornamental papier m?ché fruits and vegetables, "Fake Fruit Factory" exemplifies filmmaker Chick Strand's unique style that deftly blends documentary, avant-garde and ethnographic techniques.  After studying anthropology and ethnographic film at the University of California, Strand, who helped noted independent filmmaker Bruce Baillie create the independent film distribution cooperative Canyon Cinema, taught filmmaking for 24 years at Occidental College. She developed a collagist process to create her films, shooting footage of people she encountered over several decades of annual summer stays in Mexico and then editing together individual films. In "Fake Fruit Factory," Strand employs a moving camera at close range to create colorfully vivid images often verging on abstraction, while her soundtrack picks up snatches of conversation to evoke, in her words, "the spirit of the people." "I want to know," Strand wrote, "really what it is like to be a breathing, talking, moving, emotional, relating individual in the society."

Forrest Gump (1994)     
As "Forrest Gump," Tom Hanks portrays an earnest, guileless "everyman" whose open-heartedness and sense of the unexpected unwittingly draws him into some of the most iconic events of the 1960s and 1970s.  A smash hit, "Forrest Gump" has been honored for its technological innovations (the digital insertion of Gump seamlessly into vintage archival footage), its resonance within the culture that has elevated Gump (and what he represents in terms of American innocence) to the status of folk hero, and its attempt to engage both playfully and seriously with contentious aspects of the era's traumatic history. The film received six Academy Awards, including Best Picture.

Growing Up Female (1971)
Among the first films to emerge from the women's liberation movement, "Growing Up Female" is a documentary portrait of America on the brink of profound change in its attitudes toward women. Filmed in spring 1970 by Ohio college students Julia Reichert and Jim Klein, "Growing Up Female" focuses on six girls and women aged 4 to 34 and the home, school, work and advertising environments that have impacted their identities. Through open-ended interviews and lyrical documentation of their surroundings, the film strived, in Reichert's words, to "give women a new lens through which to see their own lives." Widely distributed to libraries, universities, churches and youth groups, the film launched a cooperative of female filmmakers that bypassed traditional distribution mechanisms to get its message communicated.

Hester Street (1975)
Joan Micklin Silver's first feature-length film, "Hester Street," was an adaption of preeminent Yiddish author Abraham Cahan's 1896 well-received first novel "Yekl: A Tale of the New York Ghetto."  In the 1975 film, the writer-director brought to the screen a portrait of Eastern European Jewish life in America that historians have praised for its accuracy of detail and sensitivity to the challenges immigrants faced during their acculturation process. Shot in black-and-white and partly in Yiddish with English subtitles, the independent production, financed with money raised by the filmmaker's husband, was shunned by Hollywood until it established a reputation at the Cannes Film Festival and in European markets. "Hester Street" focuses on stresses that occur when a "greenhorn" wife, played by Carol Kane (nominated for an Academy Award for her portrayal), and her young son arrive in New York to join her Americanized husband. Silver, one of the first women directors of American features to emerge during the women's liberation movement, shifted the story's emphasis from the husband, as in the novel, to the wife. Historian Joyce Antler has written admiringly, "In indicating the hardships experienced by women and their resiliency, as well as the deep strains assimilation posed to masculinity, 'Hester Street' touches on a fundamental cultural challenge confronting immigrants."

I, an Actress (1977)
Underground filmmaker George Kuchar and his twin brother Mike began making 8mm films as 12-year-old kids in the Bronx, often on their family's apartment rooftop.  Before his death in 2011, George created over 200 outlandish low-budget films filled with absurdist melodrama, crazed dialogue and plots, and affection for Hollywood film conventions and genres. A professor at the San Francisco Art Institute, Kuchar documented his directing techniques in the hilarious "I, an Actress" as he encourages an acting student to embellish a melodramatic monologue with increasingly excessive gestures and emotions. Like most of Kuchar's films, "I, an Actress" embodies a "camp" sensibility, defined by the cultural critic Susan Sontag as deriving from an aesthetics that valorizes not beauty but "love of the unnatural: of artifice and exaggeration." Filmmaker John Waters has cited the Kuchars as "my first inspiration" and credited them with giving him "the self-confidence to believe in my own tawdry vision."

