Shameless Plug for My Favorite Band?

I wasn’t out and about this past weekend like I have been recently. Family obligations kept me busy all week, including Friday. Saturday night I was in Muscatine with 1^st Impression. For those who don’t know me all that well – I’ve known Lyle Harris for 20 years (gosh we’re old!) and Becky Anson since the early days of the band, more than 12 years ago. John Biondo and his awesome wife Tanya have become like family as well. I manage their Facebook page and Tweet their announcements. I’ve shot all the videos on their Youtube channel too. I appreciate so much the trust they’ve put in me to do those things for them, and although I had a pretty good idea how I wanted to do things when I set up their online presence, I’ve learned a bit about band PR in the process. I’ve also honed my videography and photography skills mostly on their gigs. And I’m still learning.

In the past 6 months, the band has had a personnel change. They had so many bookings, so close together they barely had time to break in their new bass player, Phil Bonilla. However, they took a 5 week break between their February gig and this past weekend’s March gig. During that time, they worked on a boatload of new music and built some great rapport. And they roared out of the gate Saturday night. One song in particular, “You and I” caught my ear. Oh…My…Goodness! Becky’s vocals are always great, but I was absolutely floored by the backing vocals – especially since this was the first time out for this new song.  And it was great to hear Phil taking lead on a song as well. Personal connection aside – 1^st Impression made some awesome choices for their new set list – and the folks at the Brew in Muscatine had the honor of rocking out to some great new tunes.

Sunday evening brought Sunday Funday at The Muddy Waters. Thanks to some great weather, Lee Blackmon was set up on the patio out back. The patio was full of people having a good time, and Lee was joined by bass player Dave Kamp. Jackie Madunic and I got up and sang a few songs with Lee. And one of these days, maybe we’ll get Kristy Bennett to join in?

This Friday looks like another great night for local live music. There are so many venues booked it will be difficult to choose! Danika Holmes is sharing the Redstone Room stage with the Dani Lynn Howe band, Cosmic can be seen at the

11^th Street

Precinct, and Secret Squirrel will be playing Fargo. Simon Says Uncle will be rockin’ the Rusty Nail, the Rootless Experience is playing Brady Street Pub in downtown Davenport, and Funktastic Five fans can find them at ThePub on

north Brady Street

.

Saturday night, Danika Holmes has an early start at 8 PM at the Grape Life, and Justin Morrissey is playing

11^th Street

Precinct. I definitely plan to make a stop at The Muddy Waters for the Avey Brothers.

It doesn’t matter where you plan to go – just get out there and enjoy the sizzle of Quad Cities Live Music!

St. Patrick's Weekend in the QC

I headed out March 16 to visit old friends and make a few new friends. It turned out to be a great night, with some surprising and unusual musical instruments.

 The evening started early, as Lee Blackmon was playing an acoustic set at Cool Beanz in Rock Island. I grabbed a bite to eat and a glass of Moscato – but stepped up to sing with Lee just as my dinner arrived at the table. It was a good thing, too. Lee is pretty popular at Cool Beanz and the crowd quickly grew. Everyone wanted to sing along, many from their tables. The 2 hour set went quickly, without a break. Lee has a quirky, fun style that gets people going. And his extra microphone is an invitation to anyone who wants to sing along.

Leaving my friend Lee at Cool Beanz, I zipped back across the river to The Muddy Waters in Bettendorf for a duo of bands. The Harris Collection was opening for The Candymakers. I’ve reviewed The Harris Collection before, but I would like to mention that though I caught them near the end of their set, I was impressed this night with Shon (Young Skoy) Harris’ singing. Keep up the good work guys!

The Candymakers. Wow. I really love listening to the sweet sugar blues of this band. And they put on a good show as well.  Alan Sweet and Siri Lorece provide fantastic vocals – Siri has a beautiful voice, and Alan really has it together. The band has a really great sound. For those who don’t know, The Candymakers won the 2011 Iowa Blues Challenge, and represented Iowa at the International Blues Challenge. Before they took the stage, I asked Alan if he would mind if I took a few shots – and his response was “get all up in it!” Well, I did take a few shots, but tried to be as inconspicuous as possible. It was hard though, when people were offering to move so I could “take a picture from over here, I have a great view!” What a great crowd at The Muddy Waters – and a good reason to keep going back!

