River Cities Reader - Issue 804 - May 10, 2012

River Cities’ Reader • Vol. 19 No. 804 • May 10 - 23, 2012� Business • Politics • Arts • Culture • Now You Know • RiverCitiesReader.com

River Cities’ Reader • Vol. 19 No. 804 • May 10 - 23, 2012 �Business • Politics • Arts • Culture • Now You Know • RiverCitiesReader.com

to give up, to grant on a permanent basis.The implications of switching these words

are staggering. By replacing critical words in court rulings, the laws’ meanings are subverted through language alone, and not by consent of the governed. It is a critical distinction, and Americans must look to correct these subtle manipulations using peaceful legal tools, such as nullification and interposition.

I urge you to watch the video on YouTube of a lecture titled Untangling Jurisdiction on Federal Land by Stephen Pratt (RCReader.com/y/pratt). He gives an entertaining and thorough recap of the U.S. Constitution’s structure and delegation of powers. The video is Pratt’s presentation to the Western States Sheriffs' Association convention in March. In addition to more than a hundred county sheriffs, there were federal-government attorneys from various agencies in the audience, keen on hearing firsthand Pratt’s analysis of the history of nullification and interposition against unlawful federal-government intrusion.

History, conveniently left out of most of academia’s curricula today, proves that the obscene amount of power the current federal government wields is largely usurped from the states. Therefore it is up to the individual states to reclaim their authority by routinely invoking nullification and interposition. Suggested links to better understand nullification include RCReader.com/y/amendement10 and RCReader.com/y/woods.

Counties have the same nullification/interposition authority as the states. If a county decides the state or federal government is acting outside the U.S. and/or state constitution, the county’s sheriff has the authority to interpose and protect citizens whose rights are being violated. There is much to be said for elected officials who actually understand their oath of office and follow it. Sadly, too few challenge the status quo in fear of losing their pension or gold-plated benefits. Most Americans know things are going terribly wrong, but far too few are active in fixing it.

Introduce yourself to your sheriff and ask about his or her oath of office. Ask: If the state or the feds violate your rights, will he or she protect you? Attend your county-board and city-council meetings (much more goes on than you are told by the media); familiarize yourself with your state, county, and city charters; run for an office; contribute research on an issue that interests you; explore additional alternative media sources for your national and international news; start watching C-SPAN.

There are hundreds if not thousands of ways to get involved. Just start with one ... today.

by Kathleen [email protected]

WORDS FROM THE EDITOR

Start Thinking Solutions or Stop Thinking You Matter

It is a deeply painful thing to finally admit that the government you thought was your protector and friend is anything but. Or

that the politicians charged with upholding the U.S. Constitution – as their oaths dictate by law – not only ignore this nonnegotiable man-date but actually diminish it with conflicting legislation that is largely illegal according to the constructs of America’s republic under the rule of common law.

The common law I refer to is informed by the Magna Carta, which developed around two core principles that provide the litmus test for all legislation: (1) Do all you have agreed to do (contract law), and (2) Do no harm to another or his property (criminal law).

All kinds of statutes, administrative procedure, and highly arbitrary regulations have been passed via hidden legislation among hundreds of thousands of pages of bills, approved but not even read by our lawmakers, that do not remotely conform to the above two principles. How many statutes and regulations are adjudicated in criminal and/or civil court without harm to another or another’s property? Most adjudication today is nothing more than a means for government and attorneys to generate revenue in the form of penalties and fees for an exhaustive list of contrived violations that harm no one.

By ignoring our political and civic responsibilities for far too long, we have given the 1 Percent – which includes a relatively small group of primary leaders from the world’s largest industries, in partnership with the few entrenched politicians and bureaucrats – the foothold necessary to implement a global agenda to control the world’s resources (water, food, energy, labor, and credit – the list is long).

In Mockingjay, the sequel to The Hunger Games, the character Plutarch cites an ancient Latin writer in comparing the population in the Capitol to Romans as “Panem et Circenses,” explaining that it “translates into ‘Bread and Circuses’ ... that in return for full bellies and entertainment, his people had given up their political responsibilities, and therefore their power.”

Sound familiar? Have Americans not done this precise thing? The U.S. Constitution “delegates” specific and limited powers to the government, while the states and people retain the authority. But the courts have replaced the word “delegate” with the word “surrender” in many of their interpretations when applying the Constitution to our laws. “Delegate” and “surrender” have very different meanings; “delegate” means to send in trust in commission to act for another on a temporary basis, while “surrender” means to yield, to cede,

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ILLINOIS POLITICS

Call it “Blagojevich Lite,” or whatever else you want, but it became pretty darned clear last week that the attor-

neys for state Representative Derrick Smith are planning the same sort of mockery of the system that Rod Blagojevich’s legal team did during those dark days after the former governor’s arrest.

“While I have been troubled to experience the shenanigans being played by the FBI, to lean on people around me and to get them to say bad things about me, I will not cower,” Smith (D-Chicago) told reporters after he pleaded not guilty to federal bribery charges. Never mind the fact that nowhere in the arrest report or indictment is there any reference to anybody saying “bad things” about him.

Smith also claimed that the people of his district “elected” him on March 20 because, he said, “they believed in me.” Yeah, right. Okay: The voters gave him the Democratic nomination despite the fact that he’d been arrested because party leaders warned them that Smith was up against a white, very conservative Republican activist posing as a Democrat. Many of those same Democratic leaders are now calling for Smith’s resignation.

Smith’s pledge to never “cower” in the face of the federal prosecution was right out of the former governor’s defiant playbook. Blagojevich loudly declared his complete innocence, vowed to fight to the end, said he’d been persecuted by the establishment, and once even challenged the U.S. attorney to a manliness contest. Right up until he checked himself into federal prison to serve a 14-year term, he said the coppers had the wrong guy. (Smith, by the way, is now looking at 10 years in a federal penitentiary.)

But it was one of Smith’s attorneys, Victor Henderson, who really brought Blagojevich to mind. Henderson told reporters that Smith was entrapped, but the lawyer’s evidence of this entrapment was an allegedly phony government Web site and a fictitious day-care-center operator. That’s hardly proof of entrapment; actually, it’s standard sting-operation stuff.

And, frankly, doesn’t claiming Smith was entrapped into accepting a $7,000 cash bribe mean he and his lawyers are all but

admitting that he took the money? And if he did take the cash, isn’t that enough right there to expel him from office? The House doesn’t have to consider whether Smith is guilty under state or federal criminal statutes. This is not about criminality. It’s

about politics. According to the chamber’s Rule 89, the House merely has to establish “disorderly behavior” by the offending member. That isn’t a very high bar. Theoretically, the House could expel a member for spitting on the sidewalk if two-thirds of the

members wanted to. Henderson did make a good point

about the FBI failing to tell a judge of its informant’s extensive criminal record, but he gave the strongest indication yet that he planned to disrupt and distract the process from beginning to end when he quoted anti-Nazi Lutheran Pastor Martin Niemoller’s immortal poem about moral cowardice during the Holocaust: “First they came for the communists, and I didn’t speak out because I wasn’t a communist. Then they came for the trade unionists, and I didn’t speak out because I wasn’t a trade unionist. Then they came for the Jews, and I didn’t speak out because I wasn’t a Jew. Then they came for me, and there was no one left to speak out for me.”

“Today it’s Derrick Smith,” Henderson told reporters, according to Chicago Public Radio. “Who is it tomorrow?”

Needless to say, invoking the Holocaust to defend a client accused of taking a cash bribe is more than a bit much. But now that the House Special Investigating Committee has allowed Smith and his legal team more than enough time to get their feet underneath them by continually postponing the inevitable, we can probably expect a lot more crud like this.

Henderson told Illinois Issues that his client plans to testify at future House hearings. The next one is scheduled for Thursday, May 10.

If Henderson was telling the truth about Smith testifying, we can all expect an embarrassing circus.

Rich Miller also publishes Capitol Fax (a daily political newsletter) and CapitolFax.com.

by Rich MillerCapitolFax.com

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Disaster Tales Are Shared in Titanic Aftermath, May 11 through 20 at the Playcrafters Barn TheatreOne Story, Many Voices

by Mike [email protected]

As Oregon-based play-wright Michael Wehrli is the author of Titanic

Aftermath – the historical drama being staged at Moline’s Playcraft-ers Barn Theatre May 11 through 20 – I initially presume that he’s seen James Cameron’s Oscar-winning movie. In our April 25 phone interview, he tells me he has, and that it was even the inspiration for his play.

That’s not exactly the compliment it might seem, though, considering he calls Cameron’s Titanic “visually stunning and incredibly, maddeningly frustrating because of the fictional characters.

“I mean, they took up half the story,” says Wehrli of the young lovers played by Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet, “and it was the actual survivors’ stories, to me, that were ... interesting. That, and the corporate-negligence side to the tragedy, which is hardly ever addressed in dramatic form.

“So I thought, ‘All right, well, I’m just going to write a play about all this.’” Wehrli laughs. “‘How the hell do I do that?’”

The answer, in both the play’s scope and effectiveness (certainly on paper), is “grandly.”

Written in 2000 and then slightly revised by Wehrli for its 2010 publication, Titanic Aftermath goes straight to the sources for its narrative, offering recollections from the luxury liner’s survivors – and those considered responsible for the ship’s 1912 sinking – taken directly from transcripts of the disaster’s U.S. Senate hearings and British inquiry.

Consequently, if you feel overly familiar with the Titanic story through Cameron’s 1997 movie – or the numerous TV programs, exhibits, and events (including Titanic’s 3D re-release) scheduled in this centennial year of the disaster – there will no doubt be details here to newly capture your attention. Such as the fact that more adult, male, first-class passengers were rescued than third-class-passenger children. Or the fact that even in the reported 31-degree temperatures of the Atlantic Ocean, it was possible to be boiled alive from the heat emanating from the downed ship. Or

the discovery that infants on the Titanic’s lifeboats had to be hauled aboard rescue ships in nets and gunny sacks.

Yet while the tales told are fascinating and frequently wrenching, Titanic Aftermath is far more than a mere history lesson delivered by a series of talking heads. It’s also a supremely theatrical exploration of the Titanic’s sinking and its legacy, boasting representational re-creations of the lifeboat rescues and carnage, scenes of the dead communing with the living, and a cast of 24 portraying more than 110 characters among them.

Plus, there are the play’s technical aspects. “Would you believe we have 279 light cues?” says Titanic Aftermath director Paul Workman, who adds that Playcrafters’ production also employs voice-overs recorded by the cast and dozens of sound effects. “We’re hoping it’s going to be pretty epic.”

Still, for all of Titanic Aftermath’s thematic and presentational grandeur, Wehrli says that ultimately, “what I really wanted was for the people who died to finally have a voice.”

25 Years of Guilt Wehrli, who has served as artistic and

education director for Portland’s New Moon Productions Theatre Company since 1994 and has written or adapted 18 professionally produced plays, says that he began his work on Titanic Aftermath

by “going into research mode, and shutting myself in my room for about three months.

“I delved into all the Titanic books,” he continues, “and a lot of information came from Walter Lord’s The Night Lives on, which was his follow-up to A Night to Remember,” the 1955 Titanic novel that inspired the equally famed 1958 film.

“But amazingly, even back in 2000, some obsessive person also typed out everything from the 1912 Senate hearings and British inquiry. So I was able to download, into a Word document, all 2,200 pages of that, which made it incredibly easy to just cut and paste all the information that I found interesting into separate documents. I would have one document that was just lifeboat stories, and one with stories of people shooting people, and so on.”

Yet while Wehrli eventually amassed more than enough technical information, testimony, and anecdotes to justify a full-length play, he didn’t have a presentational concept for Titanic Aftermath until continued reading and re-reading made him realize “it all kept coming back to Ismay.”

J. Bruce Ismay, the Englishman who served as chair and managing director of the White Star Line of steamships, became instantly notorious after surviving the Titanic’s doomed maiden voyage, vilified for abandoning ship while women and children were still aboard,

and for the many shortcuts the company took regarding safety precautions. (Among dozens of examples: More than 2,200 passengers were aboard the Titanic, but even if filled to capacity, the ship’s 20 lifeboats could only carry 1,178.) Consequently, Wehrli believed that a Titanic tale featuring Ismay as its central figure had considerable potential.

“It’s not that I wanted a story that implied everything was solely his fault,” says the playwright. “But as a figurehead of this company, I thought that in a dramatic form, he could kind of answer for many people who were responsible. And his story is so interesting, because his father started the White Star Line, and then Ismay was forced out in 1913, and then he spent about 25 years in seclusion ... .

