River Cities' Reader - Issue 817 - November 8, 2012

7/30/2019 River Cities' Reader - Issue 817 - November 8, 2012

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River Cities Reader Vol. 20 No. 817 November 8 - 20, 2012 3Business Politics Arts Culture Now You Know RiverCitiesReader.com

on the slowly diminishing retirement-fundbalance, this persons pension runs out ofmoney at age 66 and is in the hole $45,000at age 67. And by the time this person diesat age 86, her fund balance is in the hole tothe taxpayers to the tune of more than $2.2million.

This is just for one single public-sectorworker. Imagine what this figure looks likefor some of the Illinois public employeeswho retire with even higher salaries, such

as $200,000. (To do this math yourself,download the spreadsheet provided bythe publishers father, Bill McGreevy, atRCReader.com/y/illinoispensions.)

Naturally, public-sector employees unionsare fighting to keep the defined-benefitplan. Who wouldnt? The calculation fordetermining employees average annualincome can include any overtime and thevalue of some perks (such as gas allowances) all of which allow for accelerated incomes

over the final four years. Obviously, this candramatically increase the average incomeused for calculating retirement incomes,grossly inflating retirement benefits andadding to the funding dilemma facing states,

A Good Definition of Unsustainable:Beneficiaries Negotiating Benefits Without the Benefactors

especially Illinois.Conversely, most private-sector pension

plans use some form of defined contribution,with the employee contributing a largerpercentage into his/her account, and theemployer contributing at some lowerpercentage. Some states impose a cap on theallowable contribution rate. Either way, theemployee can choose the amount of risk he/she is willing to accept for investing aggregatecontributions during the years of service.

Upon retirement, he/she is entitled to thetotal amount in the account at that time,regardless of whether the account gained orlost money. There is no guaranteed ROI.

Defined-contribution plans providefor sustainable pensions, using reasonableexpectations that can be met over time. Plus,these plans allow each employee to managehis/her particular appetite for investmentrisk. Defined-benefit plans carry no riskwhatsoever to the employee, only to the

taxpayer. It is an unreasonable burden dueto the excessively large amount of risk,considering the model is tied to an annualROI of 8 percent whether or not its achieved.

Pensions are among the most importantinvestments American workers andemployers make. We work for years so

that when the time comes, we can retire withenough income to live comfortably, enjoy themuch-deserved leisure time, and engage inactivities of our own choosing.

This weeks cover story examines Iowasand Illinois pensions, which, when coupledwith health-care benefits, are in grave dangerof insolvency, threatening to potentially

bankrupt Illinois. This is due to theunsustainable defined-benefit pension planthat promises each employee a percentageof his or her annual income, regardless ofthe amount of contributions made by theemployee, or on the employees behalf by theemployer (the states taxpayers), over his/heryears of service.

The defined-benefit pension plan has builtinto its calculations an annual rate of returnon investment (ROI) of roughly 8 percent.

The investment is the aggregate contributionsfrom both the state and its employees intothe pension plan each year. The presumed8-percent gain is supposed to cover theexpansive gap that is created by the differencebetween what was contributed and what

is actually paid to each retiree. In todaysdollars, even 8 percent will not suffice, letalone current ROIs of 3 percent or lower.

Consider this hypothetical example forillustration purposes: A 25-year-old startsworking for the State of Illinois with anannual salary of $50,000. If this person worksfor 30 years and retires at age 55, having hada 1.5-percent COLA salary increase annually,a state and employee contribution of 8.2percent of salary annually, and an investment

income of 4 percent annually, she would havea pension nest egg of more than $597,000.And lets say, hypothetically, that this personlives to be 86 years old, or has 31 years ofretirement to enjoy. And, over those 31years, the pension fund continues to return 4percent annually.

When she retired, her annual salary wouldhave been $78,000 and, in this hypotheticalcase, the retirement benefit is 78 percentof salary when she retired or just under

$61,000 annually to start with. With a1-percent COLA on the pension benefitannually, her second-year retirement benefitwould then be just under $61,600. Evenwith the annual 4-percent investment return Continued On Page 12

by Kathleen McCarthy

[email protected] FROM THE EDITOR


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River Cities Reader Vol. 20 No. 817 November 8 - 20, 20124 Business Politics Arts Culture Now You Know RiverCitiesReader.com

before Sandoval crashed the forum. But, hey, itmade for a good story.

Not to be outdone, Madigan ordered upthe printing of a flyer featuring photos of hiscandidate, Kathleen Willis, and CongressmanGutierrez. Luis Gutierrez and Kathleen Willis,Fighting for our families and our concerns!

read the text underneaththe photo.

But the wildest move ofthe entire campaign came

when a political actioncommittee with obviousties to Madigan poppedup out of nowhere andsent direct-mailers toRepublicans blastingSaviano for being SpeakerMadigans puppet.

A vote for SkipSaviano is a vote forMike Madigan! blaredone of the PACs mailers.

The piece informed voters that Madiganhad appointed Saviano to a committeechairmanship, claimed Saviano had contributedmoney to Madigans campaign committee, andvoted six times to make Madigan Speaker ofthe House!

Democrat Speaker Mike Madigan calls theshots for Skip Saviano, screamed the othermailer, which featured a photo of the two menwith their arms around each other.

The political action committee was formed

October 15. Its treasurer appears to work ata law firm run by the Melrose Park Villageattorney, who was once recommended for theJustice Village attorney position by none otherthan Speaker Madigan. One of the PACs topcontributors gave $5,000 to the new groupon October 19 less than two weeks after thecompany contributed $10,000 to Madigan.Another company gave three contributionsto Madigans committees totaling more than$6,000 just 10 days before it gave the new PAC$1,500.

Ive seen some crazy stuff in my day, but thisone pretty much took the cake.

Madigans people have insisted for yearsthat Republican attempts to sully his namehave not worked. But then they got behindwhat appeared to be a pro-Madigan group thatattacked Madigan to help defeat a Republicanstate representative. To put it another way,the Democrats took the Republican Partysubiquitous Fire Madigan mantra and turned itagainst a Republican legislator.

This was either a brilliant payback to the

GOP or a foolish confirmation that Madigansname truly is toxic. Heck, it could turn out tobe both.

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

ILLINOIS POLITICS

Theres nothing quite like the spectacle ofIllinois House Speaker Michael Madiganwhen hes out to get somebody.

Just ask state Representative Skip Saviano(R-Elmwood Park).

The two men used to be allies, even friends.Saviano supported Madigans daughter whenLisa ran for stateattorney general.But then Lisa turnedagainst Savianos

political mentor, thelate Rosemont MayorDon Stephens, blockinghis dream of building alocal casino because, sheclaimed, he was tied tothe mob. Saviano vowedrevenge.

Even so, thingseventually died down.Saviano kept thepowerful committeechair given to him by Madigan one of onlytwo Republicans bestowed with that privilege inthe Illinois House, the other being one of Skipsbest friends.

But when Madigan cranked up his total waragainst then-Governor Rod Blagojevich, heeventually came to believe that Saviano, an oldBlagojevich pal, had sided with the governoragainst him. That was the last straw. Beforelong, Saviano had lost his chairmanship. Thenthe Republican Saviano was given a new, solidly

Democratic House district in the remap. Andthen Madigan moved Heaven and Earth to findan opponent for the locally popular Saviano,finally convincing an almost totally unknownlocal Republican to switch parties and challengethe incumbent.

Madigan dumped hundreds of thousands ofdollars into the campaign, forcing Saviano towork harder on his re-election than he ever has.

Saviano is a clever tactician himself, however.When Madigan lieutenant state Senator MartinSandoval (D-Chicago) crashed and disrupted

a Latino candidates forum in Savianos district,Saviano finally got the Chicago media to paysome attention to his battle. Senator Sandovalstood on a chair and then sat on the floor, all thewhile shouting that Latinos should never voteRepublican. Sandoval was eventually escortedout of the church building by local police and,instead of apologizing the next day, calledSaviano a racist. The Chicago media generallydisdains covering local state-legislative races,but that story was just too good to pass up.

Saviano ginned up the attention further by

claiming that Sandovals actions had promptedthe states lone Latino congressman LuisGutierrez, a Democrat to endorse theRepublican Saviano. Never mind that Savianohad already ordered that the Gutierrez-endorsement direct-mail pieces be printed

by Rich Miller

CapitolFax.com

Feud Shows Madigan

at His Ruthless Best

The wildest move

came when aPAC with obvious

ties to Michael

Madigan blasted the

Republican for being

the speakers puppet.

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Ariddle: What do you get if you add

$209 billion to $54 billion to $15

billion?

If you answered a lot, youre correct andnot particularly inclined toward math.

If you answered $278 billion, youre adept at

arithmetic and correct, if literal-minded.

If you answered the respective unfunded

liabilities for Illinois state-run pension funds,

its retiree health-care system, and its pension

bonds, youre correct and probably cheating.