The Iron Horse (1924) 
John Ford's epic Western "The Iron Horse" established his reputation as one of Hollywood's most accomplished directors.  Intended by Fox studios to rival Paramount's 1923 epic "The Covered Wagon," Ford's film employed more than 5,000 extras, advertised authenticity in its attention to realistic detail, and provided him with the opportunity to create iconic visual images of the Old West, inspired by such master painters as Frederic Remington and Charles M. Russell. A tale of national unity achieved after the Civil War through the construction of the transcontinental railroad, "The Iron Horse" celebrated the contributions of Irish, Italian and Chinese immigrants although the number of immigrants allowed to enter the country legally was severely restricted at the time of its production.  A classic silent film, "The Iron Horse" introduced to American and world audiences a reverential, elegiac mythology that has influenced many subsequent Westerns.

The Kid (1921)     
Charles Chaplin's first full-length feature, the silent classic "The Kid," is an artful melding of touching drama, social commentary and inventive comedy.  The tale of a foundling (Jackie Coogan, soon to be a major child star) taken in by the Little Tramp, "The Kid" represents a high point in Chaplin's evolving cinematic style, proving he could sustain his artistry beyond the length of his usual short subjects and could deftly elicit a variety of emotions from his audiences by skillfully blending slapstick and pathos.

The Lost Weekend (1945)
A landmark social-problem film, "The Lost Weekend" provided audiences of 1945 with an uncompromising look at the devastating effects of alcoholism. Directed by Billy Wilder and co-written by Wilder and Charles Brackett, the film melded an expressionistic film-noir style with documentary realism to immerse viewers in the harrowing experiences of an aspiring New York writer willing to do almost anything for a drink. Despite opposition from his studio, the Hays Office and the liquor industry, Wilder created a film ranked as one of the best of the decade that won Academy Awards for Best Picture, Direction, Screenplay and Actor (Ray Milland), and established him as one of America's leading filmmakers.

The Negro Soldier (1944)
Produced by Frank Capra's renowned World War II U.S. Army filming unit, "The Negro Soldier" showcased the contributions of blacks to American society and their heroism in the nation's wars, portraying them in a dignified, realistic, and far less stereotypical manner than they had been depicted in previous Hollywood films. Considered by film historian Thomas Cripps as "a watershed in the use of film to promote racial tolerance," "The Negro Soldier" was produced in reaction to instances of discrimination against African-Americans stationed in the South. Written by Carlton Moss, a young black writer for radio and the Federal Theatre Project, directed by Stuart Heisler, and scored by Dmitri Tiomkin, the film highlights the role of the church in the black community and charts the progress of a black soldier through basic training and officer's candidate school before he enters into combat.  It became mandatory viewing for all soldiers in American replacement centers from spring 1944 until the war's end.

Nicholas Brothers Family Home Movies (1930s-1940s)
Fayard and Harold Nicholas, renowned for their innovative and exuberant dance routines, began in vaudeville in the late 1920s before headlining at the Cotton Club in Harlem, starring on Broadway and performing in Hollywood films. Fred Astaire is reported to have called their dance sequence in "Stormy Weather" (1943) the greatest movie musical number he had ever seen. Their home movies capture a golden age of show business?with extraordinary footage of Broadway, Harlem and Hollywood?and also document the middle-class African-American life of that era, images made rare by the considerable cost of home-movie equipment during the Great Depression. Highlights include the only footage shot inside the Cotton Club, the only footage of famous Broadway shows like "Babes in Arms," home movies of an all African-American regiment during World War II, films of street life in Harlem in the 1930s, and the family's cross-country tour in 1934.

Norma Rae (1979)     
Highlighted by Sally Field's Oscar-winning performance, "Norma Rae" is the tale of an unlikely activist.  A poorly-educated single mother, Norma Rae Webster works at a Southern textile mill where her attempt to improve working conditions through unionization, though undermined by her factory bosses, ultimately succeeds after her courageous stand on the factory floor wins the support of her co-workers.  The film is less a polemical pro-union statement than a treatise about maturation, personal willpower, fairness and the empowerment of women.  Directed by Martin Ritt, "Norma Rae" was based on the real-life efforts of Crystal Lee Sutton to unionize the J. P. Stevens Mills in Roanoke Rapids, N.C., which finally agreed to allow union representation one year after the film's release.