“So I thought, ‘Well, here’s a perfect character. What would it be like to live with 25 years of guilt?’ Because as much as I was unhappy with Ismay’s choices, I also wanted his side to be heard. He was a human being, you know? He was just as traumatized as anybody else by that evening.”

Titanic Aftermath finds the entirety of the stage action taking place, as Wehrli says, “in Ismay’s head,” with the anguished, long-retired man (played, in Playcrafters’ production, by Pat Flaherty) imagining himself again forced to stand trial for his part in the disaster. It also features three dreamlike characters who interact with Ismay and represent different groups of passengers who perished, referred to in the script as First Class (Pamela Crouch), Third Class (Anastasiya Newkirk), and Officer (Josh Kahn).

“I wanted to find a dramatic form where I could have people who could reasonably take Ismay to task,” says Wehrli, “and it just seemed to me that people who did not survive the ship would have a sort of omnipotent-narrator knowledge. It’s a device to be able to tell the story, but it allowed me, through their voices, to reveal information and express things that they wouldn’t necessarily know.”

Wehrli’s employment of these representative figures also fit with the

COVER STORY

Bryan Woods, Angela Rathman, Stephanie Moeller, Randy Pribyl, Molly Schmelzer, Faith Hardacre,and Mike Kelly in Playcrafters’ Titanic Aftermath

Continued On Page 17


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Crayon Art, Kitchen Sink IncludedKonrad, Shadow Boxing; Performing May 11 at Rozz-Tox

by Jeff [email protected]

Jeffrey Konrad’s Shadow Boxing, his second “official” release under the

name Konrad, is all over a pop map written mostly in crayon, with keyboard cheese and drum machines aplenty. If the album weren’t so layered and carefully constructed, it would be an easy mistake to dismiss many songs as amateurish outsider art pro-duced largely on a synthesizer.

The wrongheadedness of that should be evident solely from “Hang-Ups,” which foregos electronics entirely for a poignant, country-tinged ballad that recalls Neil Young in its instrumentation and sleepy vibe. The two-line chorus is plainspoken but clear, with understated vocals that capture a character both self-aware and lost: “Getting over you has been difficult / ’Cause I’m faking it through my future.” The verses are loaded with phrases both cryptic and evocative – “Open season on the polygraph,” “Shadow-boxing with the angel of death.”

“Hang-Ups” is exceptional in two senses: outstanding and an outlier. Closing track “Luxury of Wishful Peace” follows its lead down a lovely chamber-pop hallway, while “Puppet Strings” – dominated by a sitar guitar, fiddle, and tabla – is another aberration, a stew blending Indian and Celtic flavors.

These songs help contextualize the remainder of Shadow Boxing, dominated by exercises in plasticized pop. I don’t intend that term as derogatory: Konrad’s heavy, willfully excessive use of synthesized sounds is not a crutch but a largely successful artistic choice.

In a recent phone interview, the Quad Cities musician said he crafted the songs “freestyle,” composing them in the studio. He said he starts with a few parts, and “after a few layers get down, a melody will pretty much just pop into my head. And I’ll record the melody with mock lyrics right then and there, so then I’ll

have the melody.” That process, he said, is drawn from jazz improv – using chords and harmonies as the ground from which melodies spring.

He said he then builds on top of that – usually exhausting Pro Tools’ 32 available tracks – before scaling things back.

As you might expect, the album is exceedingly dense. Konrad isn’t blending like things as often as he’s combining wildly different components. Lead track “All You Thought” manages to make even its organic elements (trumpet and trombone) sound synthetic, while the lyrics – sung with a stiff but eager earnestness – seem like a socially inept mating call, as if generated by a robot with no grasp of figurative speech: “Then we can go home and get in your neck.” The song has a winning awkwardness, both musically and lyrically: “Are you all torn out of shape? ’Cause if you are, I’ve got tape.”

That’s followed by the innocently horny “So Who Are You?”, and its narrator seems only slightly more adept at human interaction. But again the musical setting and words are charmingly vivid: “I’m going oo-oo crazy as a break-dancing ghost.”

“Klairvoyance” is an environmental call

to action that’s at once optimistic and dystopian, with its futuristic sonic textures drawn deeply from the past; on a musical level, it’s everywhere but the present. Konrad’s words seem ironically, bitterly bleak: “Our parents did a pretty good job / Teachers did a mighty fine job / Politicians did a swell job / Of ruining our planet.” But it’s fundamentally positive, with its opening – “I can see the future / The planet’s okay / Never mind what they say on TV” – confident in a revolution.

Somewhere between the straightforward, conventional “Hang-Ups” and the aggressively processed tracks are a few songs that seek a middle ground. “Sticks & Stones” and “Time Is After,” for example, try to have it both ways, and they never

quite reconcile their equally weighted dual natures.

The Beatles cover “I’m Only Sleeping” works better, with thick snakes of chunky, synthesized melodies nearly devouring the source material. “Silence Inside Us” employs a similar approach in a more aggressive rock context, with the electronic elements freaking out and steamrolling an otherwise perfectly serviceable song.

Shadow Boxing is, in other words, hardly a unified whole – and that often applies to its individual songs as well as the entirety. But there’s a distinct, strong artistic voice throughout, one that for worse but usually better has no self-censorship mechanism. Konrad typically employs an everything-including-the-kitchen-sink approach, but he’s got the conviction and the ear to make it work.

Konrad will perform on Friday, May 11, at Rozz-Tox (2108 Third Avenue in Rock Island). Doors open at 7 p.m., and the show also includes Cowboy Indian Bear and Centaur Noir. Admission is $5.

For more information on Konrad, visit KonradMusic.net.

Vol. 1� · No. �0�May 10 - ��, �01�

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MUSIC

River Cities’ Reader • Vol. 19 No. 804 • May 10 - 23, 201210 Business • Politics • Arts • Culture • Now You Know • RiverCitiesReader.com

terrific telling of The Pillowman, with Fairchild handling McDonagh’s eloquent, punchy script with exceptional sensitivity and faithfulness, and the performers clearly relishing the chance to play figures of such richly drawn, sometimes shocking complexity.

As Tapuski, the (usually) soft-spoken interrogator whose role as the professed “good cop” is convincing for all of 15 seconds, Matt Mercer is fabulously reptilian, tossing off his insinuations and threats with a comically blasé nonchalance that hints at the reservoirs of disgust

and sadism lurking beneath. (When those reservoirs spill over, though, watch out: So often cast as friendly and genial types, Mercer delivers an incensed outburst here to shake the ceiling.) Playing Tupolski’s opposite number – the hotheaded bad-ass Ariel, whose exterior ferocity masks a levelheaded and fundamentally decent soul – Jason Platt demonstrates his trademark nuance and emotional accessibility, and his inspiring ability to express reams of character detail sometimes through a mere sentence, or even a mere look. (My one caveat regarding Platt’s superb work here – one that only comes from my familiarity with the script – lies in his tendency to break up Ariel’s lines with added vocal pauses such as “um” and “uh,” which effectively demonstrates thought and makes his deliveries sound naturalistic, but also significantly alters McDonagh’s text and rhythms.)

Portraying the damaged, childlike Michal with lovely simplicity, Ed Villarreal has a faraway sadness about him, yet manages to suggest a deep, and deeply troubling, inner peace during his more nightmarish confessions. (Michal also delivers much of The Pillowman’s less discomforting humor, though Fairchild’s staging of Villarreal’s “itchy ass” routines feels like an attempt to insert broad laughs into a production that really shouldn’t have any.) And he develops a touching rapport with Dexter Brigham, who gives an intensely intelligent, forceful performance as Katurian – empathetic, pitiful, resourceful, cagey – and whose wickedly macabre fables, delivered directly to the audience with the hypnotic grace of a master orator, are the highlights of the show. The District Theatre’s The Pillowman is a more-than-respectable take on supremely challenging material. During Brigham’s fiendishly entertaining asides, it’s the stage equivalent of sitting around a campfire as a little kid, and listening to ghost stories that creep the bejeezus out of you.

The Pillowman runs at the District Theatre (1611 Second Avenue, Rock Island) through May 12, and more information and tickets are available by calling (309)235-1654 or visiting DistrictTheatre.com.

THEATRE

On April 26, the District Theatre debuted a most admirable, impressive production of Martin McDonagh’s The Pillowman, a

play boasting numerous surprises both major and minor. Yet if the reactions of a few of the evening’s audience members are to be trusted, it might be necessary to spoil a few right off the bat.

To begin with, while this dramatic thriller could also be accurately described as the darkest of dark comedies, it’s not so much “ha ha” funny as “heh heh heh heh heh ... ” funny. There are punchlines (and they’re beauties) in McDonagh’s tale of a writer being interrogated for the murders of two local youths – horrific killings that mirror the stories told in a pair of the author’s gruesome children’s fables. But those punchlines are incidental to the sick-joke narrative twists and the escalating sense that as bad as things get for The Pillowman’s tortured lead, they’re gonna get worse; generally speaking, your laughter here is nervous laughter ... a point that would’ve perhaps been useful to April 26’s front-row patrons who occasionally cackled at inappropriate times and left during the show’s first intermission.

Which brings us to the fact that there is a first intermission, with another landing roughly an hour later. Running two hours and 45 minutes in director James Fairchild’s presentation, McDonagh’s outstanding four-man play actually requires that length, given its constant, chilling reversals of character and expectation and lengthy, beautifully written recitations. But considering the understandable paucity of movement and the intentionally (and persuasively) grim, oppressive set design and lighting by scenic artists Susan Holgersson and Charles T. Knudsen, nearly three hours can be a long haul. Especially if patrons are put off by grotesque descriptions and/or on-stage acts of violence and/or spiky language ... as, apparently, were the Pillowman attendees who left during the show’s second intermission.

Add to that Thursday’s gradually diminished audience a couple of coughing fits during quietly intense monologues and a patron (not, to my knowledge, a reviewer) who flipped and tore pieces of notebook paper with unbecoming aggression, and Fairchild’s cast deserved major props for pulling through, and emerging victorious, under less-than-ideal circumstances. My guess is that the evening’s annoyances, in all likelihood, did take their toll; despite giving strong performances, the actors stumbled over too many lines for it to be ignored, and a few important moments – primarily the kicker to abused author Katurian’s rendezvous with his brother Michal – felt unduly rushed, and as a result were less gut-wrenching than they should’ve been. Yet this remained a rather


Torture Chamber PlayThe Pillowman, at the District Theatre through May 12

Ed Villarreal and Dexter Brigham

River Cities’ Reader • Vol. 19 No. 804 • May 10 - 23, 2012 11Business • Politics • Arts • Culture • Now You Know • RiverCitiesReader.com

THE AVENGERSPrior to its national release, the

scuttlebutt on The Avengers seemed to be that the Hulk totally stole the show. Having now seen director Joss Whedon’s long-awaited, cinematic commingling of Marvel superheroes, I’m inclined to agree, because the angry green giant has been granted two fantastically unexpected, legitimately great moments in the film, and that’s at least one more than anyone else has been given.

Odin knows there are random pleasures to be found in this hugely scaled comic-book adventure: Tom Hiddleston’s grinning malevolence as the Avengers’ chief adversary; the enormous wormhole that unleashes destructive, metallic, neighborhood-sized worms; Iron Man alter ego Tony Stark casually insulting the Norse god Thor by calling him “Point Break.” Yet in general, and aside from the climax’s two lightning-fast “Hulk smash!” encounters that elicited deserved cackles and applause at my screening, I found Whedon’s action extravaganza so depressingly by-the-numbers that it caused me to briefly nod off halfway through ... which is actually easy to do when a movie gives you almost nothing but exactly what you expect from it.

To be fair, even with that master of cleverness Whedon also serving as screenwriter, I wasn’t anticipating much novelty from his narrative, which concerns our costumed heroes’ efforts to prevent Hiddleston’s demigod Loki from possessing a gleaming cube of self-sustaining energy and using it to destroy

the world. (It’s a comic-book movie, so banality and vagueness pretty much come with the territory.) But I had hoped that Whedon, who shares a “story by” credit with Zak Penn, would at least tinker with his genre’s traditional beats and rhythms in playful, unusual ways – that the assembling of Iron Man, Thor, Captain America, the Hulk, and the rest for one magnum opus wouldn’t feel like an overstuffed version of every superhero spectacle you’ve ever seen. Unfortunately, though, the movie’s arc plays out with dispiriting familiarity – there’s nothing about The Avengers’ storyline that wasn’t effectively skewered by Trey Parker and Matt Stone in 2004’s Team America: World Police – and for all the minor amusement generated by the Avengers’ internal squabbles, the characters prove less entertaining as a unit than they’ve been in solo vehicles. (As for the characters who haven’t yet had solo vehicles, I’m kind of hoping that neither Scarlett Johansson’s Black Widow nor Jeremy Renner’s Hawkeye have film franchises on the horizon, as the actors – both uncharacteristically dull – really don’t do anything in The Avengers that they don’t do on the film’s poster.)