And if you answered a time bomb, youre

probablymostcorrect. Because while the

numbers are important, theyre constantly

changing and open to interpretation, and

the most important aspect of them is their

magnitude. Whether its cast as an $83-billion

pension problem or a $278-billion benefits

issue, the sheer size of it shows that it cant be

solved with tinkering.

Were getting close to the point where the

choice is between making pension payments

or paying for goods and services that we need

today, said Rae Ann McNeilly, director of

outreach for Taxpayers United of America.

We are coming to the pinnacle of financial

crisis where something has to be done.Ted Dabrowski, vice president for policy

for the Illinois Policy Institute, said retiree

health care is another unfunded liability that

will soon reach a critical juncture for Illinois

government: Weve promised all these things,

but we havent set aside any money. ... The

only way to pay them is to take money from

the current budget. And the way its growing,

that means youre going to take away from

education, from health care, from public

safety ... .If that rhetoric sounds overheated,

consider the 2010 paper Are State Public

Pensions Sustainable? by Joshua D. Rauh of

Northwestern Universitys Kellogg School of

Management. He concluded that using the

typical state asset-growth forecast of 8 percent

a year, the money in the pension funds for

Illinois would run out in 2018, followed

by Connecticut, New Jersey, and Indiana in

2019. Only five states never run out in this

scenario. Iowa would run out of pension-fundcash in 2035.

A June analysis by the Pew Center on the

States outlined a problem that has grown

dramatically in the past decade: Many

experts say that a healthy pension system

should be at least 80-percent funded. In 2000,

more than half of the states were 100-percent

funded, but by 2010 only Wisconsin was fully

funded, and 34 were below the 80-percent

threshold up from 31 in 2009 and just 22 in

2008. The funding ratio for the Iowa Public

Employees Retirement System, for example,

dropped from 97.2 percent in 2000 to 81.4

percent in 2010.

Pew calculated that Illinois in 2010 had

a $76-billion unfunded liability (out of a

$138.8-billion total liability) in its pension

funds, and a nearly $44-billion unfunded

liability for retiree health care meaning a

total unfunded liability for retiree benefits of

$120 billion.

Iowa in 2010 had a $5-billion unfunded

liability (out of a $27.1-billion total liability)

in its pension funds, and a $538-million

unfunded liability for retiree health care fora total unfunded liability of close to $6 billion.

Those are big numbers, but they dont

tell the whole story. The unfunded liabilities

represent, at a given point in time, how much

additional money the states would need now

to pay for retiree benefits already earned.

Add current assets to the unfunded liability

and you get the total liability the amount of

money today that shouldthrough investment

be adequate to fully fund retiree benefits.

But that calculation is premised on a certain

return on investment; if actual earnings are

below expectations, the total and unfunded

liabilities grow. Most states estimate their

unfunded liabilities based on an anticipated

asset-growth rate of roughly 8 percent a

year a historical number that many experts

consider optimistic today, meaning that the

actual retiree-benefit situation might be even

more grim. Rauhs paper figures that with

8-percent return, states in aggregate will run

out of funds in 2028. However, if average

returns are only 6 percent, state funds inaggregate will run out in 2024.

The Illinois Policy Institute notes that

Illinois five pension funds assume a rate of

return of between 7 and 8.5 percent a year in

calculating unfunded liability. But their five-

year average returns have ranged from 3.1 to

6.3 percent, and their 10-year average returns

have been between 4.5 and 6.1 percent.

The institute calculated that the state

pension systems unfunded liability is actually

$209.0 billion under new, more-realistic

reporting requirements by Moodys instead

of the current official estimate of $82.9 billion.Pew said that one analysis of similar

Governmental Accounting Standards Board

reporting requirements and state and local

pension systems found that if the new

rules had been in effect in 2010, those plans

funding levels would have dropped from

77-percent funded to 53-percent.

A $1.38-Trillion Bill

for TaxpayersThe first thing to understand about thepension crisis is that states nearly universallygive their workers defined-benefit pensions.In these plans, workers are promised a certainretirement income based on their salary andyears of service, regardless of how much theyor their employers contribute to the system,and regardless of how much money thosecontributions generate through investment.

Employer-provided defined-benefit plans

in the United States originated, according tothe federal Bureau of Labor Statistics, withthe American Express Company in 1875 andspread to the railroad, banking, and public-utility sectors. As of March 2011, 84 percent

of local- and state-government employees had

access to a defined-benefit retirement plan,according to the Center for State & Local

Government Excellence.Taxpayers of course foot the bill for the

required employer contribution, but they alsoend up paying for an additional portion of

pensions under a variety of scenarios: if theinitial contributions arent adequate, if the

investments dont perform up to expectations,if people live longer, and/or if contributionsarent adjusted to account for market

shortfalls and increased life expectancy.Illinois has skipped or underfunded

annual pension payments, but the currentpension crisis across the country illustratesforcefully that the combination of employeeand employer contributions and investment

return is grossly inadequate to cover statespension obligations; simply put, whatpublic-sector employees will draw from

pension systems is far greater than the sum ofcontributions and earnings.

As of Fiscal Year 2010, taxpayers

nationwide are holding a $757-billion billfor anticipated shortfalls in state retirementsystems, the Pew Analysis shows. That

unfunded liability has spurred discussion ofboth a federal bailout of state pension systems

and federal legislation to allow states todeclare bankruptcy.

The unfunded-liability problem extends

to other retirement benefits, particularlyhealth care: Inadequate money has been setaside to cover the costs of things promised to

public-sector workers. The states estimatedunfunded liability for retiree health care,according to Pew, was $627 billion in 2010.

That $1.38-trillion total unfunded liabilityrepresented a 9-percent increase from FiscalYear 2009, Pew said. (The figures from

Pew represent state-run pension systems,and each state is different. For example,Illinois figures dont include the Illinois

Municipal Retirement Fund. So Illinoisunfunded liability does not include municipalemployees, while Iowas does under the

Iowa Public Employees Retirement System.Again, the specifics are less important than

the magnitude and pervasiveness of theproblem.)

Two recessions in the U.S. economy since

2000 have certainly exacerbated the situationby bringing down returns on investments.Theyve also put budget pressure on state and

local governments, and because pensionsand other retirement benefits are long-termobligations, funding for them has suffered in

favor of short-term priorities.

Yet in a larger sense, pensionunderfunding over the past decade highlights

the anachronism of defined-benefit public-sector pensions. The private sector hasshifted to defined-contribution plans such

COVER STORY

Why Public-Sector Retiree Benefts Need to

Change, and the Barriers to Meaningul Reorm

The PensionTime Bomb


7/24


by Jeff Ignatius

[email protected]

as 410(k)s in which retirement income isdetermined not by salary and tenure butpurely by contributions plus investmentreturn. Defined-contribution plans areattractive to employers and (with public-sector employees) taxpayers because there is,by nature, no unfunded liability.

As Businessweek noted last year: In 1985,a total of 89 of the Fortune 100 companiesoffered their new hires a traditional defined-benefit pension plan, and just 10 of themoffered only a defined-contribution plan.Today, only 13 of the Fortune 100 companiesoffer a traditional defined-benefit plan, and70 offer only a defined-contribution plan.

The public sector is now learning whatthe private sector learned over the past threedecades: that defined-benefit programs aretremendously expensive in the long run if notproperly funded up-front.

And even when enough money is put in atthe outset, uncertainty is built in. As McNeillyof Taxpayers United of America said: Theyare mathematically impossible to sustain.The whole system is predicated on the futuregrowth of the current asset investment. Thats

an unknown, and we treat it as a known whenwere calculating the value of the asset. Adefined-benefit system puts the taxpayers atrisk of catastrophic unfunded liabilities.

Somebody will need to pay for thosebenefits, or the benefits will need to change,or both. As Pew summarized: Though stateshave enough cash to cover retiree benefitsin the short term, many of them evenwith strong market returns will not beable to keep up in the long term without

some combination of higher contributionsfrom taxpayers and employees, deep benefitcuts, and, in some cases, changes in howretirement plans are structured and benefitsare distributed.

Simple Mathor Union-Bashing?

McNeilly emphasized that the pensionissue is a matter of mathematics. The math

doesnt work. Its pure arithmetic. So theresno ideology here; the system doesnt work andits been proven not to work.

She also said that beyond a core lack ofsustainability, Illinois pension system is rifewith abuse double-dipping and spikingpensions through overtime and higherend-of-career salaries. She said that 6,700current Illinois pensioners take home morethan $100,000 annually, and her organizationestimates that number could be 25,000 by2020.

Taxpayers United advocates shiftingemployees to a defined-contribution system.Any reforms that we can make for currentemployees need to be made, McNeilly said.As far as new hires, they really need to be out

of the pension system altogether and into adefined-contribution plan.

She acknowledged, however, that pension

reform has become a left/right issue another divisive issue.Theres certainly some anti-union

sentiment at work here. When asked whystates havent shifted more quickly to defined-contribution plans for new employees,McNeilly answered: Votes. The unionsdeliver a ton of votes to people who vote forthe defined-benefit system. ... Its a game; itsa ploy.