Porgy and Bess (1959)     
Composer George Gershwin considered his masterpiece "Porgy and Bess" to be a "folk opera." Gershwin's score reflected traditional songs he encountered in visits to Charleston, S.C., and in Gullah revival meetings he attended on nearby James Island.  Controversy has stalked the production history of the opera that Gershwin created with DuBose Heyward, who had written the original novel and play (with his wife Dorothy) and penned lyrics with Gershwin's brother Ira.  The lavish film version was produced in the late 1950s as the civil rights movement gained momentum and a number of African-American actors turned down roles they considered demeaning.  Harry Belafonte, who refused the part of Porgy, explained, "in this period of our social development, I doubt that it is healthy to expose certain images of the Negro. In a period of calm, perhaps this picture could be viewed historically." Dissension also resulted when producer Samuel Goldwyn dismissed Rouben Mamoulian, who had directed the play and musical on Broadway, and replaced him with Otto Preminger. Produced in Todd-AO, a state-of-the-art widescreen and stereophonic sound recording process, with an all-star cast that included Sidney Poitier, Dorothy Dandridge, Sammy Davis, Jr., Pearl Bailey and Diahann Carroll, "Porgy and Bess," now considered an "overlooked masterpiece" by one contemporary scholar, rarely has been screened in the ensuing years.

The Silence of the Lambs (1991)
Jodie Foster, Sir Anthony Hopkins and director Jonathan Demme won accolades for this chilling thriller based upon a book by Thomas Harris.  Foster plays rookie FBI agent Clarice Starling who must tap into the disturbed mind of imprisoned cannibalistic serial killer Hannibal Lecter in order to aid her search for a murderer and torturer still at large.  A film whose violence is as much psychological as graphic, "Silence of the Lambs"?winner of Academy Awards for Best Picture, Director, Actor, Actress and Adapted Screenplay?has been celebrated for its superb lead performances, its blending of crime and horror genres, and its taut direction that brought to the screen one of film's greatest villains and some of its most memorable imagery.

Stand and Deliver (1988)   
Based on a true story, "Stand and Deliver" stars Edward James Olmos in an Oscar-nominated performance as crusading educator Jaime Escalante.  A math teacher in East Los Angeles, Ca., Escalante inspired his underprivileged students to undertake an intensive program in calculus, achieve high test scores, and improve their sense of self-worth.  Co-produced by Olmos and directed by Cuban-born Ramón Menéndez, "Stand and Deliver" became one of the most popular of a new wave of narrative feature films produced in the 1980s by Latino filmmakers. The film celebrates in a direct, approachable, and impactful way, values of self-betterment through hard work and power through knowledge.

Twentieth Century (1934)
A satire on the theatrical milieu and its oversized egos, "Twentieth Century" marked the first of director Howard Hawks' frenetic comedies that had leading actors of the day "make damn fools of themselves."  In Hawks' words, the genre became affectionately known as "screwball comedy." Hawks had writers Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur, who penned the original play, craft dialogue scenes in which lines overlapped as in ordinary conversations, but still remained understandable, a style he continued in later films. This sophisticated farce about the tempestuous romance of an egocentric impresario and the star he creates did not fare well on its release, but has come to be recognized as one of the era's finest film comedies, one that gave John Barrymore his last great film role and Carole Lombard her first.

War of the Worlds (1953)
Released at the height of cold-war hysteria, producer George Pal's lavishly-designed take on H. G. Wells' 1898 novel of alien invasion was provocatively transplanted from Victorian England to a mid-20th-century Southern California small town in this 1953 film version. Capitalizing on the apocalyptic paranoia of the atomic age, Barré Lyndon's screenplay wryly replaces Wells' original commentary on the British class system with religious metaphor. Directed by Byron Haskin, formerly a special effects cameraman, the critically and commercially successful film chronicles an apparent meteor crash discovered by a local scientist (Gene Barry) that turns out to be a Martian spacecraft. Gordon Jennings, who died shortly before the film's release, avoided stereotypical flying saucer-style creations in his Academy Award-winning special effects described by reviewers as soul-chilling, hackle-raising and not for the faint of heart.