By now, of course, the Iron Man and Tony Stark roles fit Robert Downey Jr. as snugly as spandex, but his endless quips and put-downs here have a rote, been-there/blithely-disregarded-that quality, and robbed

of his fish-out-of-water humor and much of his raging narcissism, Chris Hemsworth’s Thor isn’t allowed to be the bold, brash, winning comedian he was a year ago. Acting as his motley crew’s resident straight

man, Chris Evans’ Captain America – who, in last summer’s solo hit, was already pretty one-note – is little more than a blandly patriotic cipher, slightly less interesting than his titanium-plated shield. (The accessory proves even more powerful than Thor’s hammer, a discovery that, for me, was one of the film’s only true surprises.) And while I loved the casting of Mark Ruffalo as the Hulk’s mild-mannered-by-necessity alter ego Bruce Banner – Ruffalo’s feather-light deliveries suggest, ironically, a man without a mean bone in his body – there’s only so much a performer can bring to a film when all of his character’s best scenes are played by pixels.

The action is generically loud and chaotic; the effects are overwhelming yet fundamentally meaningless. But the biggest bummer about The Avengers is that is displays so little personality – even the returning figures played by Samuel L. Jackson, Stellan Skarsgård, Gwyneth Paltrow, and the wonderfully crisp Clark Gregg get lost in the blockbuster-minded melee of it all – and so little willingness to deviate from formula. No wonder the Hulk’s pair

of hysterically quick, retaliatory smack-downs get such a rise out of us; they’re practically the only moments in Whedon’s film in which, like the hapless recipients of those blows, you actually can’t predict what’s about to hit you.

BULLYI couldn’t be more grateful to area

bookers for finally securing the release of Bully, director Lee Hirsch’s deeply troubling, deeply touching anti-bullying documentary that was infamously given an R rating by the Motion Picture Association of America for a few utterances of the “F” word. (Thanks to continued appeals, public outcry, and a slight trimming of material, the film’s rating was overturned to a PG-13.) But while I urge audiences of all ages to catch this empathetic, occasionally harrowing look at the perils of its subject matter, I do question the logic of opening Bully on the same weekend as The Avengers. In our current culture, aren’t the kids who attend Hirsch’s movie instead of that box-office phenomenon – the movie that, you know, only a loser wouldn’t see – destined to be unfairly singled out for ridicule? I have a word for this situation, but I’m thinking the MPAA wouldn’t like it much.

For reviews of The Five-Year Engagement, The Pirates! Band of Misfits, The Raven, Safe, and other current releases, visit RCReader.com.

Follow Mike on Twitter at Twitter.com/MikeSchulzNow.

by Mike Schulz • [email protected] Mike Schulz • [email protected]

Listen to Mike every Friday at �am on ROCK 10�-� FM with Dave & Darren

Movie Reviews by Mike Schulz • [email protected]

Power Surge

Chris Evans and Chris Hemsworth in The Avengers


What’s Happenin’

ExhibitDavid Plowden’s IowaFigge Art MuseumSaturday, May 12, through Sunday, August 26

From May 12 through August 26, the Figge Art Museum will host the

exhibition David Plowden’s Iowa, a collection of photographs of Iowans and their communities taken during a 20-year period.

Over the course of a career that has thus far lasted half a century, Plowden has devoted himself to photographing scenes of small-town and rural America, with his beautiful, evocative black-and-white images – such as 2004’s Grain Elevators, Manson, Iowa (pictured) – offering fascinating contrasts in darkness and light, decline

and growth, and nostalgia and progress.

Plowden is a 1955 graduate of Yale University and has held teaching positions at the University of Iowa, the University of Baltimore, and the Illinois Institute of Technology’s Institute of Design.

He has served on the New York State Council on the Arts, has had works commissioned by Columbia University, and in 1968 was the recipient of the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Fellowship.

He has produced 20 books of photographic artwork, and has been the subject of articles in Modern Photography, Popular Photography, and Time magazine.

He’s included among the entries in Who’s Who in America and Who’s Who in the World, and

was the subject of an Emmy Award-winning biographical documentary titled David Plowden: Light, Shadow, & Form.

And samples of his work are on permanent display in the Art Institute of Chicago, the Smithsonian Institution, and the Library of Congress.

So I’ll admit it: When I first learned that the Figge’s latest exhibit was titled David Plowden’s Iowa, I thought it sounded a little ... overly possessive, like David Plowden owned the entire state of Iowa. Now I’m thinking that Plowden deserves to own anything he wants.

An artist’s reception for David Plowden’s Iowa – featuring a discussion and book-signing with the photographer – will begin at 6 p.m. on Thursday, May 17, and more information on the exhibition is available by calling (563)326-7804 or visiting FiggeArt.org.

DanceThe Sleeping BeautyAdler TheatreSaturday, May 19, 1 & 7 p.m.

Ballet Quad Cities will present a brand-new take on Tchaikovsky’s legendary

fairy-tale ballet The Sleeping Beauty at the Adler Theatre on May 19, and for fellow admirers of the organization, here’s the bittersweet news: The production will mark the last performance for the phenomenally gifted Jacob Lyon as a full-time company member, as the man graduates from St. Ambrose University with a BA in chemistry this month and will pursue his master’s degree at the University of Iowa this fall.

So for area ballet fans, that’s the “bitter” portion. The “sweet” is that Jacob and his wife – Ballet Quad Cities Artistic Director Courtney Lyon – will continue to reside in the Quad Cities, meaning that one day, we’ll likely be treated to a return performance by one of the world’s few en pointe chemists.

In the meantime, Jacob is lending his talents to the role of the prince in The Sleeping Beauty, which boasts original choreography by Courtney but is roughly half the running length of Tchaikovsky’s original three- to four-hour ballet. “What you traditionally see,” says Courtney of the ballet’s now-excised Act III, “is a huge, grand wedding scene. But once the prince goes through all he goes through to find Sleeping Beauty, and kisses her, and wakes her up, it’s pretty much implied that they

live happily ever after. I don’t think we have to see that scene.”

Courtney says that other differences between Tchaikovsky’s 1890 work and Ballet Quad Cities’ interpretation include the removal of a quartet of dancing fairies in the christening sequence, slight tweaks to the narrative, and the changing of the evil-fairy character Carabosse from a man in drag to a man sans drag, portrayed here by Jason Gomez.

But with leading roles also being danced by company members Emily Kate Long (as Sleeping Beauty) and Margaret Huling (as the Good Fairy of the Forest), Courtney says that her Sleeping Beauty still “honors the integrity of the original ballet and the gorgeous music and the fairy tale itself.” And adding that the story’s appeal lies in it being “a classic story of good versus evil,” she states, “I kind of hope I keep you on the edge of your seat while you’re wondering which way it’s gonna go.”

Performances of May 19’s The Sleeping Beauty will take place at 1 and 7 p.m., and tickets are available by calling (800)745-3000 or visiting AdlerTheatre.com or BalletQuadCities.com.

MusicClutchRock Island Brewing CompanyThursday, May 10, 8 p.m.

The hard-rock and funk-metal musicians of Clutch take the stage at the Rock Island

Brewing Company on May 10, and the band’s many hit songs over its history include “The Regulator,” which was played over the closing credits of a recent Walking Dead episode, and the tongue-in-cheek “Release the Kraken,” which features a heroic figure called Useless the Younger. These guys dig zombies and goof on Clash of the Titans? No wonder they’ve got so many fans.

Composed of lead vocalist Neil Fallon, guitarist Tim Sult, bassist Dan Maines, and percussionist Jean-Paul Gaster, Clutch has actually been wowing fans for more than 20 years. Having released nine studio albums, five live albums, and two compilation albums since 1990 – and continuing to appear as hugely popular headliners for music festivals ranging from Bonnaroo to the United Kingdom’s Download festival – the group has scored legions

of admirers for their propulsive energy and innovative riffs, with a Clutch concert described by Fallon as “a party atmosphere.”

So, quiz fans, let’s party! Try completing the Clutch song titles above by inserting the appropriate word.

Clutch performs on May 10 with special guests Kyng and Monstro, and more information on the concert is available by calling (309)793-4060 or visiting RIBCO.com.

Answers: 1 – E, 2 – D, 3 – B, 4 – A, 5 – C, 6 – F. Though the other titles get a lot funnier if you insert “elephant” into them, too.

River Cities’ Reader • Vol. 19 No. 804 • May 10 - 23, 2012 1�

ExhibitDavid Plowden’s IowaFigge Art MuseumSaturday, May 12, through Sunday, August 26

From May 12 through August 26, the Figge Art Museum will host the

exhibition David Plowden’s Iowa, a collection of photographs of Iowans and their communities taken during a 20-year period.

Over the course of a career that has thus far lasted half a century, Plowden has devoted himself to photographing scenes of small-town and rural America, with his beautiful, evocative black-and-white images – such as 2004’s Grain Elevators, Manson, Iowa (pictured) – offering fascinating contrasts in darkness and light, decline

and growth, and nostalgia and progress.

Plowden is a 1955 graduate of Yale University and has held teaching positions at the University of Iowa, the University of Baltimore, and the Illinois Institute of Technology’s Institute of Design.

He has served on the New York State Council on the Arts, has had works commissioned by Columbia University, and in 1968 was the recipient of the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Fellowship.

He has produced 20 books of photographic artwork, and has been the subject of articles in Modern Photography, Popular Photography, and Time magazine.

He’s included among the entries in Who’s Who in America and Who’s Who in the World, and

was the subject of an Emmy Award-winning biographical documentary titled David Plowden: Light, Shadow, & Form.

And samples of his work are on permanent display in the Art Institute of Chicago, the Smithsonian Institution, and the Library of Congress.

So I’ll admit it: When I first learned that the Figge’s latest exhibit was titled David Plowden’s Iowa, I thought it sounded a little ... overly possessive, like David Plowden owned the entire state of Iowa. Now I’m thinking that Plowden deserves to own anything he wants.

An artist’s reception for David Plowden’s Iowa – featuring a discussion and book-signing with the photographer – will begin at 6 p.m. on Thursday, May 17, and more information on the exhibition is available by calling (563)326-7804 or visiting FiggeArt.org.

MusicClutchRock Island Brewing CompanyThursday, May 10, 8 p.m.

The hard-rock and funk-metal musicians of Clutch take the stage at the Rock Island

Brewing Company on May 10, and the band’s many hit songs over its history include “The Regulator,” which was played over the closing credits of a recent Walking Dead episode, and the tongue-in-cheek “Release the Kraken,” which features a heroic figure called Useless the Younger. These guys dig zombies and goof on Clash of the Titans? No wonder they’ve got so many fans.

Composed of lead vocalist Neil Fallon, guitarist Tim Sult, bassist Dan Maines, and percussionist Jean-Paul Gaster, Clutch has actually been wowing fans for more than 20 years. Having released nine studio albums, five live albums, and two compilation albums since 1990 – and continuing to appear as hugely popular headliners for music festivals ranging from Bonnaroo to the United Kingdom’s Download festival – the group has scored legions

of admirers for their propulsive energy and innovative riffs, with a Clutch concert described by Fallon as “a party atmosphere.”

So, quiz fans, let’s party! Try completing the Clutch song titles above by inserting the appropriate word.

Clutch performs on May 10 with special guests Kyng and Monstro, and more information on the concert is available by calling (309)793-4060 or visiting RIBCO.com.

Answers: 1 – E, 2 – D, 3 – B, 4 – A, 5 – C, 6 – F. Though the other titles get a lot funnier if you insert “elephant” into them, too.


What Else Is Happenin’

Continued On Page 16

MUSICThursday, May 10 – Trace Adkins.

Chart-topping country-music star in his “Songs & Stories” tour. Adler Theatre (136 East Third Street, Davenport). 7:30 p.m. $35-52. For tickets, call (800)745-3000 or visit AdlerTheatre.com.