She further argued that maintaining thecurrent retirement system is the primaryreason public-sector unions exist today:Without the pension benefits, there reallyis no need for union leadership. Thats thebiggest negotiating point pensions. Healthcare, too; thats a whole other unfundedliability.

She stressed that Taxpayers United doesnot intend to blast rank-and-file [union]members. Its to blast the [defined-benefit]system thats sold to them as a good thing.

Nonetheless, efforts to reform state pension

systems are often seen as de-facto attacks onunion workers. Defined-benefit pensionsand retiree health care were negotiated,and any changes that make those systemsmore sustainable will inevitably come atthe expense of employees through higherworker contributions, reduced benefits, orlater retirement ages.

So unions tend to fight structural reformefforts, and politicians allied with unions arehesitant to seriously consider them. In a June

statement, a coalition of public-employeeunions under the banner of We Are OneIllinois bemoaned the Illinois Senates passageof legislation that would shift the lions shareof the burden for Illinois pension debt ontoemployees and retirees, who have faithfullycontributed their share over their workinglives.

The Illinois Policy Institutes Dabrowskiacknowledged that its difficult to bringunions on board, but he said its in their

long-term interest: Without those reforms,the pension system will go bankrupt anyway,so state workers will have to get behind someform of reform if they want to see their futurebenefits.

Yet even if unions decide that structuralpension reform benefits their workers in thelong run, the existing problem doesnt goaway.

As Dabrowski said: Most people will agreethat benefits that are already earned andpromised should not be diminished. This isactually written into the Illinois Constitutionspension clause, which states that benefits ...shall not be diminished or impaired.

Continued On Page 16


8/24


like ballads. Theyre melancholic,theyre slower, they have lilting

melodies and intricate rhythms.And so theyve kind of alwaysbeen paired well with Punjabifolk songs, which provide a nice,upbeat contrast to ghazals. Everytime I went to a ghazal concert,I would also hear a couple ofPunjabi folk songs, and the effectof that kind of concert stayedwith me longer than any otherkind of music.

At about age 10, saysAhluwalia, we migrated toCanada, and then I continuedmy music classes part-timethroughout high school anduniversity. But despite herstrong affinity for singing andwriting the music of her heritage with Ahluwalia calling ghazalsthe music that gave me thegreatest comfort when I wantedto find solace she says she

didnt give much thought to acareer as a professional musician.

I dont think I dared tohope for that, says Ahluwalia.Because that would have

been just too ludicrous an idea to bein a predominantly English-speakingcountry and try to make a living singingin a foreign language. I couldnt have evendreamtthat.

Instead, Ahluwalia went on to receive a

bachelors degree in international relations,followed by an MBA, and embarked on acareer as a bond trader. Yet in between herpursuit of degrees and jobs, Ahluwalia saysshe also routinely spent months studyingmusic in India.

And whenever I came back to Canada, Istill didnt feel like working, she says with alaugh. Not in a nine-to-five job anyway. Ifelt like working on my music.

Happily for Ahluwalia, though, in

the 1980s, very slowly, there started to bewhat were called world music sections inCD stores. If you wanted to hear Koreansinging, or Indian singing, you didnt have

Vol. 20 No. 817Nov. 8 - 20, 2012

River Cities Reader532 W. 3rd St.

Davenport IA 52801

RiverCitiesReader.com

(563)324-0049 (phone)

(563)323-3101 (fax)

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Publishing since 1993

The River Cities Readeris an independent newspaper

published every other Thursday, and available free

throughout the Quad Cities and surrounding areas.

2012 River Cities Reader

AD DEADLINE:5 p.m. Wednesday prior to publication

PUBLISHERTodd McGreevy

EDITORKathleen McCarthy

EDITORIALManaging Editor: Jeff Ignatius [email protected]

Arts Editor, Calendar Editor: Mike Schulz [email protected]

Contributing Writers: Amy Alkon, Rob Brezsny, Rich Miller,

Frederick Morden, Bruce Walters, Thom White

ADVERTISINGAccount Executive:

Jason Farrell [email protected]

Advertising Coordinator: Nathan Klaus

Advertising rates, publishing schedule, demographics,

and more are available at

QCAdvertising.com

DESIGN/PRODUCTIONArt Director, Production Manager: Shawn Eldridge

[email protected] Artist: Nathan Klaus [email protected]

ADMINISTRATIONBusiness Manager: Kathleen McCarthy

Office Administrator, Classifieds Manager, Circulation Manager:

Rick Martin [email protected]: William Cook, Cheri DeLay, Greg FitzPatrick,

Tyler Gibson, Daniel Levsen, J.K. Martin, Jay Strickland

A Passage to India

by Mike Schulz

[email protected]

H

er first CD, Kashish At-traction, earned her a Best

Global Album nomina-tion at the 2002 Juno Awards,the Canadian equivalent of theGrammys. Her second, 2003sBeyond Boundaries, received theJuno for Best World Music Albumof the Year. Her latest, 2011sAamZameen Common Ground, madeher a two-time Juno winner inthat category.

Consequently, the estimableworld musician and frequenttouring artist Kiran Ahluwaliamust be feeling relatively secureabout career longevity, yes?

No, says the Indo-Canadiansinger/songwriter, with a laugh,during a recent phone interview.Oh, God, no.

I mean, she continues, Ireleased my fifth CD last year, andIve been doing this full-time for12 years now, and I definitely feel

like I have enough gigs lined upfor the next two years. But therereally isnt any security in myportion of the industry. So youkind of have to have short-termplans a year down the road, two yearsmaximum. Because after that, who knowswhats going to happen?

Given the trophies, plaudits, and fansthat Ahluwalia has amassed to date,continued success seems a pretty fair

prediction. Appearing at St. AmbroseUniversitys Galvin Fine Arts Center onNovember 9, the New York-based musicianwill perform material from her award-winning albums plus, as she says, somenew songs that are not recorded. Andin doing so, shell likely be introducingnumerous Galvin guests to the Indian-music stylings that Ahluwalia has beenpraised for, with the Washington Postdescribing her work as austerely lovely,

and the UKs The Observercalling theartist a powerful woman who has a depthof character in her wonderfully pliable,expressive voice.

The possessor of a clear and confidentsoprano that fully captures the haunting,

Singer/Songwriter Kiran Ahluwalia, November 9 at St. Ambrose University

lyrical emotionalism of her songs compositions that are performed entirelyin the language of Punjabi Ahluwalia wasborn in northern India, and credits herparents for a love for music that started,basically, as soon as I came out of thewomb.

Indian music was a very seriouspassion for both of them, she says, and Iwas definitely singing complete songs bythe age of five. So they put me in Indianmusic classes, and took me to all sorts ofconcerts when I was young: Indian classicalconcerts, Indian pop, Indian folk.

Yet Ahluwalia says that her parents and eventually Ahluwalia herself wereespecially taken with the musical formsof ghazals (pronounced guzzles), whichare Indian love poems set to music, and

Punjabi folk songs. Thats what they lovedthe most, she says. They would sing themall the t ime, and so thats why I chose tosing them as well.

Ghazals, she continues, are kind of

MUSIC



9/24


During Thursdays presentation,actor James Thames seemed outof place in Scott Community Col-

leges The Actors Nightmare, actinglike hewas acting, offering alimited range of emo-tions and inflections,and speaking with anote of desperation inhis tone. However, hisamateurish perfor-

mance, whether bydesign or not, actuallyproved spot-on forthis comedy in whicha non-actor findshimself forced to perform roles in fourplays with no prior rehearsals.

In author Christopher Durangs play,Thames portrays George Spelvin, anaccountant trapped in a dream in whichhes thrust into the spotlight as Elyot inNoel Cowards Private Lives, the Danishprince in Shakespeares Hamlet, Willie(a Nagg surrogate) in Samuel BeckettsEndgame, and Sir Thomas Moore inRobert BoltsA Man for All Seasons.George is routinely told that hes aboutto go on stage in place of actor EdwinBooth (who has a broken leg), but is nottold which role hes playing, or when, andoftentimes depends on Sara Bolets StageManager dressed as a maid to seem lessintrusive when entering scenes to feed

him his lines. And all throughout thecomedy, Thames seems believably lostand baffled by whats going on aroundhim, attempting to play along by ad-libbing lines, or stringing together quoteshe remembers from studying Shakespearein school.

Director Steve Flanigin takes aminimalist approach to the staging andblocking, which, as Georges nightmareprogresses, allows for quicker and more

fluid changes from play to play. Flaniginsmost creative effects lie in the lightingfor the production, with its spotlightcomically changing locations frequentlypointing to where George is supposed tobe standing but isnt and the shadowscast across faces adding an eeriness tothe Beckett sequence. Flanigins flair forcomedy is also evident in the recordedsound effects used throughout the play,mostly composed of audience reactions

such as applause or pitying Aw-w-w, thatgarnered some of the evenings largestlaughs from Thursdays realaudience.