Last stop for the night was ThePub on North Brady Street in Davenport. Friends and former bandmates Ray Polanchek and Matt Orwitz were making an appearance once again with House Arrest. The Pub is a huge venue with a cool 2-level stage, but I would really like to see them do something with the dance floor. I don’t recommend heels on the uneven brick surface. But I digress – I’m here to talk about the bands! I love hard rock almost as much as I love the blues. House Arrest is definitely a hard rock band. They slowed it down a bit for a couple of songs though, including Lynyrd Skynyrd favorite “Simple Man”. They even invited me up to sing. Thanks guys! It was cool to sing with you.  And I have to say – I’ve never seen a local band perform with a chain saw!!

Saturday morning I started my day at the CASI St. Patrick’s Day race, then stopped by Kilkenny’s to check in with Keep Off the Grass. Talk about an all day party! At 10 AM that tent was already rocking! They sounded great – especially so early in the day. I had to wonder Saturday – how many bar bands were dazed by the sunlight? There were so many all day parties, and the weather was awesome.

Unfortunately, my Saturday ended with the pre-parade party, as I had family obligations that kept me busy the rest of the day. However, we know it was a sizzling hot St. Patrick’s Day in the Quad-Cities!

This weekend I won’t be out and about the way I have been in the past. Friday night is a night with my family again – and Saturday I’ll be in Muscatine with 1^st Impression. I haven’t seen a lot of event notices for this weekend, but I know Friday night Keep Off the Grass will be playing ThePub in Davenport and Rascals has their 1-year anniversary bash. Saturday night, if you’re not up to the Muscatine drive, The Harris Collection will be at Brady Street Pub and Cosmic is playing Mound Street Landing.  Cobalt Blue is playing both nights at 11^th St. Precinct. Sunday evening, catch an early show with Lee Blackmon at The Muddy Waters. I might just … oh heck, everyone knows by now I sing a few songs.

I would also like to mention a few open mic and jam nights – Tuesday night The Harris Collection is hosting a jam night at Brady Street Pub. Wednesday night is open mic at Rascals and Mojos. Thursday night catch the Johnny O Jam at The Muddy Waters.

Enjoy my pictures? You can find more on my Flickr page.http://www.flickr.com/photos/65349253@N08/ And see videos on my Youtube channel.

More Quad Cities Live Music Notes

Last Friday, I finally went out to see a band that’s been on my wish list for a while, the Dirt Road Rockers. These guys have good energy and a great sound, and I really enjoyed the set. I got a few decent photos and shot some video (though I haven’t had the opportunity to review the video yet). Martini’s on the Rock (in Rock Island) is a cool place, but seems so small for a hard-rocking band. Maybe I’ll get lucky enough this summer to catch an outdoor show there on a nice night. And I’ll be looking for another opportunity to catch DRR as well.

I started out my night Friday at Refresh lounge in Moline – it was a nice change of pace, and I wanted to see a bit more of Danika Holmes’ set. It was another acoustic set, and she sounded fabulous.  One of these days, I’m going to try to catch Danika on a night when she is playing with her full band. Check her out when you can folks. The lounge at Refresh seems to be a great venue for acoustic acts.

After I visited with the Dirt Road Rockers, I came back to the Iowa side of the river and dropped into my regular stop, The Muddy Waters. Friday night’s act was Cobalt Blue, a band that is celebrating their 25 year anniversary this year. What a cool blues sound! These guys just start jamming and you never want it to end. If you want to catch Cobalt Blue, they’re always playing around. And come June, they’ll be celebrating that anniversary right there at The Muddy Waters.  

This is going to be a busy St. Patrick’s Day weekend for live music in the QC. Friday night, I’ll be checking in with Lee Blackmon at Cool Beanz in Rock Island. This is an early gig – and Cool Beanz serves food, beer and wine along with their coffees and teas. What a great way to start out an evening! (And you might even hear me sing!) The Harris Collection is opening at The Muddy Waters for The Candymakers. Expect a large crowd, as there is no cover for this show with Alan Sweet’s popular blues band. If you’re looking for rock, check out screaming rockers House Arrest at ThePub. Local Bluegrass band Squid’s Beard is opening for Whitewater Ramble at the River Music Experience. I’ve seen a little of what the Squid’s Beard guys can do, and they’re very talented. Oh, and the Nail is hosting Lynn Allen.

Saturday is party day! Kelly’s is hosting a whole slew of bands… Cosmic, Wicked Liz and plenty more. I don’t have a roster, but have heard maybe 5 or 6 other names bandied about. Downtown during and after the parade, you can find Keep Off the Grass playing at Kilkenny’s. Saturday night Chuck Murphy will have an acoustic show at Applebees in West Davenport, the Dirt Road Rockers will be celebrating St. Pat’s at Rascals, and Simon Says Uncle will be packing them in at the Hawkeye. It’s going to be a hot weekend for the sizzling Quad-city live music scene. Get out and celebrate St. Patrick’s day with live music!