Friday, May 11 – The Kris Lager Band. Blues, soul, and rock musicians in concert, with an opening set by The Candymakers. The Redstone Room (129 Main Street, Davenport). 9 p.m. $10. For tickets and information, call (563)326-1333 or visit RiverMusicExperience.org.

Friday, May 11 – Konrad. Independent singer/songwriter and electronic musician in his record-release show, with openers Cowboy Indian Bear and Centaur Noir. Rozz-Tox (2108 Third Avenue, Rock Island). 8 p.m. $5. For information, e-mail [email protected] or visit RozzTox.com.

Friday, May 11 – Jason Aldean. Country-music superstar in concert, with an opening set by Luke Bryan. i wireless Center (1201 River Drive, Moline). 7:30 p.m. $28-52.75. For tickets, call (800)745-3000 or visit iwirelessCenter.com.

Friday, May 11 – Eddie Shaw & the Wolf Gang. Concert with

MusicRhythm Unleashed: The Music of Mark MellitsThe Redstone RoomSaturday, May 19, 8 p.m.

The latest presentation in the Quad City Symphony’s

Signature Series finds four of the orchestra’s members performing Rhythm Unleashed: The Music of Mark Mellits, taking place

on May 19 at Davenport’s Redstone Room. And if that seems like an ill-fitting venue for a symphony offering, you should know that according to the New York Press, Mellits’ compositions suggest “what classical music has in common with rock and pop.”

You should also know that according to the All Music Guide, “Mellits apparently draws considerable inspiration from food” ... but then again, who doesn’t?

A Maryland native who studied at the Eastman School of Music, Yale School of Music, and Cornell University, Mellits (pictured) has emerged as one of the most accomplished composers of his generation, with his recent commissions including works for such acclaimed musicians as the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, the

Kronos Quartet, and the Canadian Brass. Currently based in Illinois, where he’s on the music faculty at the University of Illinois-Chicago, Mellits received the prestigious Foundation for Contemporary Arts Award in 2004, and is also the artistic director and keyboard player for the Mellits Consort ensemble, a group whose Web site (at MellitsConcort.com) describes its output as “hard-edged and rhythmic as well as lyrical and sultry.”

Those disparate qualities are sure to be on display during May 19’s Mellits celebration, when principal cellist Hannah Holman, pianist Mary Neil, and percussionists Tony Oliver and Aaron Williams present selections from an oeuvre praised for its “viscerally propulsive rhythms” by SanDiego.com and its “indelible sonic pictures” by the Washington Post. The individual works being presented at the Redstone Room, meanwhile, include a quartet titled “Disciplines for Gouda” and a duo for cello and marimba called “Paranoid Cheese,” so you should definitely expect the unexpected. And hopefully some wine and crackers.

Tickets to the Quad City Symphony Orchestra’s Rhythm Unleashed: The Music of Mark Mellits concert are $18 for adults and $7 for students, and more information on the night is available by calling (563)322-7276 or visiting QCSymphony.com.

1) “Burning ______”2) “______ Blues”3) “Electric ______”4) “Pure ______ Fury”5) “Careful with That ______ ...”6) “The ______ Riders”

A) RockB) WorryC) MicD) PigtownE) BeardF) Elephant

River Cities’ Reader • Vol. 19 No. 804 • May 10 - 23, 20121�

Man with the Harmonica,” from Once Upon a Time in the West, opens with a ghostly, mournful harmonica whose spell is broken by majestic distorted guitar.

In other words, the fusion of spaghetti-Western soundscapes and psychedelic rock is

borderline natural. Like Morricone, Spindrift on Classic Soundtracks Volume 1 shows a keen ear for odd but right instrumentation and arrangement. “Space Vixens Theme” plays as a Morricone homage, with its disparate elements – flute, electronics, ethereal singing, an Eastern passage – held together beautifully by driving, jagged rock. “Hellbound” – complete with train whistle –

gallops and chugs infectiously. “Theme from Drifter’s Pass” also has a Western vibe, but it’s a straight song, too – albeit one that stretches its legs, building tension to a thunderous, primal riff and screaming at the six-minute mark and then a howling freak-out.

Thomas explained that the album is “basically a musical résumé for film work” and said future volumes are planned. But even though it includes two tracks of short, incidental music, it mostly features fully fleshed-out tunes that stand well on their own. That’s a function of Spindrift being both a film-scoring outfit and a touring band; the music has to work for the both the movies and a live audience.

That, Thomas said, hints at one of the benefits of hiring his band to write and perform a soundtrack. Most composers use session players for scores – “He doesn’t get to experiment; he doesn’t know his musicians that well” – while Spindrift has the intuitive bonds that come with familiarity.

Spindrift will perform on Saturday, May 19, at Rozz-Tox (2108 Third Avenue in Rock Island). The show starts at 9 p.m. and also features Strangers Family Band and Mondo Drag. Admission to the all-ages show is $8.

For more information on Spindrift, visit SpindriftWest.com.

The Los Angeles-based quintet Spin-drift has developed a reputation for its cinematic sound – something that

started with a score for a film that was then only an idea in the head of bandleader Kir-patrick Thomas: The Legend of God’s Gun, which later became a 2007 feature writ-ten and directed by Mike Bruce. One track for that film was used in 2008’s Hell Ride – executive-produced by Quentin Taran-tino – and Thomas now has three ad-ditional film-score-composer credits with Spindrift.

But this tack for the band – playing at Rozz-Tox on May 19 – is a relatively recent development. Spindrift was formed in the early 1990s in Delaware, and was at that point an experimental psychedelic-rock band. It was only in 2001, when Thomas heard Ennio Morricone’s music for the Sergio Leone classic Once Upon a Time in the West, that his band changed course.

Thomas explained in a recent phone interview that the score, and other works by Morricone, served as the soundtrack to his 2002 relocation to Los Angeles, and coincided with his “experiencing the landscape for the first time ... and then becoming completely enamored with the myth of the West.”

Listening to Spindrift’s cheekily titled Classic Soundtracks Volume 1 from last year, the psychedelic elements of the band are still evident – the group played Austin Psych Fest last month – but Morricone lords over it all. The album has 14 tracks evoking a variety of cinematic styles – Westerns, yes, and also other disreputable genres – but they carry the Italian composer’s best-known motifs into a rock context.

Morricone, of course, has long been a major influence on many rock bands. In his Western work with Leone, he crafted dusty expanses through unusual instrumentation and sound effects. The famous theme for The Good, the Bad, & the Ugly is notable for its exchanges of flute, whistling, trumpets, percussion, and wordless vocals, with the melody carried by an electric guitar. “The

by Jeff [email protected]

A New Soundtrack for the Old WestSpindrift, May 19 at Rozz-Tox

MUSIC


A large abstract sculpture, Lloyd’s Trek, greets visi-

tors to Schwiebert River-front Park in the District of Rock Island. Standing some 20 feet tall at the park’s southwest corner, the sculpture seems to watch protectively over the many areas of activities: a fountain meant to be run through; a playground that combines digital game elements with contem-porary slides, swings, and climbing structures; a checkerboard concrete beach; walkways; and a performance stage.

The artwork feels fresh and intuitive. Though the artist, Stuart Morris, said it is an abstraction of a walking figure, its playful balance and irregular shapes also suggest a precarious stack of blocks or a doorway to the park.

The sculpture – dedicated on August 8, 2010 – memorializes Lloyd Schoeneman, an artist and arts administrator who served as Quad City Arts’ community liaison and director of public visual arts for 22 years, until his death in 2001. Although it was originally intended to be placed on Second Street near the entrance to Quad City Arts along with trail markers and planted trees, the sculpture’s location in an active public space better reflects ’s commitment to a partnership between the arts and the community. (The sculpture can be

readily viewed from the Quad City Arts Center through the gallery’s large north windows.) The piece’s blend of whimsy and sophistication also seems to capture the spirit of Schoeneman’s own artwork.

Morris, an associate professor at the University of Wisconsin at Stevens Point, worked with Schoeneman on several RiverWay artworks, including the navigation steps in Bettendorf ’s Leach Park. These works explored past and present relationships between industry and the Mississippi River.

This relationship is expressed in Lloyd’s Trek through the use of industrial materials – weathered metal sheets and concrete – and the aqua-colored waves that circumscribe the sculpture’s middle section. The waves are patterned with reflective rectangular forms that enliven the surface but also feel like spikes or large rivet heads. A small welded patch that cuts through the continuous waves seems to further speak of the impact of industry on the river. Yet, this shape – inaccessibly placed far over our heads – also suggests a sealed door, hinting that something is hidden within.

Morris successfully uses contradictions – playful and sophisticated,

industrial and whimsical, weathered and new – to create a dignified memorial that is imaginative and welcoming.

Bruce Walters is a professor of art at Western Illinois University.

This is part of an occasional series on the history of public art in the Quad Cities. If there’s a piece of public art that you’d like to learn more about, e-mail the location and a brief description to [email protected].

Art in Plain Sight: Lloyd’s TrekArticle and photo by Bruce WaltersART

April �� Crossword Answers

River Cities’ Reader • Vol. 19 No. 804 • May 10 - 23, 20121�

the blues tenor saxophonist and his ensemble. The Muddy Waters (1708 State Street, Bettendorf ). 9 p.m. $5. For information, call (563)355-0655 or visit TheMuddyWaters.com.

Friday, May 11 – Khaira Arby. A soul, blues, and world-music fusion with the artist from Northern Mali, featuring an opener by Bermuda Report. Englert Theatre (221 East Washington Street, Iowa City). 8 p.m. $16. For tickets and information, call (319)688-2653 or visit Englert.org.

Saturday, May 12 – The Misery Jackals. Concert with the rock, bluegrass, blues, country, and roots musicians, featuring an opening set by As You Were. Rozz-Tox (2108 Third Avenue, Rock Island). 8 p.m. $5. For information, e-mail [email protected] or visit RozzTox.com.

Saturday, May 12, and Sunday, May 13 – Shawn Thomas. Christian-music artist performs in conjunction with his “Covered & Created” tour. Metropolitan Community Church (3019 North Harrison Street, Davenport). Saturday 7 p.m., Sunday 11 a.m. Donations encouraged. For information, call (563)324-8281 or visit MCCQC.com.

Sunday, May 13 – Brian Nelson Memorial Concert . Quad City Choral Arts, under the direction of Jon Hurty, performs Fauré’s Requiem and Bach’s Cantata #106 – Gottes Zeit ist die allerbeste Zeit in memory of the area performer who passed away on March 17. St. Paul Lutheran Church (2136 Brady Street, Davenport). 3 p.m. $10-12 at the door, students free. For information, call (309)736-9147 or visit QuadCityChoralArts.org.

Wednesday, May 16 – Igor & Red Elvises. Russian-American rockers in concert, with an opening set by The One Night Standards. Rock Island Brewing Company (1815 Second Avenue, Rock Island). 9 p.m. $10-12. For information, call (309)793-4060 or visit RIBCO.com.

Thursday, May 17 – Mike Mangini Drum Clinic. Percussion instruction and discussion with the Grammy Award-nominated drummer for the progressive-metal band Dream Theater, presented by West Music Quad Cities. The Redstone Room (129 Main Street, Davenport). 7 p.m. $10. For information, contact Leif Rehnberg at (309)704-9300 or [email protected], or visit WestMusic.com.

Friday, May 18 – Laurence Juber.

Workshop and concert with the two-time Grammy winner and former lead guitarist for Paul McCartney’s band Wings. The Redstone Room (129 Main Street, Davenport). 6 p.m. workshop, $7 or free for the evening’s concertgoers; 9 p.m. concert, $18-22. For information and tickets, call (563)326-1333 or visit RiverMusicExperience.org.

Friday, May 18 – Truth & Salvage Co. Los Angeles-based roots rockers in concert, with openers Ghost Town Choir and The Jason Carl Band. Rock Island Brewing Company (1815 Second Avenue, Rock Island). 9 p.m. $5. For information, call (309)793-4060 or visit RIBCO.com.

Friday, May 18 – Jared Blake. Country musician in concert, with an opening set by Dirt Road Rockers. Rascals Live (1418 15th Street, Moline). 9 p.m. $10. For information, call (309)797-9457 or visit Facebook.com/RascalsLive.

Saturday, May 19 – Bill Gaither Homecoming Tour. Concert with the contemporary Christian and gospel musician and friends. i wireless Center (1201 River Drive, Moline). 7 p.m. $22.50-37.50. For tickets, call (800)745-3000 or visit iwirelessCenter.com.