For her part, which doesnt featurea lot of dialogue, I think Bolets StageManager could get anyone to agree to

By Thom White

Performance Anxiety

anything including portraying the leadrole in a play without rehearsals or evena peek at a script by the sheer force ofher charm, spunk, and refusal to take no

for an answer. Boletlit up the stage, andbrought a smile to myface, every time sheentered.

The other actors,portrayingactors

here, show signs oftrue stage talent asthey change rolesin each subsequentplay in Georges

dream. Analisa Percuoco does a fantasticjob of showing her growing frustrationat Georges repeated delivery of thewrong lines in their Private Lives scene;Percuocos increasing impatience isevident in her smile, which gets moreand more forced with every incorrect

response to her grand line readings.While Isaac Scott speaks almost tooquickly to be understood in his firstscene, he more than makes up for itwith his over-enunciated, comicallyloud performance as Hamlets Horatio,acting broadly while ignoring Georgesflaky, confused portrayal of the titularcharacter. And with her intriguing mix ofdaft, ethereal, and almost mad deliveries,Taylor Martin proves captivating in

Durangs Endgame scene. Aided by herover-teased hair and the fact that shessitting in a garbage can, Taylor speaks herwritten cues (pause, pause, blink left eye,blink right eye ...) while tossing her headback and forth, and looking like shes apuppet instead of a person.

At about 45 minutes in length, ScottCommunity Colleges The ActorsNightmare moves along quickly enough,and has the added benefit of Durangs

script not lingering too long on its gagsand humorously theatrical references. Ialso found that my enjoyment of this drollproduction was not negatively affectedby my unfamiliarity with some of theplays included in its nightmare, thoughI think that anyone who is familiar withthe four plays might find Flaniginsproduction all the more amusing.

The Actors Nightmare runs at ScottCommunity Colleges Student Life Center(Room 2400 through Door 5, 500 BelmontRoad, Davenport) November 8 through10 at 7 p.m., and more information isavailable by e-mailing director SteveFlanigin at [email protected].

The Actors Nightmare, at Scott Community College through November 10

THEATRE

Sara Bolet lit upthe stage, and

brought a smile to

my face, every timeshe entered.


10/24



11/24


by Mike Schulz [email protected] Mike Schulz [email protected] Reviews by Mike Schulz [email protected]

FLIGHTWithin the first 15 minutes of director

Robert Zemeckis Flight, youll witnesswhat must rank as one of cinemas mostfrightening, emotionally wrenchingplane crashes. Yet in the end, and asharrowing as this passage is, Im not

sure that its actually more terrifying orheartbreaking than the scenes of DenzelWashingtons Whip Whitaker thepilot whose heroic actions save 96 livesaboard that ill-fated flight battling hisurge to drink and, with only the mildestfeelings of regret, losing that battle againand again and again.

Though rare, movies about characterssuffering from alcoholism generallyfollow the same template: a few early,

unsettling highs for our protagonistfollowed by a rather disastrous low ataround the mid-film mark, followed bynumerous scenes of support and steadyprogress (interrupted by one moredrunken setback) before the inevitablyhopeful, if not exactly happy, conclusion.And Flightdoesnt fully diverge fromthis familiar blueprint. But it also feelsunlike any film about alcohol addictionIve seen; buoyed by Washingtonsrather extraordinary performance one that, I think, is far finer than thetwo he previously won Oscars for Zemeckis latest gets at the frightening,unpredictable threatbehind alcoholismin ways that feel both freshly imaginedand universally true.

Coupled with the films tortured yetroutinely unrepentant leading figure, itsnarrative which finds Whitakers heavy

drinker andfrequent coke-head a subjectof investigationafter his planeshorrific free-fall might makeFlightsound likean unbearableexperience.Blessedly,though, Zemeckis is also a born entertainer(at least when not making boring, motion-capture-animated features such as ThePolar Express and Beowulf). With its scriptby John Gatins, the movie does feature afew ill-considered comic gambits, suchas the decision to have John Goodmanplay Whitakers drug-dealing enabler with

such unwarranted cartoon relish; everyonce in a while, for too many minutes,this tough-minded tale is infiltrated byawkward bursts ofThe Big Lebowski.(I cant think of too many instances inwhich a Big Lebowski infiltration wouldbe considered a damaging thing, but thisturns out to be one of them.) In general,however, Gatins deft, engaging screenplayappears marvelously insightful about theendless cycle of rationalizations and lies

necessary for a closeted alcoholic to remaincloseted, and Zemeckis stages a series ofcompositionally brill iant and enormouslygripping scenes that demonstrateWhitakers plight in visual terms. Thelong, haunting close-up of a miniaturebottle of vodka just out of the pilots reachnearly throbs with tension, and duringone particularly painful encounter, a

recovering addict(beautifullyplayed by KellyReilly, whoslike a beaten-upJessica Chastainhere) gingerlyattempts tocomfort Whitakerwhile Zemeckiscamera shrewdly

delays our awareness of the beer bottle inhis hand, and the dozen empties restingbehind him. Zemeckis keeps the achingdangerof alcohol addiction for Whitaker,for his passengers, for those attempting tohelp him in constant view, and in doingso, lends his addiction drama the electriccharge of a first-rate thriller.

Denzel Washington, meanwhile, lendsit the power and force of a Shakespeareantragedy, and his spectacularly texturedturn, charming and pathetic and at alltimes wholly convincing, may stand asa new high-water mark in a career rifewith them. There are sharp, formidableportrayals courtesy of Don Cheadle,Bruce Greenwood, Melissa Leo, and manyothers, but Washington, in Flight, givesan instant-classic performance the type

that makes you say MyGodhes goodsome 30 years after our first hints abouthow good he actually was. The means bywhich Washingtons Whitaker lands hisplane are described as miraculous. Themeans by which Washington creates thisfascinatingly complex, troubled characterare awfully miraculous, too.

WRECK-IT RALPHAs Wreck-It Ralph concerns an

endearing video-game villain (sweetlyvoiced by John C. Reilly) who longsto escape the early-80s arcadegame hes trapped in, director RichMoores animated saga would seem

custom-tailored to my generation offortysomethings, and Ill admit, atthe films start, to giggling at the wittyperiod references and appearances bythe likes of Q-Bert and that blinkingghost that caused Pac-Man so muchgrief. Unfortunately, my initial, child-likeenthusiasm wasnt enough to offset myeventual disappointment with the f ilmsformulaic plotting and presentation;while stunning to look at, what starts as a

clever spin on Woody Allens The PurpleRose of Cairo morphs into yet anotheranimated outing that (like this springsThe Lorax)slowly and inevitably morphsinto a dully serviceable action comedywith heart. Its still diverting and cleverenough, I suppose, and kids should eat itup, but I was really hoping that Wreck-It Ralph would emerge as a cinematicvideo-game worth playing for 90 minutes,when 15, it turns out, wouldve been morethan enough.

For reviews ofThe Man with the IronFists, Cloud Atlas, Chasing Mavericks,Silent Hill: Revelation, and other currentreleases, visit RiverCitiesReader.com

Follow Mike on Twitter at Twitter.com/

MikeSchulzNow.

Listen to Mike every Friday at 9am on ROCK 104-9 FM with Dave & Darren

Pilot Lit

Denzel Washington in Flight

presents

ADLER THEATRE

BOX OFFICE

TICKETMASTER.COM

800-745-3000

DISCOUNTSFOR SUBSCRIBERS

AND GROUPS!

CALL 563-326-8522

SundayNovember 18

7pm


12/24


Whats HappeninWhats HappeninMusicWildlifeRozz-Tox

Tuesday, November 13, 8 p.m.

Its November, its chilly, itstime to trade the fall jacket infor the winter coat ... . Whos upfor seeing some wildlife? Betteryet, whos up for seeing some Wildlife from the comfort of a heated

building while sipping a Vietnamese coffee?If your answer to that second question is Me! Me! Me!, then you

wont want to miss November 13s concert at Rock Islands Rozz-Tox venue, featuring the up-and-coming Canadian powerhouses ofWildlife. Based in Toronto, the five-man ensemble composed of leadvocalist Dean Povinsky, guitarists Derek Bosomworth and GrahamPlant, keyboardist Tim Daugulis, and drummer Dwayne Christie formed in 2005, and has subsequently become one of its countrysmost acclaimed indie-rock outfits, with Lithium Magazine calling thequintet a must-see-live act boasting genuinely great music withgood vibes.

Listing Bruce Springsteen, David Bowie, and The Clash among theirgreatest influences, Wildlifes band members followed their se lf-titled,2008 debut EP with the 2010 release Strike Hard, Young Diamond. Andaccording to music critics, striking hard is exactly what Wildfire didwith this first full-length CD; Now Magazine raved about Wildlifesfast-strummed, passionately delivered indie rock, while Exclaim

Magazinedescribed the albums songs as bold, full of angst, [and]filled with youthful exuberance and affirming righteousness.