Films Selected to the 2011 National Film Registry

1. Allures (1961)
2. Bambi (1942)
3. The Big Heat (1953)
4. A Computer Animated Hand (1972)
5. Crisis: Behind A Presidential Commitment (1963)
6. The Cry of the Children (1912)
7. A Cure for Pokeritis (1912)
8. El Mariachi (1992)
9. Faces (1968)
10. Fake Fruit Factory (1986)
11. Forrest Gump (1994)
12. Growing Up Female (1971)
13. Hester Street (1975)
14. I, an Actress (1977)
15. The Iron Horse (1924)
16. The Kid (1921)
17. The Lost Weekend (1945)
18. The Negro Soldier (1944)
19. Nicholas Brothers Family Home Movies (1930s-40s)
20. Norma Rae (1979)
21. Porgy and Bess (1959)
22. The Silence of the Lambs (1991)
23. Stand and Deliver (1988)
24. Twentieth Century (1934)
25. War of the Worlds (1953)

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This year, WQPT viewers will be able to ring in the New Year from one of the most famous musical streets in the world, Beale Street in Memphis, Tennessee, the home of the Blues and the birthplace of Rock & Roll.

"I decided that since we have a large Blues audience here in the Quad Cities and surrounding region and with the Mississippi Valley Blues Fest as one of our areas biggest events, that this special would be a great addition to ring in the new year," said Jerry Myers, WQPT Programming Director.

WQPT will present LIVE! Beale Street on New Year's Eve, from 11:00 p.m. to 12:30 a.m., providing a unique look at the rich history of Beale Street with live interviews and lots of great music to welcome 2012.

The broadcast includes a traditional countdown to midnight with fireworks and the dropping of the Giant Guitar. Revelers will also be invited to "come bury your blues" by dropping mementos and notes into a symbolic coffin. (Viewers at home will be able to bury their blues by emailing buryyourblues@bealestreet.com). The celebration continues after midnight.

Viewers are also invited to like the "Beale Street on New Year's Eve" Facebook page and post comments and questions during the broadcast. Some of the comments will be mentioned on the air.

LIVE! Beale Street on New Year's Eve is sponsored by Performa Entertainment, Budweiser, Beale Street Merchants Association, and The City of Memphis.

This unique New Year's Eve celebration captures the flavor, the sounds, and the story of Memphis' Beale Street. Viewers will be treated to live reports from the street, a survey of the acts currently performing on Beale, and an introduction to the Legends of Beale.

"We welcome this opportunity to share the culture, the music, and the excitement of Beale Street this New Year's Eve," said Michael J. LaBonia, WKNO's President and CEO. "And we're proud to be able to share this live experience with viewers across the region."

WQPT is a media service of Western Illinois University in Moline, Illinois.

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The Quad City Symphony Orchestra is announcing auditions for the Youth Symphony and Philharmonic Orchestras on Saturday, January 7, and Sunday, January 8, in Bergendoff Hall at Augustana College. Auditions are for new members only and open to all students grades 6-12. Audition requirements and excerpts can be downloaded at www.qcsymphony.com.

All students who wish to audition should contact Rebecca Swartz, Education and Youth Ensemble Coordinator, to schedule an audition time. She can be reached at the Symphony office at 563-322-0931 or at rswartz@qcsymphony.com.

ROCK ISLAND, IL (12/13/2011)(readMedia)-- Augustana College, in Rock Island, Ill., will present the beautiful, traditional Christmas service Lessons and Carols on Thursday, Dec. 15, at 4 p.m. and 8 p.m. in Ascension Chapel inside Founders Hall (820 38th St.). This free, public event involves many students and honors Christ's birth through songs and Scripture readings.