Sunday, May 20 – Sam Salomone. Iowa Jazz Hall of Fame musician performs and educates in Polyrhythms’ Third Sunday Matinée & Workshop Series, appearing alongside Steve Grismore and John Kazilarmut. The Redstone Room (129 Main Street, Davenport). 3 p.m. all-ages jazz workshop – $5/adults, children free; 6 p.m. concert – $10-15. For tickets and information, call (309)373-0790 or visit Polyrhythms.org or RiverMusicExperience.org.

THEATREThursday, May 10, through Sunday,

May 20 – The Guardian. The Internet Players present Kevin Straus’ debuting play about a “green revolution,” told in dialogue, song, dance, and puppetry. Village Theatre (2113 East 11th Street, Village of East Davenport). Thursdays-Saturdays 7:30 p.m., Sundays 2 p.m. $5-10, with half-price tickets on May 10 and free admission for mothers on May 13. For information, call (563)940-4785 or visit TheInternetPlayers.com.

Friday, May 11, through Sunday, May 20 – Titanic Aftermath. Michael Wehrli’s historical drama about the luxury liner’s sinking, directed by Paul Workman. Playcrafters Barn Theatre (4950 35th Avenue, Moline). Fridays

and Saturdays 7:30 p.m., Sundays 3 p.m. $10. For tickets and information, call (309)762-0330 or visit Playcrafters.com.

Saturday, May 12 – 2012 Quad City Playwrights Festival. Staged readings of short scripts submitted by area authors, with a reception following. Augustana College’s Black Box Theatre (Bergendoff Hall of Fine Arts, 3701 Seventh Avenue, Rock Island). 7:30 p.m. Free admission. For information, call (309)794-7306 or visit Augustana.edu.

Saturday, May 12, and Sunday, May 13 – Going Back Naked. One-woman memory play written by and starring Melissa McBain. District Theatre (1611 Second Avenue, Rock Island). 2 p.m. $15. For tickets and information, call (309)235-1654 or visit DistrictTheatre.com.

Friday, May 18, through Saturday, May 26 – Chronicles of Lincoln & Grant. Historical drama co-authored and performed by Dan Haughey and Tom Swenson. District Theatre (1611 Second Avenue, Rock Island). Fridays 8 p.m., Saturdays 2 p.m. $15. For tickets and information, call (309)235-1654 or visit DistrictTheatre.com.

Saturday, May 19 – How to Survive Your Adult Relationship with Your Family. One-woman comedy written by and starring New York City-based humorist Polly Frost. Englert Theatre (221 East Washington Street, Iowa City). 8 p.m. $20-22. For tickets and information, call (319)688-2653 or visit Englert.org.

VISUAL ARTSFriday, May 11 – Spring 2012 Gallery

Hop! Art exhibitions, demonstrations, performing-arts events, and more held in numerous venues throughout the District of Rock Island. 5-9 p.m. For information, call (309)788-6311 or visit RIDistrict.com.

Saturday, May 12, and Sunday, May 13 – 2012 Spring Beaux Arts Fair. Annual fine-art and crafts fair featuring musical entertainment, a children’s art-project area, a food court, and more. Figge Art Museum Plaza (225 West Second Street, Davenport). Saturday 10 a.m.-5 p.m., Sunday 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Free admission. For information, e-mail [email protected] or visit BeauxArtsFair.com.

EVENTSSunday, May 13 – Mother’s Day

Tour of Tomes. Tour through Rock

Island’s Broadway district will include three furnished homes, the Word of Life Church/Buford Mansion, and the new Bent River Brewery, offering tours of its second location and discussions about the history of beer-making. 11 a.m.-4 p.m. $10. For information and tickets, call (309)786-1307 or visit BroadwayDistrict.org.

Sunday, May 13 – Mother’s Day Celebration Honoring Laura’s Legacy. Community celebration benefiting the ALS division of the Muscular Dystrophy Association of Eastern Iowa & Western Illinois, featuring concerts with Three Years Hollow (3 p.m.), Lissie (4:30 p.m.), and Truth & Salvage Co. (6 p.m.), food vendors, a beer garden, and more. Schwiebert Riverfront Park (between 17th and 20th streets in the District of Rock Island). 1-9 p.m. $10, ages 12 and under free with paid adult. For information, call (309)732-7275 or visit Lissie.com/lauraslegacy.

Wednesday, May 16 – Echoes from the Civil War Era. Riverside Cemetery “residents” who lived during the American Civil War speak about their lives and wartime experiences, in a program enacted by Bob and Dorothy White, Kathleen Seusy, Dennis Harker, and Ann Boaden. Moline Public Library (3210 41st Street, Moline). 7 p.m. Free admission. For information, call (309)524-2440 or visit MolineLibrary.org.

Saturday, May 19 – St. Ambrose University Wine Festival. Annual scholarship fundraiser featuring 120 wines to sample, appetizers, live music, and more. St. Ambrose University lawn (518 West Locust Street, Davenport). 3-6 p.m. $45-50. For tickets and information, call (563)333-6290 or visit SAU.edu.

Saturday, May 19 – Start! Heart Walk. A bi-state walk to raise awareness and funds for the American Heart Association, featuring health and wellness activities, free refreshments, a kids’ zone, and more. District of Rock Island. 9 a.m. opening ceremony, 9:30 a.m. walk. For information, call (563)323-4321 or visit QuadCitiesHeartWalk.org.

Sunday, May 20 – The Gizmo Guys. Two-man touring show featuring juggling, comedy, and circus acts, in a Hancher Auditorium presentation. Iowa City High School’s Opstad Auditorium (1900 Morningside Drive, Iowa City). 2 p.m. $10-28. For tickets and information, call (319)335-1160 or visit http://www.Hancher.UIowa.edu.

Continued From Page 13

What Else Is Happenin’


amazingly rich character.” Workman, meanwhile, says that he was

particularly astonished by “the group of gentlemen who banded together onto an overturned lifeboat, and who had to keep themselves afloat by standing up for the entire night. I mean, there are some pretty harrowing stories.”

Like that recollection, among the most harrowing are the tales of what happened to the survivors, and to those less fortunate, in the hours after the ship’s sinking. Through the passengers’ testimony, the script goes into great, horrifying detail about the panic in the water, and the constant screaming, and the people who froze to death within minutes. (“What a dreadful thought that is,” says Wehrli. “What happens when you freeze to death is that you asphyxiate, because your body becomes so cold that you literally can’t breathe any longer.”)

And somewhat incredibly, as the script reveals, the survivors’ travails weren’t completely over even after the Carpathia and other rescue ships neared the lifeboats; Titanic passengers had to climb ropes to get aboard them, with those too young or frail to climb raised from the lifeboats through other means.

“That’s one of those things where you look back and think, ‘Didn’t anybody foresee this?’” says Wehrli. “If you’re going to rescue somebody at sea, shouldn’t you have some sort of real device other than putting a kid in a sack and throwing him in a net?”

Titanic Aftermath, however, also features incredible testimony regarding the survivors’ perseverance and courage and heroism, and the emotional variety in the tales being told – terrifying, heart-wrenching, inspiring – allows the play to suggest the vastness of the Titanic experience without any pretense of being comprehensive.

Consider the figure of Michel Navratil, whose journey Workman calls “one of my favorite survivor stories in the script.” Near the end of Titanic Aftermath, says the director, “he talks about how his father used to sing him a lullaby. But the story behind him, that doesn’t get delved into that much, is that his father kidnapped him and his brother – he was taking them away from their mother, to New York [on the Titanic], under an assumed name.”

Or consider Allison Cleaver, a Titanic survivor whose story doesn’t appear in Titanic Aftermath at all. As Wehrli says, Carter “was the nanny to this


author’s plan to make his play as evocative and theatrical an experience as possible, one that could suggest the scope of the Titanic story on a reasonable theatrical budget.

“I knew it would be impossible for any theatre company to re-create anything in a totally realistic way,” says Wehrli, “so I really wanted to go the complete opposite of that and make it more ... I don’t know if ‘ceremonial’ is the right word, but certainly more ethereal. Ethereal and ghostly and theatrical-ensemble-based. So instead of trying to re-create people literally in a lifeboat, you just have a suggestion of a lifeboat, and when the ‘lifeboat’ is lowered, people ceremoniously get up and move.

“I come from a strong directing background,” he continues, “so when I was writing, that was kind of my approach. Thinking about how I would do this so that people didn’t leave feeling disappointed because ‘That doesn’t look like the movie at all!’”

Harrowing Stories After Ismay’s initial encounter with

the three ghostly figures at the play’s start, Titanic Aftermath further accents its theatricality with the introduction of its full cast: an ensemble of 20 additional performers, in Playcrafters’ production, who collectively play the ship’s survivors and public-hearing inquisitors, and recite dialogue taken directly, if not always verbatim, from the post-disaster hearings. (Director Workman says that his ensemble, outfitted completely in black, “will be using different accents and will have different costume-accent pieces to set them apart, so hopefully it won’t be confusing for the audience.”)

Among these many characters are crewman Frederick Fleet – the lookout who famously shouted the warning “Iceberg, right ahead!” – and the “unsinkable” socialite Margaret “Molly” Brown. But Wehrli and Workman both state that there’s practically no end to the number of Titanic figures who prove fascinating.

Wehrli says that second officer Charles Lightoller, for instance, “is really a dichotomy. He did many heroic things, but he was very much a company man, and blatantly lied on the stand because he wanted to command a ship one day. And what’s not in the play is that he actually survived seven wrecks; after one, he was actually beached on an island. He’s an

One Story, Many Voicesby Mike Schulz

[email protected]

rich gentleman and his family. She was unstable, and had actually killed her own child a couple years before. But she lied her way into the job, and while the ship was sinking, she panicked, and took the young boy she was nannying for, and got into a lifeboat. The mother had two other children, but she wasn’t going to leave the ship without her two-year-old, who she couldn’t find. So they ended up dying as a result of that.

“There were dozens of stories I would have loved to have packed in there,” says Wehrli of his script, “and I just didn’t have room for them all. So one of the things I would love for people to take from the experience is wanting to learn more – what happened to these people, and how they either did or did not manage to function after this event.”

Workman, whose previous area directing experience came from the District Theatre’s 2011 production of A Tuna Christmas, admits that the orchestration of so many characters and stories and technical considerations in Titanic Aftermath has been an occasional challenge. (“I have 24 actors here,” he says with a laugh. “Tuna had two.”)

Yet he stresses that he’s grateful for the opportunity, with this play, to remind audiences “that people, as individuals, are more important than profit. And I think in today’s political climate, it’s especially important to keep that in mind. If you look at history, what happened with the Titanic really is a repeating theme: Profit seems to come before people, until something drastic happens.”

“It’s such a familiar story,” says Wehrli. “Human error being covered up, and the people who made the bad decisions not having to deal with the ramifications. So I want people to leave thinking about that.

“But more than anything,” he adds, “I want people to be interested in the survivor stories. That’s what it’s really all about to me – the amazing survivor stories that are infinitely more interesting than Jack and Rose.”

Titanic Aftermath runs at the Playcrafters Barn Theatre (4950 35th Avenue, Moline) May 11 through 20, with Friday and Saturday performances at 7:30 p.m., and Sunday performances at 3 p.m. Tickets are $10, and can be reserved by calling (309)762-0330 or visiting Playcrafters.com.

For more information on Titanic Aftermath and its author, visit TitanicAftermath.com and MichaelWehrli.com.

COVER STORY


your netbook.But, wait: If you and your girlfriend have a

fight and nobody comments on it on Facebook, how do you know your lives are worth living? The answer is: Decide which you want more, this girlfriend or an audience. This isn’t to say you have to stop writing about her; you just don’t get to hit “publish.” Try to see this as an opportunity to expand your writerly horizons. Go do things you can write about. Climb something. Fish for marlin. Drop in on the Spanish Civil War. And remember: Everybody’s got a story, and lots of people are just dying to have theirs told. Seek them out, look deep into their eyes, and say, “So, tell me the horrors you experienced as a prisoner of war. And would you mind not leaving any participles dangling?”

Meek Him HalfwayI’m a writer, and I went to a book party

where there were many interesting writers, including a very cute, witty man. Problem is, I’m afraid to go talk to new people, especially cute, witty men, so I hung back and eventually left. Now I’m ruing yet another missed opportunity.

– Regretsville

You apparently learned your social skills from a park ranger. Playing dead is a successful strategy when you’re being chased by certain types of bears. When you’re hoping to be chased by a man, you need to go over and say hello. But, you whimper, you’re scared. Yeah, okay. But, why would that be reason to avoid doing it? By making yourself do something you’re afraid of, you shrink your fears and probably feel better afterward, unless it’s something like walking off the ledge of a tall building.