The bands online bio, meanwhile, provides a few other descriptionsof its output, likening the band to a loaded, five-man party sled, andthe groups sound to tobogganing down steep slippery slopes straightinto the warm cave of your heart. That Vietnamese coffee is soundingeven more enticing now, isnt it?

Admission to Wildlifes 8 p.m. concert is $8 at the door, and moreinformation on the night is available by visiting (309)200-0978 orvisiting RozzTox.com.

DancePilobolus Dance TheatreUniversity of Iowa

Tuesday, November 13, and Wednesday,

November 14, 7:30 p.m.

On November 13 and 14, theUniversity of Iowas Space/

Place Theatre will host 7:30 p.m.performances with the gifted andexceedingly limber members ofPilobolus Dance Theatre, the latest

guests in Hancher AuditoriumsVisiting Artists series.

A contemporary-dance troupeformed in 1971, Pilobolus is famedfor its inventive, witty, and athleticstage works, and has toured in 64countries worldwide.

A recent Pilobolus TV special wasthe recipient of an Emmy Awardfor Outstanding Achievement in

Cultural Programming, and otherprestigious honors for the companyinclude the Berlin Critics Prize, theBrandeis Award, and the Samuel H.

Scripps American Dance FestivAward for Lifetime AchievemeChoreography.

The New York Times called thgroup at once sensual and tougand muscular, entertaining, anfull of heat, and Newsdaymagadescribed Pilobolus as a mind-blowing troupe of wildly creativand physically daring dancers w

leap, fly, intertwine, and break arules.

And as I have a tendency tooverwrite these things, lets wra

MusicPieta Brown & the Sawdust CollectiveRiver Music Experience

Wednesday, November 14, 8 p.m.

Playing alongside her Sawdust Collectiveensemble, the much-admired singer/

songwriter/instrumentalist (and Iowa Citynative) Pieta Brown will perform at DavenportsRiver Music Experience on November 14. In our

ongoing quest to make these Whats Happeninarticles more helpful, weve attached a photo ofBrown so that, when you hit the RME, you canmore easily recognize her. Granted, you couldalso just aim your gaze at the stage and lookfor the lead singer, but we at the Readerprideourselves on the personal touch!

A tremendous talent whose 2007 CDRemember the Sun was cited by the Wall StreetJournalas one of the years best, and whose 2010One & Allwas described by AcousticMusic.com

as cohesive and smooth and

everything you want in analbum, Browns blend of alt-country, folk, blues, and indierock has made her one ofthe Midwests most populartouring artists. She has sharedstages with scores of giftedmusicians, among them JohnPrine, Emmylou Harris, AniDiFranco, Neko Case, MarkKnopfler, and Brandi Carlile.

Her festival appearances haveincluded sets at Bonnaroo,Mountain Jam, and theEdmonton Folk MusicFestival. And with famedsinger/songwriter GregBrown as her dad, Pieta clearly has exceptionalmusical genetics to match her vocal, piano, andguitar skills.

But if you want to read a really exceptionalarticle on the musician, Id recommend visiting

Piwithinfo(563org.

Continued From Page 3

A Good Definition of Unsustainable: Beneficiaries Negotiating Benefits Without t

The rationale that defined-benefit plansshould be maintained to remain competitivein attracting a qualified workforce isdisingenuous. The public sector is the lastemployment arena remaining where excessivebenefits are still provided. Add tenure andautomatic increases in annual incomes tothe mix, plus lower-than-average employeecontributions to health-care premiumsand costs, and higher-than-average wagescompared to the same jobs in the privatesector, and retention is hardly a problem.

Consider that in Iowa, 90 percent ofthe state employees and retirees make nocontributions to their health-care costs. Iowais one of only six states that still pay 100percent of employees health care. In Illinois,

the state pays 5 percent of an employeespremium for each year of service up to100 percent after 20 years. Iowas recentExecutive Order 78 asked state workersto voluntary pay 20 percent of premiums,with only one taker so far: Polk Countyemployees are now contributing $15 to$25 toward their premiums.

This lack of employee participationtoward health-care costs is so far out-of-whack with the private sector that itrises to absurdity. Most private-sectoremployees are paying as high as 50percent of their premiums for health-insurance coverage, including employerscontributions, and as low as 18 percent.Iowas employers are mandated to pay a

minimum of 50 percent of each employeespremium if the company offers grouphealth insurance. In Illinois, the private-sector employees pay on average 22percent of their premiums. The nationalaverage premium for single coverage is$900 per month. There are also out-of-pocket expenses, deductibles, and othercosts related to health care that are largelyabsorbed by the states on behalf of theiremployees, unlike the private sector, whereemployees absorb all those costs.

Iowa and Illinois state employees arenot to blame. The real problem lies inthe process that provides such generousemployment contracts that have nofiscal basis for financial sustainability

specifically, negotiations between unionleadership and public-sector bureaucratsand politicians, none of whom actually paysthe contracts. The absence of taxpayers,who ultimately do pay the contracts, fromthe table becomes a glaring one, especiallywith so many conflicts of interest amongthose who are at the table.

Unlike public-sector unions, private-sector unions work efficiently andare of great benefit to both labor and

management. Negotiations can be tough,but are mostly reasonable because bothparties have high stakes in the game, andboth benefit from a positive outcome.Management cannot succeed without labor,nor can labor thrive without management.

WORDS FROM THE EDITOR


13/24


are understandably relying heavily on thelegality of their contracts to be upheld andsatisfied, rather than entertain reforms tothe plans under which their contracts weregenerated. Most of us would not arguewith the premise, just the wisdom. If thepension funds are not available, then what?The notion that taxpayers will have to paymore and more taxes to cover public-sectorpensions is a slippery slope. Not only wouldlikely tax increases not cover the wideninggaps from ever-increasing pension-fundobligations, but taxpayers will only tolerateabusive taxation for so long before theirvotes will trump those of the union. And onething is certain: Politicians will usually bowto the more formidable voting bloc.

What ElseIs HappeninMUSIC

Thursday, November 8 The

Klezmatics. The Grammy Award-winning

klezmer ensemble in concert. Englert

Theatre (221 East Washington Street,Iowa City). 8 p.m. $30-32. For tickets and

information, call (319)688-2653 or visit

Englert.org.Friday, November 9 Kiran

Ahluwalia. World-music concert with

the Indo-Canadian, Juno Award-winningvocalist. St. Ambrose Universitys Galvin

Fine Arts Center (2101 Gaines Street,

Davenport). 7:30 p.m. $7-11. For ticketsand information, call (563)333-6251 or visit

SAU.edu/galvin.Friday, November 9 An Evening with

Savoy Brown. The British blues rockers

in concert. The Redstone Room (129 Main

Street, Davenport). 8:30 p.m. $20. Fortickets and information, call (563)326-1333

or visit RiverMusicExperience.org.Friday, November 9 Manchester

Orchestra. Folk, pop, and garage rock with

the indie musicians. Iowa Memorial Union

(125 North Madison Street, Iowa City). 8p.m. $23-29.80. For tickets, call (800)745-

3000 or visit ScopeProductions.org.Saturday, November 10 Tenth

Avenue North. Contemporary Christian

musicians in concert, with opening setsby Audrey Assad and Rend CollectiveExperiment. Adler Theatre (136 East Third

by Mike Schulz

[email protected]


ExhibitPicturing Identity: The Allure ofPortraitureFigge Art Museum

Saturday, November 17, through Sunday, February 17

The newest exhibition at DavenportsFigge Art Museum is titled PicturingIdentity: The Allure of Portraiture, and the

Figges Web site mentions that one of theexhibits underlying purposes is to remindus that we often remember people notas they were, but as they appeared to bethrough images. Thats actually the samerationale I have for attaching that three-year-old photo of myself above my moviereviews. Might as well make readers think,Wow, he must have been young and thinonce, huh?

Picturing Identity, which will be ondisplay from November 17 throughFebruary 17, is a showcase of 34 worksculled from the Figges collection, plusseveral pieces on loan from privatecollections and the University of IowaMuseum of Art. According to curator RimaGirnius, the exhibition has been designedto explore how identity is perceived andconstructed through images, and howrepresentations of specific individualsprovide some insight on contemporaryvalues. But it seems to me the exhibit will

also offer museum visitors the chance toexperience something truly rare: indoorstar-gazing.

Included in the exhibit are the visagesof such historical figures as George

Washington, Abraham Lincoln, and MartinLuther King Jr., plus Gerhard Richtersimage of a grinning Queen Elizabeth oneof the past centurys most indelible examplesof portraiture. But expanding on traditionalnotions of what portraiture can actuallyentail, Picturing Identitywill also feature anumber of artist Red Grooms cartoon-likeartworks, Al Hirschfields caricatures of suchfamed Hollywood actors as James Cagney,Shirley MacLaine, and Jack Lemmon, and perhaps the most recognizable portraitof all Andy Warhols legendary vision ofElizabeth Taylor (pictured). Oscar Wildeis quoted as saying, Every portrait that ispainted with feeling is a portrait of the artist,not of the sitter. If thats indeed the case ...man, was Andy lookin good!