The Lessons and Carols service is split between nine "lessons" - biblical passages that chronologically lead to Jesus' birth - and carols performed by the student groups and the audience.

Among the students performing:

Ingrid Schneider, a First Year from Davenport, Iowa, majoring in Undecided.

Angie Cummins, a Junior from Rock Island, Ill., majoring in Communication Sciences and Disorders/Psychology.

Kaleigh Wall, a Junior from Eldridge, Iowa, majoring in Art.

The Handbell Choir, which is open to all Augustana students, will perform prelude music for the service and accompany the singing of Silent Night. The Handbell Choir is directed by Larry Peterson, campus ministries' director of music.

The Chamber Singers is a highly selective choral ensemble, which performs under the direction of Dr. Jon Hurty, professor in music and director of choral activities. They will perform an assortment of traditional and lesser known Christmas hymns, including a few with audience participation. One selection will be performed by the Augustana Men's Chamber Ensemble, under the direction of student director Cameron Carrara.

The Quad City's newest music school is now open and accepting new students for guitar, drums, bass, piano and vocal lessons.

Call 563-386-3044 or visit us at QCRockAcademy.com

On December 16th and 17th, youth choirs will once again join Nova Singers in celebrating the holiday season.  On Friday the 16th in Davenport at St. Paul Lutheran Church, the guest choir is the Sudlow Select Choir, under the direction of Kim Knoche.  On Saturday the 17th in Galesburg at First Lutheran Church, Nova will be joined by the Churchill Singing Streaks, directed by Paula Helle.  Each choir will perform their own set of music before combining with the Nova Singers for three beloved Christmas carols.  Both performances begin at 7:30pm.

Tickets will be available at the door. Admission is $16 for adults and $12 for seniors. Students are admitted free of charge. Nova Singers season tickets will still be available through this performance. Season ticket holders receive four concerts for the price of three. For information about group rates, tickets, recordings, or other Nova Singers events, call 309-341-7038, or e-mail nova@knox.edu.  Also, please take the opportunity to visit our Facebook page under the keywords 'Nova Singers.'

 

A Nova Christmas is sponsored by Miller Dredge Insurance and the Community Foundation of the Great River Bend.  Nova Singers' 2011-2012 season is partially funded by a grant from the Illinois Arts Council.

MOLINE, ILLINOIS - WQPT, Quad Cities PBS will air a holiday special Monday, December 5th at 7:00 pm featuring local gospel singers The Westbrook Singers.  The concert is the first in a series of programs supported by a grant from the Illinois Arts Council that will highlight Illinois artists.  The program will also air on December 8 at 9 pm and Christmas Day at 2:30 pm.

 

"Earlier this year the Illinois Arts Council called to offer WQPT the opportunity to create a television series that focused on artists who work out of the State of Illinois. We had been hoping to create a series like this for some time, but this grant made the dream possible," said WQPT General Manager, Rick Best.

 

The series titled "Artists in Profile" is set to begin airing in early 2012 and will include three specials. The first one "A Westbrook Singers Christmas" and a second Westbrook gospel concert scheduled for March along with a concert by the Bucktown Revue. In addition there will be 10 half hour programs. "So far we have interviewed 10 artists of every kind and taped the three specials" said WQPT producer, Lora Adams.  "Our idea was to talk about how artists are inspired and educated," Adams said adding "WQPT had been trying for several years to find the funding to capture the remarkable voices of the Westbrook Singers and now we have." The Westbrook Singers website calls them "An extraordinary group - brother & sisters - dedicated to the spread of Gospel music in a style that is both contemporary and traditional."

 

All of the concerts were taped over a three day period at Fusion Communications.  "We were so fortunate to have had Capri College come in and provide hair and make-up services to the casts and to Foster Family Music who lent us a really gorgeous piano," said Adams.  Lighting for the concerts was designed by Butch Bos and Jeff Lyle and audio recording was done by Lars Rehnberg. Camera operators were Adam Less, Cody Lambert, Todd Steffens, Chris Ryder and Mike Lambert.  "We hope people will tune in and enjoy the concert" said Best.

 

WQPT is a media service of Western Illinois University located in Moline, Illinois.

 

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