Don’t worry if you aren’t a genius conversationalist. Just ask questions. “Are you a friend of the author’s?” “Is that soup on your shirt?” If somebody likes you, he’ll talk to you. If not, it’s a big world; go talk to somebody else. And don’t see every interaction as some statement about your worth. Some people will like you; some won’t. Unless you’re running for office, who cares? The more people you talk to, the bigger your life will be, and the less each interaction will matter in the grand scheme of you. Until then, remember, 90 percent of success is just showing up – and then not running back out to your car, power-locking your doors, and speeding home.

Mused and AbusedAfter my girlfriend and I split up, I

wrote a creative-nonfiction piece about our breakup (changing some identifying details). I published it on a popular blog and linked to it on Facebook. We’re back together, and things are great; however, she saw the story and was humiliated. I explained that what I wrote was beautiful and vulnerable and true, and many people were moved by it. She really wasn’t down with that and told me to consider her off-limits in my writing. This seems unfair. I write nonfiction. What will I write about if I can’t write about my life?

– Expressive

As lame as some creative-writing exercises sound – “Write a haiku about what you had for lunch!” – a thinly veiled portrait of your chicken salad will cause way less relationship stress than “Turn your fight with your girlfriend into a blog post!” (And no, you can’t just change her name from Molly to Holly so nobody but your 546 Facebook friends will know it’s her.)

Yes, I’ve heard: Privacy is reportedly dead. It was pronounced dead in 2006 at an Internet-security conference. This doesn’t mean that it is actually dead or should be – just that lots of people are finding their dirty laundry uploaded to Instagram and their private conversations turned into content. Chances are, those nonchalantly ripping away others’ privacy online would be spraining their tongues tsk-tsk-ing if somebody did it the non-virtual way, like by hijacking the mic at an outdoor concert series: “My girlfriend, Molly … second row, that blonde in the red … forgot to tell me she was weapons-grade slutty in college. She’d have a tat of that McDonald’s ‘x million served’ sign, except that there’s no room on her disturbingly small breasts.”

Like Web sites, relationships these days seem to require a privacy policy – one agreed upon in advance (before anybody becomes relationship-o-tainment) and maintained in the event of a breakup. Clearly, your preferred policy would be: “By sharing your life with me, you agree to share it with anyone with an Internet connection.” Sorry, but the more private person gets to set the standards, and sadly, this woman only wants to be your girlfriend, not your cure for writer’s block. Yeah, I know, you’d think it’d be any woman’s dream, sitting with you in some out-of-the-way Paris cafe as you chronicle her shortcomings on

Got A Problem? Ask Amy Alkon.171 Pier Ave, #280, Santa Monica, CA 90405

or e-mail [email protected] (AdviceGoddess.com)©2012, Amy Alkon, all rights reserved.

Ask the Advice Goddess BY AMY ALKON

River Cities’ Reader • Vol. 19 No. 804 • May 10 - 23, 2012 1�Business • Politics • Arts • Culture • Now You Know • RiverCitiesReader.com

Go to RealAstrology.com to check out Rob Brezsny's EXPANDED WEEKLY AUDIO HOROSCOPES

& DAILY TEXT MESSAGE HOROSCOPESThe audio horoscopes are also available by phone at

1-877-873-4888 or 1-900-950-7700

scarring event that occurred there in 1978, when cult-leader Reverend Jim Jones led a mass suicide of his devotees. Last year, after travel writer Jeff Greenwald announced his trip to Guyana, his friends responded with a predictable joke: “Don’t drink the Kool-Aid!” – a reference to the beverage Jones spiked with cyanide before telling his followers to drink up. But Greenwald was glad he went. The lush, tangled magnificence of Guyana was tough to navigate but a blessing to the senses and a first-class adventure. Be like him, Sagittarius. Consider engaging with a situation that offers challenging gifts. Overcome your biases about a potentially rewarding experience.

CAPRICORN (December 22-January 19): “You have more freedom than you are using,” says artist Dan

Attoe. Allow that taunt to get under your skin and rile you up in the coming days, Capricorn. Let it motivate you to lay claim to all the potential spaciousness and independence and leeway that are just lying around going to waste. According to my understanding of the astrological omens, you have a sacred duty to cultivate more slack as if your dreams depended on it. (They do!)

AQUARIUS (January 20-February 18): If you’ve been tuning in to my horoscopes during the past months,

you’re aware that I have been encouraging you to refine and deepen the meaning of home. You know that I have been urging you to get really serious about identifying what kind of environment you need in order to thrive; I’ve been asking you to integrate yourself into a community that brings out the best in you; I’ve been nudging you to create a foundation that will make you strong and sturdy for a long time. Now it’s time to finish up your intensive work on these projects. You’ve got about four more weeks before a new phase of your life’s work will begin.

PISCES (February 19-March 20): Is your BS detector in good condition? I hope so, because it’s about to get a

workout. Rumors will be swirling and gossip will be flourishing, and you will need to be on high alert in order to distinguish the laughable delusions that have no redeeming value from the entertaining stories that have more than a few grains of truth. If you pass those tests, Pisces, your reward will be handsome: You’ll become a magnet for inside information, valuable secrets, and unusual but useful clues that come from unexpected sources. Homework: What were the circumstances in which you were most amazingly, outrageously alive? Testify at FreeWillAstrology.com.

fury, rising toward a climax, while the bittersweet yearning in your heart sends warm chills down your spine. You part your lips and open your eyes wide, searching for the words that could change everything. And then suddenly you remember you have to contact the plumber tomorrow, and find the right little white lie to appease you-know-who, and run out to the store to get that gadget you saw advertised. Cut! Cut! Let’s do this scene again. Take five. It’s possible, my dear, that your tendency to over-dramatize is causing you to lose focus. Let’s trim the 90 violins down to ten and see if maybe that helps.

VIRGO (August 23-September 22): “We all need a little more courage now and then,” said poet Marvin Bell.

“That’s what I need. If you have some to share, I want to know you.” I advise you to adopt his approach in the coming days, Virgo. Proceed on the assumption that what you need most right now is to be braver and bolder. And consider the possibility that a good way to accomplish this goal is by hanging around people who are so intrepid and adventurous that their spirit will rub off on you.

LIBRA (September 23-October 22): In the Byrds’ 1968 song “Fifth

Dimension,” the singer makes a curious statement. He says that during a particularly lucid state, when he was simply relaxed and paying attention, he saw the great blunder his teachers had made. I encourage you to follow that lead, Libra. According to my analysis of the astrological omens, now would be an excellent time for you to thoroughly question the lessons you’ve absorbed from your important teachers – even the ones who taught you the best and helped you the most. You will earn a healthy jolt as you decide what to keep and what to discard from the gifts that beloved authorities have given you.

SCORPIO (October 23-November 21): What are the most beautiful and evocative songs you know? What are

the songs that activate your dormant wisdom and unleash waves of insight about your purpose here on earth and awaken surges of gratitude for the labyrinthine path you have traveled to become the person you are today? Whatever those tunes are, I urge you to gather them all into one playlist, and listen to them with full attention while at rest in a comfortable place where you feel perfectly safe. According to my reading of the astrological omens, you need a concentrated dose of the deepest, richest, most healing emotions you can tap into.

SAGITTARIUS (November 22-December 21): Tourists rarely go to the South American nation of

Guyana. That’s mostly because much of it is virgin rain forest and there are few amenities for travelers. In part it’s also due to the reputation-

ARIES (March 21-April 19): In one of your past lives, I think you must have periodically done something

like stick your tongue out or thumb your nose at pretentious tyrants – and gotten away with it. At least that’s one explanation for how confident you often are about speaking up when everyone else seems unwilling to point out that the emperor is in fact wearing no clothes. This quality should come in handy during the coming week. It may be totally up to you to reveal the truth about an obvious secret or collective delusion. Can you figure out a way to be relatively tactful as you say what supposedly can’t or shouldn’t be said?

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): Taurus actor Daniel Day Lewis will star as American president Abraham Lincoln

in a film to be released later this year. Hollywood insiders report that Lewis basically became Lincoln months before the film was shot and throughout the entire process. Physically, he was a dead ringer for the man he was pretending to be. Even when the cameras weren’t rolling, he spoke in the cadences and accent of his character rather than in his own natural voice. It might be fun for you to try a similar experiment in the coming weeks, Taurus. Fantasize in detail about the person you would ultimately like to become, and then imitate that future version of you.

GEMINI (May 21-June 20): The idea of a housewarming party comes from an old British tradition. People who

were moving would carry away embers from the fireplace of the home they were leaving and bring them to the fireplace of the new home. I recommend that you borrow this idea and apply it to the transition you’re making. As you migrate toward the future, bring along a symbolic spark of the vitality that has animated the situation you’re transitioning out of.

CANCER (June 21-July 22): My friend Irene has a complicated system for handling her cats’ food needs.

The calico, Cleopatra, demands chicken for breakfast and beef stew at night, and all of it absolutely must be served in a pink bowl on the dining room table. Caligula insists on fish stew early and tuna later. He wants it on a black plate placed behind the love seat. Nefertiti refuses everything but gourmet turkey upon waking and beef liver for the evening repast. If it’s not on the basement stairs, she won’t touch it. I’m bringing your attention to this, Cancerian, because I think you could draw inspiration from it. It’s in your interests, at least temporarily, to keep your loved ones and allies happy with a coordinated exactitude that rivals Irene’s.

LEO (July 23-August 22): The moon’s pale glow shimmers on your face as you run your fingers through your hair. In

your imagination, 90 violins play with sublime

FREE WILL ASTROLOGY by Rob Brezsny

River Cities’ Reader • Vol. 19 No. 804 • May 10 - 23, 2012�0 Business • Politics • Arts • Culture • Now You Know • RiverCitiesReader.com

April 26 Answers: Page 15SORRY, WRONG NUMBER - May 10, �01�

ACROSS1. Food fish5. Orzo, e.g.10. Mexican painter _ Kahlo15. Peel19. Port city in Yemen20. Hoard21. Bulldoze22. Genus of maples23. Siesta: 2 wds.25. Bluffer at cards: Hyph.27. Captivate28. Footless30. Covered a certain way31. Domed recess32. Surrounded by34. “Norma _”35. Muslim mystics38. Scrams39. Overwhelms43. Wild indigo44. Lab compounds46. _ B’rith47. Fine sand49. Cutting remarks50. Handgun: Hyph.54. Eau-de- _55. Promise of a kind56. Bullock57. Pure schmaltz58. Break away60. Made affluent62. Softer anagram64. Bent65. The heavens of old66. Decorative plants67. Rattle69. Fundamental71. Leftovers73. Makes a jangling noise76. Brunch choice78. Legendary creature79. Strand80. Poetic time of day81. One of twelve: Abbr.82. Old Spanish money: 3 wds.85. Kind of saxophone86. “Waiting for the Robert _ _”

88. Shape89. Loamy deposit90. The sierra, a fish91. Mise- _ - _93. Mantilla95. Young fish96. Kind of lettuce97. Downpour99. Junket101. Weather phenomena104. Ski jump105. Certain contract109. Kind of hat for cowboys: Hyph.111. Really happy: 3 wds.113. Gobble114. Like a towelette115. Crumb of a guy116. Angered117. _ of March118. Seeger and Sampras119. James and Kett120. BrownsDOWN1. Yegg’s target2. Ruler of Asgard3. Remaining4. Viscera5. Game pieces6. Priest’s vestment7. Healthy upstairs8. Tut-tut9. Indic language10. Natural catastrophes11. Splits12. “_ Told Every Little Star”13. Skillful14. Hay fever, rose fever, etc.15. Some drawings16. Yearn17. Kind of organ18. Misjudge24. Yelps26. Two-toed sloth29. Cap-a- _32. Furniture wood33. Projecting pieces for mortises35. _ Hawkins Day36. Marriage

37. Skating maneuver: 2 wds.38. Sacked40. Part of NPR: Abbr.41. All-terrain vehicle: Hyph.42. Chute44. _ _ drop of a hat45. 1980’s sitcom46. Drills48. Started golfing (with “off”)51. A water sign52. Bugles53. Incentive to buy56. Lug59. Outlay61. Swash letters: Abbr.62. Exploits63. Parts of kites66. Let go68. Discloses69. Paleontologist’s find70. Soap plant72. Biked73. Kingpin74. Fashionably out of style75. Hair net77. Relative of a postmark79. Stertorous sound83. Age84. Support for a Union Jack85. Authorize87. Goes with92. Part of AFL-CIO: Abbr.93. Biases94. Magna _ laude95. “Star Trek” captain98. Notched99. Arkansas river city100. Woodwinds101. Feed102. Hold sway103. Flavoring for gin105. Short tail106. Razor name107. Witnessed108. Remnants109. Hoover’s org.110. Kindled112. Why _?