Among the special events being heldin conjunction with Picturing Identitysshowing are November 15s VeronicaSmith lecture Two Baroque Portraits: The17th Century Woman and November

29s The Good, the Bad, & the Mundanepresentation by Alycia Reed, and moreinformation on the exhibition is availableby calling (563)326-7804 or visitingFiggeArt.org.

lt in

ine

ho

l the

this up and leave the final word tothe members of Pilobolus DanceTheatre themselves:

For tickets to one (or both) of

Pilobolus Dance Theatres twoUniversity of Iowa performances,call (319)335-1160 or visit http://www.Hancher.UIowa.edu.

RCReader.com/y/pietabrown.

In the interview, youll notonly find Brown lauded forher sharp, vivid lyrics andthe artist herself described asclear-eyed about the worldbut uncynical, but youllalso be treated to some of therichest, most intelligent prosewriting Ive ever read aglorious, musical waterfall ofwords that practically defies

... .Okay. Yeah. So the article

was written by my boss, Jeff,and Im angling for a raisethese days. What does thathave to do with anything?

eta Brown & the Sawdust Collective performsan opening set by Sean Rowe, and moremation and tickets are available by calling)326-1333 or visiting RiverMusicExperience.

e Benefactors

by Kathleen McCarthy

[email protected]

Therefore both sides at the table ultimatelyhave the same goal: to make the companyprofitable so all can earn a better living.

Public-sector union negotiations basicallyignore one of the primary stakeholders the taxpayers. The state bureaucrats andpoliticians are only concerned with theirown stake in the contracts they negotiate,both financially and politically as areunion leaders. State bureaucrats, politicians,and union leaders retirement packages arereflective of the terms they negotiate amongthemselves. The problem is that none ofthese parties is negotiating with the properskin in the game. In other words, they arenot negotiating with their own money.Instead taxpayers are deliberately put at risk

for what are fast becoming unaffordablebenefits for state employees. Thebeneficiaries are negotiating their benefitswithout the participation of the benefactors.This process, too, is unsustainable

Politicians not only participate in mostnegotiated benefits, but they simultaneouslysecure union membership votes, which goa long way in providing job security forboth the politicians and the bureaucracy.Not to mention the enormous campaigncontributions that flow from union coffers,thanks to membership dues. Union leadersalso keep their jobs, and retain membershipin return for securing generous benefits.This produces an abundance of politicalleverage. Thus, the circle is closed.

But what of the taxpayers representationin such negotiations? They are saddledwith far larger risk than reward, and theendless cycle gets more precarious andunmanageable with each year. It is anexponentially ballooning crisis that requiresnegotiators to come back to earth.

There is no question that the pensionscannot continue as they are currentlystructured. The politicians and bureaucratsknow it. The union leaders know it. Thepublic-sector employees, whose pensions areon the line, know it. And the taxpayers knowit. The ones who dont know it yet areour children, who will end up with the billfor all of it regardless.

Meanwhile, the public-sector employees


14/24


The Peaceful Warriors by Skip Willits andNo Future No Past No Me No You byTerry Rathje are located in an alley, not

displayed prominently at a buildings entrance orin an open location as one might expect for suchthoughtful and professionally produced artworks.Both artists, however, created their pieces know-ing that they would be displayed alongside graf-fiti, dumpsters, and loading docks.

Entering the alley between Second and Thirdavenues from 17th Street in the Rock IslandDistrict near Theos Java Club one is initiallymet by Willits three metal sculptures mounted

high on a brick wall. The welded masks, madefrom hot rolled-metal sheets, are approximatelyfive feet in height. In the daytime, they feelbenign; their gaze is diffident. At night, they feel

like armored sentries posted at an entry intodarkness.

This difference in mood reflects an interestthat Willits has explored for years. As he told me: Im always interested inopposites and how they strangely seem to fit together for me. These words(Peaceful Warriors) juxtaposed have opposite meaning to most. But this wasmy train of thought warriors for peace. Or warriors struggling for peace.

In addition to working with contradictions of appearance and intent, Willitsartwork references ritual African masks and other non-Western cultural styles.Seen in the context of an urban environment, the piece is a confluence ofallusions and ideas. The artist didnt realize that dumpsters would be parkeddirectly beneath his work, but thats fine with him. He said hes surprised and,I sense, a bit disappointed that his work hasnt been graffitied.

About 50 yards farther into the alley is a series of four painted panels,NoFuture No Past No Me No You. Rathje painted one of those phrasesbeneath a related image on each panel: No Future is symbolized by the wheelof fortune; No Past by a baby (a newborn has no past); No You by a portraitof someone other than the artist; and No Me by a painting of an x-ray. Theimages also have a personal meaning to the artist. For example, the newborn

is Rathjes grandson, and the x-ray is of the artists hand an image of himself,but not his outer appearance.

Inspired by Buddhist teachings, the series was meant as a reminder to all ofus that we should be conscious of the whole human race and not to think onlyabout ourselves, Rathje said. Simultaneously we should not be too worriedabout the past or overly concerned about the future, because the past is alreadyvanishing into the distance and the future is uncertain.

The intended message of Rathjes work, like Willits, is about inner peace.However, that meaning is somewhat undermined by beginning each phrasewith no; painted in white on red, the words are like four consecutive stopsigns.

Perhaps this was his intent, as Rathje said he hoped his artwork would stoppeople in their tracks compelling them to think about what the words andimages meant. Instead, he said, the piece has been misinterpreted as nihilistic;the artist once received a letter from a woman offering to help paint over it.

These and other artworks were created for an alley gallery as part of

MidCoast Fine Arts partnering with the City of Rock Island in 2000. Itwas an innovative idea breathing life into our relationship with art byputting it, provocatively, in an atypical urban setting. However, in a moreconventional gallery context where each artwork is seen in its own space andis often accompanied by an artist statement the subtleties and purposefulcontradictions of these works would be better understood.

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 theres a piece of public art that youd like to learn more about, e-mail the

location and a brief description to [email protected].

Art in Plain Sight: The Peaceful Warriors and No Future No Past No Me No You

Article and Photos by Bruce WaltersART


15/24


Street, Davenport). 7 p.m. $19-30. For tickets,

call (800)745-3000 or visit AdlerTheatre.com.

Saturday, November 10 A Helping Handfrom the Heartland: Hurricane Disaster

Relief Concert. Local musicians including EllisKell, Lewis Knudsen, and members of The

Candymakers perform a fundraising concert,

with all proceeds to benefit the AmericanRed Cross efforts toward disaster relief on the

East Coast. Davenport RiverCenter (136 East

Third Street, Davenport). Noon9 p.m. $8-5.For information, call (563)326-1333 or visit

RiverMusicExperience.org.

Saturday, November 10 Flatfoot 56.Celtic punk musicians in concert, with anopening set by As We Were. The Redstone

Room (129 Main Street, Davenport). 8 p.m.

$22-25. For tickets and information, call(563)326-1333 or visit RiverMusicExperience.

org.Saturday, November 10 Pentatonix.

Concert with the a cappella sensations and

winners of the third season of TVs The Sing-Off. Englert Theatre (221 East Washington

Street, Iowa City). 8 p.m. $35-55. For tickets and

information, call (319)688-2653 or visit Englert.org.

Sunday, November 11 Michael Twitty.

Tribute concert performed by Conrad Twittysson. Quad-Cities Waterfront Convention

Center (1777 Isle Parkway, Bettendorf). 6 p.m.

$10-15. For information, call (800)724-5825 orvisit Bettendorf.IsleOfCapriCasinos.com.

Monday, November 12 The Be Good

Tanyas. Country musicians Sam Parton, FrazeyFord, and Trish Klein in concert. Englert Theatre

(221 East Washington Street, Iowa City). 8 p.m.$25-27.50. For tickets and information, call(319)688-2653 or visit Englert.org.

Tuesday, November 13 Journey, Pat

Benatar, and Loverboy. The chart-toppingpop-rock musicians in concert. i wireless

Center (1201 River Drive, Moline). 7 p.m.

$39.50-75. For tickets, call (800)745-3000 orvisit iwirelessCenter.com.

Friday, November 16 Carrie

Underwood. Grammy Award-winning

country-music superstar in her Blown AwayTour, with an opening set by Hunter Hayes. i

wireless Center (1201 River Drive, Moline). 7:30p.m. $45-69.50. For tickets, call (800)745-3000

or visit iwirelessCenter.com.

Friday, November 16, through Sunday,

November 18 Amahl & the Night Visitors.

One-act version of Gian Carlo Menottis opera,

presented by Opera@Augustana. AugustanaColleges Wallenberg Hall (3520 Seventh

Avenue, Rock Island). 7 p.m. $8-12. For tickets

and information, call (309)794-7306 or visithttp://www.Augustana.edu/tickets.

Friday, November 16 John

Wubbenhorst and Samrat Kekkeri. World-music recording artists perform in a Satva

Center benefit event. Broadway Presbyterian

Church (710 23rd Street, Rock Island). 7 p.m.

$10-15. For information, call (309)793-7881 orvisit SatvaCenter.com.

Friday, November 16 Sonny Landreth.

Concert with the Louisiana-based slide

guitarist and singer/songwriter. Englert

Theatre (221 East Washington Street, IowaCity). 8 p.m. $25. For tickets and information,

call (319)688-2653 or visit Englert.org.

Friday, November 16 St. Lawrence

String Quartet. Chamber musicians perform

in a Hancher Auditorium Visiting Artists

presentation. Riverside Recital Hall (405 NorthRiverside Drive, Iowa City). 7:30 p.m. $10-37.

For tickets and information, call (319)335-1160

or visit http://www.Hancher.UIowa.edu.Saturday, November 17 Holiday Pops.

Annual event with the Quad City Symphony

Orchestra, featuring performances by areachoirs and Quad City Arts Visiting Artist Mark

Wood, founding member of Trans-Siberian

Orchestra. i wireless Center (1201 River Drive,Moline). 7:30 p.m. $13-47. For tickets, call

(800)745-3000 or visit QCSymphony.com.

Saturday, November 17 The Guess

Who. Concert with the Canadian ensemble

of American Woman fame. Riverside

Casino Event Center (3184 Highway 22,Riverside). 9 p.m. $30-45. For tickets and

information, call (877)677-3456 or visit

RiversideCasinoAndResort.com.Sunday, November 18 The Sax

Offenders. Four-person saxophone ensemble

performs and educates in Polyrhythms ThirdSunday Jazz Workshop & Matine Series. 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, November 8, through

Sunday, December 30 Miracle on 34th

Street. Musical adaptation of the holiday-film

musical, directed by Ann Nieman. Circa 21Dinner Playhouse (1828 Third Avenue, Rock

Island). Fridays, Saturdays, Wednesdays, and

November 8 6 p.m. buffet, 7:45 p.m. show.Sundays 4 p.m. buffet, 5:45 p.m. show.

Wednesdays 11:45 a.m. plated lunch, 1:30

p.m. show. $28.22-47.55. For tickets andinformation, call (309)786-7733 extension 2

or visit Circa21.com.Thursday, November 8, through Sunday,

November 18 A Nice Family Gathering.

Playwright Phil Olsons holiday comedy,

directed by Jennifer Kingry. Richmond HillBarn Theatre (600 Robinson Drive, Geneseo).

Thursdays-Saturdays 7:30 p.m., Sundays 3

p.m. $8-10. For tickets and information, call

(309)944-2244 or visit RHPlayers.com.


November 18 The Christmas Express.Holiday comedy by Pat Cook, directed by

John Weigandt. 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 orvisit Playcrafters.com.

Friday, November 9, through Saturday,

November 17 Spring Awakening. TonyAward-winning rock musical about tortured

youth, directed by Nathan Halvorson.

University of Iowas E.C. Mabie Theatre (200North Riverside Drive, Iowa City). Wednesday-

Saturday 8 p.m., Sunday 2 p.m. $10-20. For

tickets and information, call (319)335-1160 orvisit http://Theatre.UIowa.edu.

Wednesday, November 14 Away

in the Basement: A Church Basement

Ladies Christmas. Holiday-themed touring

production and sequel to the musical

comedy Church Basement Ladies. EnglertTheatre (221 East Washington Street, Iowa

City). 2 and 7 p.m. $25-30. For tickets and

information, call (319)688-2653 or visitEnglert.org.

Friday, November 16, and Saturday,

November 17 Its a Wonderful Life: A Live

Radio Play. Director Lora Adams radio-

play adaptation of the holiday-film classic,

presented as a fundraiser for WQPT-TV.Augustana Colleges Potter Theatre (3701

Seventh Avenue, Rock Island). Friday 7:30

p.m., Saturday 2 and 7:30 p.m. $20. For ticketsand information, call (309)794-7306 or visit

http://www.Augustana.edu/tickets.Friday, November 16, through Sunday,

November 18 Willy Wonka: The Musical.

Adaptation of Roald Dahls Charlie & the

Chocolate Factory, presented by the PrairiePlayers Civic Theatre. Orpheum Theatre (57

South Kellogg Street, Galesburg). Friday and

Saturday 7:30 p.m., Sunday 2 p.m. $10-17. Fortickets and information, call (309)342-2299 or

visit TheOrpheum.org.

Sunday, November 18 Fiddler on the

Roof. The Tony Award-winning stage musicalin a Broadway at the Adler presentation.

Adler Theatre (136 East Third Street,Davenport). 7 p.m. $32-52. For tickets, call

(800)745-3000 or visit AdlerTheatre.com.

COMEDYSunday, November 11 Ralphie May.

Stand-up comedian in his Too Big to Ignore

Tour. Englert Theatre (221 East WashingtonStreet, Iowa City). 7:30 p.m. $34.50. For

information and tickets, call (319)688-2653 or

visit Englert.org.

EXHIBITFriday, November 9, through Sunday,

November 11 Discover the Dinosaurs.

Hands-on exhibit featuring more than 40

animatronic and museum-quality dinosaurreplicas. QCCA Expo Center (2621 Fourth

Avenue, Rock Island). Fri. noon 9 p.m., Sat.10 a.m. - 8 p.m., Sun. 10 a.m. - 7 p.m. $10-15.

For information, call (309)788-5912 or visit

QCCAExpoCenter.com.

EVENTSThursday, November 8 Food for

Thought. Annual library fundraiser featuringgourmet food stations, wine and beer

samples, music by Lee Blackmon and the BlackHawk College Jazz Combo, and more. RockIsland Public Library Main Branch (401 19th

Street, Rock Island). 5 p.m. $30-35, $50/couple

with RSVP. For tickets and information, call(309)732-7302 or visit RockIslandLibrary.org.

Saturday, November 10 Genesis

Celebration of Life. Annual outdoor eventfeaturing the lighting of the Remembrance

Tree, holiday music, refreshments, and more.

Bechtel Park (River Drive and Iowa Street,Davenport). 6 p.m. Donations encouraged;

$10 donation for a Remembrance Tree

light to honor the memory of loves ones.For information, call (563)421-6865 or visit

GenesisHealth.com/tree.Saturday, November 10 Oedipus &

Tutankhamun: The Story of One Mans

Family. An illustrated lecture on the

famed kings, presented by Genesius Guildfounder Don Wooten and area artist Bill

Hannan. Butterworth Center (1105 Eighth

Street, Moline). 7:30 p.m. Free admission.

For information, call (309)743-2700 or visitButterworthCenter.com.

Saturday, November 10 Black Hawk

College 5K Hustle. A cross-country run/walk on the hills and trails of Black Hawk, with

proceeds benefiting the BHC Physical Therapist

Assistant Program. Black Hawk College(6600 34th Avenue, Moline). 8 a.m. $20-25

registration. For information, call (309)781-3198

or visit BHC.edu/event/hawk-hustle.Sunday, November 11 Unity Fest

International.Multicultural celebrationfeaturing demonstrations, live music, ethnic

dance, an international food court, childrens

crafts, a wine tasting, a drumming workshop,and more. Putnam Museum (1717 West 12th

Street, Davenport). Noon-5 p.m. Free with

$5-7 museum admission. For information, call(563)326-1933 or visit Putnam.org.


November 25 Quad City Arts Festival

of Trees. Annual holiday event featuring

decorated trees, activities, visits from Santa,

and more. Davenport RiverCenter (136East Third Street, Davenport). $3-8/day.

For information, call (309)793-1213 or visit

QuadCityArts.com.


What Else Is Happenin


16/24


dont ... reduce COLAs if you dont freeze

them then you cant get out of the hole,he said.

Increasing retirement age to age 67

could save more than $10 billion, he noted.

Furthermore, the state could cap pensions,

and also change the number of years that

go into the pension calculation.

All these reforms would chip away

at the unfunded liability, he said. The

state would be left with an unfunded

liability, but one that would be much more

manageable, that can be chipped away overtime without destroying funding for kids

classrooms, and health care, and other

important needs.

Dabrowski said pension reform could be

passed in Januarys lame-duck legislative

session, although he said hes skeptical the

changes will be meaningful: We think

it can be done. Of course, it takes a lot of

political will and a lot of leadership, which

we havent seen yet.

He added that two triggers could pushthe legislature to truly address the issue.

Were going to see funding for

education start to be cut. Were going to

see funding for ... a lot of core services the

state needs to be cut, he said. At some

point, people are going to get angry. ...

Were nearing that point over the next few

years.

Alternatively, he said, the bond market

could further downgrade Illinois rating,

which would send a signal. The state isnt

at that point yet, he said, but were doing

all the wrong things to move us in that

direction.