River Cities’ Reader • Vol. 19 No. 804 • May 10 - 23, 2012 �1Business • Politics • Arts • Culture • Now You Know • RiverCitiesReader.com

Live Music Live Music Live Music Email all listings to [email protected] • Deadline 5 p.m. Thursday before publication

North of 40 -Mulligan’s Valley Pub, 310 W 1st Ave Coal Valley, IL

Open Mic Night -Downtown Central Perk, 226 W. 3rd St. Davenport, IA

Orangadang -RIBCO, 1815 2nd Ave. Rock Island, IL

Patio -Bent River Brewing Company, 1413 5th Ave. Moline, IL

Russ Reyman, Pianist (7pm) -Phoenix, 111 West 2nd St. Davenport, IA

Shawn Thomas -Metropolitan Com-munity Church, 3019 N Harrison St. Davenport, IA

Songwriters in the Round (2:30pm) -RME Community Stage, 131 W. 2nd St. Davenport, IA

Tapped Out -Blueport Junction, 6605 W River Dr Davenport, IA

The Chris & Wes Show -Shenanigan’s, 303 W. 3rd St. Davenport, IA

The Workshy - Zeta June -Iowa City Yacht Club, 13 S Linn St Iowa City, IA

Tyrone Wells - Joe Brooks -The Mill, 120 E Burlington Iowa City, IA

Vocal Expressionz (5pm) - Night People (8:30pm) -The Rusty Nail, 2606 W Locust Davenport, IA

Zither Ensemble (10am) -German American Heritage Center, 712 W. 2nd St. Davenport, IA

2012/05/13 (Sun)

ABC Karaoke -11th Street Precinct, 2108 E 11th St Davenport, IA

ABC Karaoke -The Rusty Nail, 2606 W Locust Davenport, IA

Funday Sunday with Dave Ellis (6pm) -The Muddy Waters, 1708 State St. Bettendorf, IA

2012/05/10 (Thu)


BHC Jazz Combo (6pm) -Rozz-Tox, 2108 3rd Ave. Rock Island, IL

Clutch - Kyng - Monstro -RIBCO, 1815 2nd Ave. Rock Island, IL

DJ Scott & Karaoke -Greenbriar Res-taurant and Lounge, 4506 27th St Moline, IL

Fat Dawgs Productions Karaoke & DJ -Parker’s, 635 15th St Moline, IL

Hellwater -RME Community Stage, 131 W. 2nd St. Davenport, IA

Jason Carl -Creekside Bar and Grill, 3303 Brady St. Davenport, IA

Johnny O’ Jam Sessions -The Muddy Waters, 1708 State St. Bettendorf, IA

Karaoke by Pieler Productions -The Pub, 4320 N. Brady St. Daven-port, IA

Kerry Christensen -Iowa Theatre Artists Company, 4709 220th Trail Amana, IA

Live Lunch w/ Alan Sweet (noon) -RME Community Stage, 131 W. 2nd St. Davenport, IA

Mixology -Iowa City Yacht Club, 13 S Linn St Iowa City, IA

Open Mic Night -Uptown Bill’s Coffee House, 730 S. Dubuque St. Iowa City, IA

Schoolboy Q - Ab-Soul - Shakes -Gabe’s, 330 E. Washington St. Iowa City, IA

The Avey Brothers -Rascals Live, 1418 15th St. Moline, IL

Thumping Thursday w/ DJ Hypnotic and Patrick Rifley -McManus Pub, 1401 7th Ave Moline, IL

Trace Adkins -Adler Theatre, 136 E. 3rd St. Davenport, IA

2012/05/11 (Fri)

ABC Karaoke -Circle Tap, 1345 Locust St. Davenport, IA

ABC Karaoke -Creekside Bar and Grill, 3303 Brady St. Davenport, IA

ABC Members-Only Karaoke -Moose Lodge - Davenport, 2333 Rocking-ham Rd Davenport, IA

Arch Allies -The Hub, 402 Main St Cedar Falls, IA

Brokeass Sellouts -Mound Street Landing, 1029 Mound St. Daven-port, IA

Dirt Road Rockers -Rascals Live, 1418 15th St. Moline, IL

Dueling Pianos at The Establishment -The Establishment Theatre, 220 19th St. Rock Island, IL

Eddie Shaw and the Wolf Gang -The Muddy Waters, 1708 State St. Bet-tendorf, IA


Jason Aldean - Luke Bryan -i wireless Center, 1201 River Dr Moline, IL

Jason D. Williams -Riverside Casino and Golf Resort, 3184 Highway 22 Riverside, IA

Just Chords -Kilkenny’s, 300 W. 3rd St. Davenport, IA

Karaoke Night -Chuck’s Tap, 1731 W. 6th St. Davenport, IA

Karaoke Night -Hollar’s Bar and Grill, 4050 27th St Moline, IL

Karaoke Night -Roadrunner’s Road-house, 3803 Rockingham Rd. Dav-enport, IA

Khaira Arby - Bermuda Report -En-glert Theatre, 221 East Washington St. Iowa City, IA

Konrad - Cowboy Indian Bear - Cen-taur Noir -Rozz-Tox, 2108 3rd Ave. Rock Island, IL

Kooby’s Karaoke -Wide Open Bar & Grill, 425 15th St. Moline, IL

Kris Lager Band - The Candymakers -The Redstone Room, 129 Main St Davenport, IA

Live Lunch w/ Tony Hoeppner (noon) -RME Community Stage, 131 W. 2nd St. Davenport, IA

Night People -Generations Bar & Grill, 4100 4th Ave. Moline, IL

Old Shoe -RIBCO, 1815 2nd Ave. Rock Island, IL

Open Mic Coffeehouse -First Lutheran Church - Rock Island, 1600 20th St. Rock Island, IL

OSG - Uniphonics -Iowa City Yacht Club, 13 S Linn St Iowa City, IA

Russ Reyman Trio (5:30pm) - Tailfins (9pm) -The Rusty Nail, 2606 W Locust Davenport, IA

Squid’s Beard -Headquarters Bar & Grill, 119 E. 22nd Ave. Coal Val-ley, IL

Tapped Out -Martini’s on the Rock, 4619 34th St Rock Island, IL

The Manny Lopez Big Band (6pm) -The Circa ‘21 Speakeasy, 1818 3rd Ave. Rock Island, IL

The Music of Dr. Joe Seng -Joe’s Club, 1402 W. 7th St. Davenport, IA

The Roe Family Singers -RME Com-munity Stage, 131 W. 2nd St. Dav-enport, IA

Wild Oatz -The Pub, 4320 N. Brady St. Davenport, IA

2012/05/12 (Sat)


Arch Allies -Riverside Casino and Golf Resort, 3184 Highway 22 Riv-erside, IA

Bonne Finken -RME Community Stage, 131 W. 2nd St. Davenport, IA

Caterwaulla CD Release Party - Item 9 & the Mad Matters - Velcro Moxie -Gabe’s, 330 E. Washington St. Iowa City, IA

Caught in the Act -Generations Bar & Grill, 4100 4th Ave. Moline, IL

Chase Garrett -Orange Street Theatre, 701 Orange St Muscatine, IA

DJ KOW -The Pub, 4320 N. Brady St. Davenport, IA

DJ Scott & Karaoke -Greenbriar Res-taurant and Lounge, 4506 27th St Moline, IL



Just Chords -Kilkenny’s, 300 W. 3rd St. Davenport, IA




Kooby’s Karaoke -Headquarters Bar & Grill, 119 E. 22nd Ave. Coal Val-ley, IL

Lovedogs -Hawkeye Tap, 4646 Chey-enne Ave. Davenport, IA

Lynn Allen -Rascals Live, 1418 15th St. Moline, IL

Misery Jackals - As You Were -Rozz-Tox, 2108 3rd Ave. Rock Island, IL

Mississippi Misfits -The Muddy Waters, 1708 State St. Bettendorf, IA

Mississippi Valley Blues Society Fundraiser: The Steady Rollin’ Blues Band - The Candymakers - The Mercury Brothers -Martini’s on the Rock, 4619 34th St Rock Island, IL Continued On Page 22

10THURSDAY

12SATURDAY

11FRIDAY

The Kris Lager Band @ The Redstone Room – May 11

13SUNDAY

River Cities’ Reader • Vol. 19 No. 804 • May 10 - 23, 2012�� Business • Politics • Arts • Culture • Now You Know • RiverCitiesReader.com


Horace Mann Fundraiser: Mike Haverkamp - Nic Arp & the Two-Dollar Melon Ballers - Black Satur-day - Dave Moore (4pm) -The Mill, 120 E Burlington Iowa City, IA

Karaoke for Kids (3-5pm) -Hollar’s Bar and Grill, 4050 27th St Moline, IL

Laura’s Legacy Concert: Three Years Hollow (3pm) - Lissie (4:30pm) - Truth & Salvage (6pm) -Schwiebert Riverfront Park, between 17th & 20th Streets Rock Island, IL

Live Lunch w/ Chad Elliott (noon) -RME Community Stage, 131 W. 2nd St. Davenport, IA

Russ Reyman, Pianist (10am-2pm brunch) -The Lodge Hotel, 900 Spruce Hills Dr. Bettendorf, IA

Rusty Davis (2 & 4pm) -Riverside Ca-sino and Golf Resort, 3184 Highway 22 Riverside, IA

Shawn Thomas (11am) -Metropolitan Community Church, 3019 N Har-rison St. Davenport, IA

Sunday Jazz Brunch at Bix Bistro (10:30am & 12:30pm) -Hotel Black-hawk, 200 E. 3rd St. Davenport, IA

2012/05/14 (Mon)

One Night Stand Open Mic -Iowa City Yacht Club, 13 S Linn St Iowa City, IA

Rock Island High School Orchestra (6pm) -RME Community Stage, 131 W. 2nd St. Davenport, IA

2012/05/15 (Tue)



Acoustic Music Club (4:30pm) -RME Community Stage, 131 W. 2nd St. Davenport, IA

Chasing Shade - Zeta June - Elliot Street Lunatic - Cutthroat Drift-ers -Gabe’s, 330 E. Washington St. Iowa City, IA

Dear Rabbit - Brooks Strause -Rozz-Tox, 2108 3rd Ave. Rock Island, IL

Glenn Hickson (5:30pm) -O’Melia’s Supper Club, 2900 Blackhawk Rd. Rock Island, IL

Jam Night w/ Jordan Danielsen -11th Street Precinct, 2108 E 11th St Davenport, IA

Joe Pug - Bailiff - Grand Tetons -The Mill, 120 E Burlington Iowa City, IA

Open Mic Night -Cool Beanz Coffee-house, 1325 30th St. Rock Island, IL

Open Mic Night -The Dam View Inn, 410 2nd St Davenport, IA

Quad City Kix Band -RME Com-munity Stage, 131 W. 2nd St. Davenport, IA

Southern Thunder DJ Service (5pm) & Karaoke (9pm) -McManus Pub, 1401 7th Ave Moline, IL

Tuesday Night Dance Party w/ Rad-con -RIBCO, 1815 2nd Ave. Rock Island, IL

2012/05/16 (Wed)

A Party to Go Karaoke Night -Stacks Bar, 525 14th St. Moline, IL

ABC Karaoke -Abblebee’s Neighbor-hood Grill - Elmore Ave., 3838 Elmore Ave. Davenport, IA

ABC Karaoke -Barrel House 211, 211 E. 2nd St. Davenport, IA

Igor & Red Elvises - One Night Standards -RIBCO, 1815 2nd Ave. Rock Island, IL

Jam Session -Iowa City Yacht Club, 13 S Linn St Iowa City, IA


Karaoke Night -RIBCO, 1815 2nd Ave. Rock Island, IL

Keller Karaoke -Martini’s on the Rock, 4619 34th St Rock Island, IL

Night People (6pm) -The Rusty Nail, 2606 W Locust Davenport, IA

Open Mic Hosted by Randy Ketelsen and Corey Wallace -The Rusty Nail, 2606 W Locust Davenport, IA