Ahluwalia, I would go back and forth

between India and Canada. I would do ayear or a couple of years of music in India,

and then come back to Canada for a while.Id perform on weekends here and there,

but it was mostly to make money and save,

and then Id go to India to do music again.

But at the end of the 1990s, she says,I was working for a record label at a San

Francisco office they decided to shut

down. And when they shut down thatoffice, I thought, You know, before I look

for another job or go to India for music,

Im going to do music here, now, in NorthAmerica. And thats when I recorded my

first CD.

Together with musicians she


to go to Korea-town or India-town to find

CDs. You could actually go to your localrecord retail store and there would be a

department for world music. And as thisscene started to grow, I started to findfriends and ways of performing my musicfrom time to time, and realized I could

have a career in it.Her decision to gradually transition

away from finance and toward a music

career, says Ahluwalia, initially came witha very deep feeling of failure. Oh, I cant

make it in the real world. And I reallyhad to tell myself over and over and over

again that I wasnt a failure I was actuallymoving ahead.

For roughly 10 to 12 years, says

A Passage to India

by Mike Schulz

[email protected]

collaborated with in Toronto and a couple

of Indian instrumentalists who I knewfrom the UK, Ahluwalia recorded herdebut collection of ghazals and Punjabifolk tunes, and the critical success ofKashish Attraction led, she says, to mygetting a manager, and then an agent, andthen lo and behold I started gettingconcert bookings.

She also started getting theaforementioned raves and awards, andcurrently spends some three months of

the year touring while also composingnew songs and occasionally performingwith one of her husband Rez Abassis jazzensembles in New York City.

I consider myself lucky, says Ahluwalia.

Verylucky. To be able to find a life that I

could truly be able to live, instead of justgoing through the days. And thats the wayIve lived for the last 12 years.

Of course, she adds with a laugh, I stillnever reallyknow that Im not going backto finance.

Kiran Ahluwalia performs at St. AmbroseUniversitys Galvin Fine Arts Center (2101Gaines Street, Davenport) at 7:30 p.m.on Saturday, November 9. For tickets and

information on the evening, call (563)333-6251 or visit SAU.edu/galvin.

For more information on Kiran Ahluwalia,visit KiranMusic.com.

The Pension Time Bomb

by Jeff Ignatius

[email protected]

The Pew Center on the States report

noted that between 2009 and 2011, 43states enacted benefit cuts or increasedemployee contributions, or did both,according to the National Conference ofState Legislatures. The trend continued in2012: Alabama, Kansas, Louisiana, NewYork, Virginia, and Wyoming were amongthe states that adopted major reforms.

But it added that the reforms that stateshave enacted in the last three years mostlyaffect future state workers, as it is legallydifficult to reduce benefits for currentemployees and retirees.

At RealClearMarkets.com, StevenMalanga suggested that states cannot trulyaddress pension debt without changingbenefits for current employees. Despiteretirement-benefit changes, he wrote,pension debt keeps rising and annualpayments to pension systems fromgovernment budgets are spiking in manyplaces, in part because many of these so-called reforms are superficial in nature. ...

The states left benefits untouched for thevast majority of their workforce. The savingsmake only a small dent in future costs.

Options for ReformThats one reason that Rhode Island

has been cited as a model for reform. ThePew report said: In 2011, Rhode Islandlawmakers approved an unprecedentedoverhaul of the states traditional defined-benefit-pension plan. If the legislationsurvives a likely legal challenge, it willcut benefits for current as well as futureemployees and trim the states unfundedliability by an estimated $3 billion. Current

workers will keep the retirement benefits

they have earned already, but beginningJuly 1, 2012, they will earn new benefitsat a lower rate. These workers will alsoget access to a newly created individualretirement account, which will add totheir benefits based on the retirementcontributions by both the worker andthe state. The overall plan is called ahybrid because it combines features of thetraditional defined-benefit and defined-contribution plans.

Still, even modest reforms can havesome impact.

McNeilly cited Iowas reforms as a goodstart. In 2010, the legislature enacteda handful of changes, according to theCenter for State & Local GovernmentExcellence:

The vesting period for new employeeswill increase from four years to sevenyears.

The reduction for early retirementwill increase from 3 percent to 6 percent

for each year before age 65. The number of years used to calculate

highest average salary for benefits willincrease from three years to five years.

The amount that the combinedemployer and employee contribution ratecan be raised or lowered annually willchange from 0.5 percent to 1 percent.

There was a one-time increase of 2percentage points (11.45 to 13.45 percent)in the total employee and employer

contribution rate effective July 1, 2011.Before a contribution increase of 0.5percent in 2008, the legislature had notchanged contribution rates since 1979.

Alex Brown, a research and policy

analyst for that organization, wroteto Pensions & Investments that Iowarecognized the urgency of reform but alsothe need to be fair to employees:

Employees were allowed to retirebefore reaching normal retirement agewith the old reductions; the increasedpenalty for early retirement applies tothose years worked after the reforms takeeffect.

Employees are provided a benefitsnapshot when electing to retire.Employees will choose between the benefitcalculated using the pre-reform salarycalculation or the post-reform salarycalculation, whichever yields the highestbenefit. ...

Iowa has provided an example that canbe followed to ensure employees are easedthrough what can be an anxious process.

In Illinois, Governor Pat Quinn earlierthis year signed Senate Bill 1313, whichwill allow the Department of Central

Management Services to determine whathealth-care premiums retirees will pay.(Roughly 90 percent of retirees in thestates plan pay no premiums.) That couldshave $30 billion off the states retiree-health-care liability, Dabrowski said.

Other reform, however, has been elusive.Dabrowski said the state needs to move

to defined-contribution benefits for allfuture work.

Beyond that, he said, eliminating cost-

of-living adjustments (COLAs) to pensionsfor a long period of time could eliminate$30 billion in unfunded liabilities fromthe official $83-billion estimate. If you

COVER STORY Continued From Page 7


17/24


(Editors note: The River Cities Readereach month will feature an image orimages from the Quad Cities PhotographyClub.)

D

ave Engler had one of the highscores in the nature category in

the Quad Cities PhotographyClub competition for October with hispelican coming in for a landing. He hadjust gotten a new lens and decided thatthe pelicans at Lock & Dam 14 would be

a good subject on which to try it out. Heheaded out very early, before sun-up, andfound dozens of pelicans hanging aroundthe rollers of the dam looking for a meal.They werent concerned by his presence,as they are quite used to the fishermen.He sat on a flat rock near the rivers edge

so he could be at the same level as thepelicans. They are constantly jockeyingfor the best fishing spots, and he wasable to capture this one as it came in fora landing.

He used a Nikon D90 camera with a300-millimeter f/2.8 lens, shooting at1/2000 of a second at f/4.5 and ISO 500with a -0.3 exposure compensation.

The Quad Cities Photography Clubwelcomes visitors and new members.

The club sponsors numerous activitiesencompassing many types and aspects ofphotography. It holds digital and printcompetitions most months. At its meetings,members discuss the images, help each

other to improve, and socialize. The clubalso holds special learning workshopsand small groups that meet on specificphotography topics, and occasionally offersinteresting shooting opportunities. Theclub meets at 6:30 p.m. the first Thursdayof the month September through June at

the Butterworth Center, 1105 Eighth Streetin Moline.

For more information on the club, visitQCPhotoClub.com.

PHOTOGRAPHY

Featured Image from the Quad Cities Photography Club


18/24


the stay-at-home mom, even for 20 minutesafter Dad comes home, is a huge relief, as are

play dates one night a week for her to go

out with friends and be a person instead of a

big udder. Just a little alleviation goes a long

way in showing that a husband doesnt think

women have babies and men have babies

as props to parade around Starbucks in a

BabyBjorn, making all the hot girls coo, and

then hand back to Mom until the kids old

enough to be interesting: Hey, little man,

Daddys gotta read the newspaper and putteraround the garage for six or seven years. Lets

talk when youre big enough to throw a ball

around.

Silent KnightIm thinking I should wait until after

Christmas to break up with my girlfriend of

two years. She is planning on accompanying

me to my familys for the holidays and

otherwise has no place to go. (Im picturingher home alone, maybe calling her

stepbrother she talks to once a year.)

Not Jolly

When your thought is I think we shouldstart seeing other people, it isnt supposed tomean making your girlfriend spend a weekwith your grandma and 62 of your closestrelatives. Although youre trying to be kind,delaying your breakup is the wrong thing to do.

You break up with somebody as soon as youknow, which means they can lick their woundsand get on to somebody who does want themthat much sooner. (There are exceptions to theimmediacy rule, like if its two days before yourgirlfriend has finals, or if somebodys just diedand shes on her way to identify the body.)

Just think how what youre suggestingcould play out. In the weeks before Christmas,shell likely sense that somethings not quiteright.

Documents

River Cities' Reader - Issue 817 - November 8, 2012