Open Mic Night -Boozie’s Bar & Grill, 114 1/2 W. 3rd St. Davenport, IA

Open Mic Night -RME Community Stage, 131 W. 2nd St. Davenport, IA

Rocktastic 4 -Rascals Live, 1418 15th St. Moline, IL

The Chris & Wes Show -Mound Street Landing, 1029 Mound St. Daven-port, IA

The Pub Unplugged: Live Acoustic Acts -The Pub, 4320 N. Brady St. Davenport, IA

Troy Harris, Pianist (10pm) -Red Crow Grille, 2504 53rd St. Bettendorf, IA

2012/05/17 (Thu)

ABC Karaoke -Greenbriar Restau-rant and Lounge, 4506 27th St Moline, IL


Andy Frasco -RIBCO, 1815 2nd Ave. Rock Island, IL

Daphne Willis - The Right Now -RME (River Music Experience), 131 W. 2nd St. Davenport, IA

Dave Tamkin -The Redstone Room, 129 Main St Davenport, IA


Ida Jo & the Show -The Mill, 120 E Burlington Iowa City, IA

Jason Carl -Creekside Bar and Grill, 3303 Brady St. Davenport, IA

Jazz Jam w/ the North Scott Jazz Combo -RME Community Stage, 131 W. 2nd St. Davenport, IA

Johnny O’ Jam Sessions -The Muddy Waters, 1708 State St. Bettendorf, IA

Karaoke by Pieler Productions -The Pub, 4320 N. Brady St. Daven-port, IA

Ketamines (6:30pm) -Gabe’s, 330 E. Washington St. Iowa City, IA

Live Lunch w/ Moonlight Bride (noon) -RME Community Stage, 131 W. 2nd St. Davenport, IA

Mondo Drag - Aseethe - Brutus & the Psychedelic Explosions -Iowa City Yacht Club, 13 S Linn St Iowa City, IA

Open Mic Night -Uptown Bill’s Coffee House, 730 S. Dubuque St. Iowa City, IA

Rob Dahms Blues Band -The Lucky Frog Bar and Grill, 313 N Salina St McCausland, IA

The Avey Brothers -Rascals Live, 1418 15th St. Moline, IL

Thumping Thursday w/ DJ Hypnotic and Patrick Rifley -McManus Pub, 1401 7th Ave Moline, IL

2012/05/18 (Fri)

ABC Karaoke -Circle Tap, 1345 Locust St. Davenport, IA


ABC Karaoke -Greenbriar Restau-rant and Lounge, 4506 27th St Moline, IL

ABC Members-Only Karaoke -Moose Lodge - Davenport, 2333 Rocking-ham Rd Davenport, IA

Ashley Raines -RME Community Stage, 131 W. 2nd St. Davenport, IA

Bucktown Revue -Nighswander The-atre, 2822 Eastern Ave Davenport, IA

Caught in the Act -11th Street Precinct, 2108 E 11th St Davenport, IA

Chris Avey Band -The Muddy Waters, 1708 State St. Bettendorf, IA



Gray Wolf Band -Edje Nightclub at Jumer’s Casino and Hotel, I-280 & Hwy 92 Rock Island, IL

Heatbox - More Than Lights -Gabe’s, 330 E. Washington St. Iowa City, IA

Jared Blake - Dirt Road Rockers -Ras-cals Live, 1418 15th St. Moline, IL




Kooby’s Karaoke -Wide Open Bar & Grill, 425 15th St. Moline, IL

Laurence Juber -The Redstone Room, 129 Main St Davenport, IA

Lectric Leroy (5:30pm) - Corporate Rock (9:30pm) -The Rusty Nail, 2606 W Locust Davenport, IA

Live Lunch w/ Ellis Kell (noon) -RME Community Stage, 131 W. 2nd St. Davenport, IA

Mad Monks - The Maw - Acoustic Guillotine -Iowa City Yacht Club, 13 S Linn St Iowa City, IA

North of 40 -Hero’s Pub, 3811 N. Har-rison St. Davenport, IA

18FRIDAY


Truth & Salvage Co. @ RIBCO – May 18

17THURSDAY

16WEDNESDAY

15TUESDAY

14MONDAY

River Cities’ Reader • Vol. 19 No. 804 • May 10 - 23, 2012 ��Business • Politics • Arts • Culture • Now You Know • RiverCitiesReader.com


Gaither Homecoming Tour -i wireless Center, 1201 River Dr Moline, IL

Gray Wolf Band -Edje Nightclub at Jumer’s Casino and Hotel, I-280 & Hwy 92 Rock Island, IL

Greg & Susan Dirks (6:30pm) -RME Community Stage, 131 W. 2nd St. Davenport, IA

Half Naked - Chris Soppe - Radcon - XSV - DJ Matthew -RIBCO, 1815 2nd Ave. Rock Island, IL

Harriet Woodford Benefit featuring Alejandro Escovedo -The Mill, 120 E Burlington Iowa City, IA

Jared Blake -Champs, 216 Locust St., Sterling, IL




Kent Burnside and New Generation -The Muddy Waters, 1708 State St. Bettendorf, IA

Kooby’s Karaoke -Headquarters Bar & Grill, 119 E. 22nd Ave. Coal Val-ley, IL

Lustalots -The Pub, 4320 N. Brady St. Davenport, IA

Night People -Len Brown’s North Shore Inn, 7th Street and the Rock River Moline, IL

Open Mic Night -Downtown Central Perk, 226 W. 3rd St. Davenport, IA

Rhythm Unleashed: The Music of Marc Mellits -The Redstone Room, 129 Main St Davenport, IA

R-Style Band -Riverside Casino and Golf Resort, 3184 Highway 22 Riv-erside, IA

Russ Reyman, Pianist (7pm) -Phoenix, 111 West 2nd St. Davenport, IA

R-Style Band -Riverside Casino and Golf Resort, 3184 Highway 22 Riv-erside, IA

Russ Reyman Trio (6pm) -Phoenix, 111 West 2nd St. Davenport, IA

Smooth Groove -Martini’s on the Rock, 4619 34th St Rock Island, IL

Spatterdash -The Pub, 4320 N. Brady St. Davenport, IA

The Grass-Fed Kids -Rozz-Tox, 2108 3rd Ave. Rock Island, IL

The Music of Dr. Joe Seng -Joe’s Club, 1402 W. 7th St. Davenport, IA

Tony Hamilton Orchestra -Walcott Coliseum, 116 E Bryant St Wal-cott, IA

Truth & Salvage Co. - Ghost Town Choir - The Jason Carl Band -RIBCO, 1815 2nd Ave. Rock Island, IL

2012/05/19 (Sat)

3 Years Hollow - 1152 - The Hong Kong Sleepover - Shallow Side -Rascals Live, 1418 15th St. Mo-line, IL

A Party to Go Karaoke Night -Wooden Nickel Saloon, 2042 W 3rd St Dav-enport, IA


Blackstones -Barrel House 211, 211 E. 2nd St. Davenport, IA

Caught in the Act (5pm) -Rudy’s Tacos, 3944 Elmore Ave. Davenport, IA

Cosmic -11th Street Precinct, 2108 E 11th St Davenport, IA


Evergreen Grass Band - Bitterroot Band -Iowa City Yacht Club, 13 S Linn St Iowa City, IA


19SATURDAY Smooth Groove -River House, 1510 River Dr. Moline, IL

Spindrift - Strangers Family Band - Mondo Drag -Rozz-Tox, 2108 3rd Ave. Rock Island, IL

Steve Bobbitt (5:30pm) - Funktastic Five (9:30pm) -The Rusty Nail, 2606 W Locust Davenport, IA

The Funnies -Martini’s on the Rock, 4619 34th St Rock Island, IL

Zither Ensemble (10am) -German American Heritage Center, 712 W. 2nd St. Davenport, IA

2012/05/20 (Sun)

ABC Karaoke -11th Street Precinct, 2108 E 11th St Davenport, IA


Dave Olson - The Feralings -The Mill, 120 E Burlington Iowa City, IA

Funday Sunday with Dave Ellis (6pm) -The Muddy Waters, 1708 State St. Bettendorf, IA

Hip to Hip (2pm) -Riverside Casino and Golf Resort, 3184 Highway 22 Riverside, IA

Karaoke for Kids (3-5pm) -Hollar’s Bar and Grill, 4050 27th St Moline, IL

Russ Reyman, Pianist (10am-2pm brunch) -The Lodge Hotel, 900 Spruce Hills Dr. Bettendorf, IA

Sunday Jazz Brunch at Bix Bistro (10:30am & 12:30pm) -Hotel Black-hawk, 200 E. 3rd St. Davenport, IA

Third Sunday Jazz featuring Sam Salo-mone (6pm) -The Redstone Room, 129 Main St Davenport, IA

Whoozdads? (10:30am) -Brady Street Chop House, Radisson QC Plaza Hotel Davenport, IA

2012/05/21 (Mon)

Gentlemen Jesse & His Men -Gabe’s, 330 E. Washington St. Iowa City, IA

One Night Stand Open Mic -Iowa City Yacht Club, 13 S Linn St Iowa City, IA

2012/05/22 (Tue)



Acoustic Music Club (4:30pm) -RME Community Stage, 131 W. 2nd St. Davenport, IA

Glenn Hickson (5:30pm) -O’Melia’s Supper Club, 2900 Blackhawk Rd. Rock Island, IL

Jam Night w/ Jordan Danielsen -11th Street Precinct, 2108 E 11th St Davenport, IA

Keys N Krates -The Redstone Room, 129 Main St Davenport, IA

Mandolin Junction -RME Community Stage, 131 W. 2nd St. Davenport, IA

Old Tire Swingers (6pm) -RME Com-munity Stage, 131 W. 2nd St. Dav-enport, IA

Open Mic Night -Cool Beanz Coffee-house, 1325 30th St. Rock Island, IL

Open Mic Night -The Dam View Inn, 410 2nd St Davenport, IA

Southern Thunder DJ Service (5pm) & Karaoke (9pm) -McManus Pub, 1401 7th Ave Moline, IL

Tuesday Night Dance Party: Von, Ghost-Science, & DarkGrey vs. Defender & Radcon -RIBCO, 1815 2nd Ave. Rock Island, IL

2012/05/23 (Wed)

A Party to Go Karaoke Night -Stacks Bar, 525 14th St. Moline, IL

ABC Karaoke -Abblebee’s Neighbor-hood Grill - Elmore Ave., 3838 Elmore Ave. Davenport, IA

ABC Karaoke -Barrel House 211, 211 E. 2nd St. Davenport, IA

ABC Karaoke -Ganzo’s, 3923 N. Mar-quette St. Davenport, IA

Burlington Street Bluegrass Band -The Mill, 120 E Burlington Iowa City, IA

Daniel & the Lion -Englert Theatre, 221 East Washington St. Iowa City, IA

Exposure: Open DJ Challenge w/ Pat-rick Rifley & DJ Hypntik -RME (River Music Experience), 131 W. 2nd St. Davenport, IA

Hitman (6pm) - Open Mic Hosted by Randy Ketelsen and Corey Wal-lace (9:30pm) -The Rusty Nail, 2606 W Locust Davenport, IA

Jam Session -Iowa City Yacht Club, 13 S Linn St Iowa City, IA


Karaoke Night -RIBCO, 1815 2nd Ave. Rock Island, IL

Keller Karaoke -Martini’s on the Rock, 4619 34th St Rock Island, IL

Live Lunch w/ Strategic (noon) -RME Community Stage, 131 W. 2nd St. Davenport, IA

Open Mic Night -Boozie’s Bar & Grill, 114 1/2 W. 3rd St. Davenport, IA

Open Mic Night -RME Community Stage, 131 W. 2nd St. Davenport, IA

Rocktastic 4 -Rascals Live, 1418 15th St. Moline, IL

The Chris & Wes Show -Mound Street Landing, 1029 Mound St. Daven-port, IA

The Pub Unplugged: Live Acoustic Acts -The Pub, 4320 N. Brady St. Davenport, IA

Troy Harris, Pianist (10pm) -Red Crow Grille, 2504 53rd St. Bettendorf, IA

Jared Blake @ Rascals – May 18

20SUNDAY

22TUESDAY

23WEDNESDAY21MONDAY

River Cities’ Reader • Vol. 19 No. 804 • May 10 - 23, 2012�� Business • Politics • Arts • Culture • Now You Know • RiverCitiesReader.com

Documents

River Cities Reader - Issue 804 - May 10, 2012