Live Music - Weekend in the Quad-Cities

I’m going to have to start calling this blog the Weekend Review (or something like that). Only this week, I’m adding a little bit about a weekday.

One day last week, I made a special trip downtown Davenport to Barrelhouse 211. I was meeting my son for dinner anyway, and he had a class downtown. I had heard that Danika Holmes was going to be playing an acoustic gig that night, and though I’ve mentioned her before in the blog, I haven’t had the opportunity to see her play. Here was my chance.

I’d like to state for the record this was my first visit to Barrelhouse. Dinner was awesome, the place is really nice. For those who follow me on Twitter – I didn’t get my taste of Cody Road Bourbon that night, but picked up a bottle Friday night in Moline, after a tasting at the Mississippi River Distillery up in LeClaire.

Back to Danika – I discovered too late that she was sitting at the table across from me during dinner. I didn’t recognize her with her hair pulled back! I have her first CD, and the photos I’ve seen online just don’t look the same. I was expecting a purely country show, as some of my friends have told me Danika is a country performer. So I was delighted to hear her cover (read that as remake!) of Grand Funk’s “Some Kind of Wonderful”. It was a fun bluesy piece – with all the right twists. What made my night was just that morning I had heard the original on the radio, and I had been thinking all day of how I would rewrite the song to sing it myself – and Danika did just what I had been thinking! Danika Holmes was on my wavelength. So, in a nutshell, this old blues/rocker says go check out Danika when you get a chance. She definitely does not disappoint!

Friday night, after my trip upriver for the distillery tour and tasting, I drove over to Fargo in Moline for a birthday bash for a member of my Skynny Skynyrd family.  The band playing was one of the Quad-Cities’ best-kept rock secrets, House Arrest. Now you know you’ve heard that name before, and you may have caught them in the pavilion at the Mississippi Valley Fair. These guys are screamin’ rockers. I’ve been out to see them a few times, as Ray and Matt are part of Skynny, and their drummer Tom provided lights and sound for one of our gigs as well. Some of the times I’ve seen them, I’ve been disappointed in their turnout. Maybe it’s because I always seem to catch them at Fargo? Someone recently told me Fargo doesn’t have big crowds. I just think these guys are good enough to draw more than just their immediate group of friends.

And why is it that Fargo has gotten so quiet? Huge bar, nice stage… in the early days with 1^st Impression, that place used to rock! I remember they would have a DJ during the band’s breaks, and the dance floor would be full even when the band wasn’t playing.

Saturday night I started out at

11^th Street

Precinct. I thought it was time I checked out some bands that I had never seen, so my first stop was to see a group called Cosmic. What a pleasant surprise! Cosmic has a nice, refreshing set list (ok, so I was just there for one set, but it was a good set!). The band is 3 instruments and two female singers – and I just loved that the singers put forth the effort to choreograph some moves. It really gave their show some spark. And they sang really well too! Their set list included songs from the 50s, 60s and 70s. 

My final stop for the night was once again The Muddy Waters in Bettendorf. I stopped in to check out another band I hadn’t yet seen: The Cruisers. These guys put on a pretty good show, and it was obvious they drew a good crowd in. Apparently they have a motorcycle club following, as there was a lot of leather in Muddy’s Saturday night!  I snapped a few shots – I thought their keyboard/singer looked a bit like Elton John, and the guitarist could have pulled off a Drew Carey lookalike. I also noticed something fun about the group. Women from the audience would pick up maracas or tambourines and play them while they were dancing. Which leads me to wonder – was that a group of band wives, or just fans that loved to join in? Either way, it was pretty cool.

The upcoming weekend looks like a fun time for a lot of folks. Friday night, local band Dirt Road Rockers is playing at Martinis on the Rock (this is a band I’ve been meaning to check out). Danika Holmes will be playing at Refresh in Moline – check her out, seriously! Danika plays everywhere – Chicago, Nashville, Quad-Cities, and plenty of points in between. And Cobalt Blue will be playing Muddy’s – these guys do blues so well! And their keyboard player is one of the most energetic I’ve ever seen.

Saturday night the Candymakers will be at

11^th Street

Precinct. Get there early and have dinner if you want a good seat. The Precinct is always full, and a Candymakers show with no cover is bound to be a packed house! And if you’re a rocker’s rocker, love original stuff, and want to check out some local original music bands, Three Years Hollow, Action Blast, A.D.D. and Hello Ramona are putting on a show at the Redstone. This is a CD Release party!

And here’s a little advance notice of an upcoming show – House Arrest will be at ThePub Davenport on March 16. Rock on boys!

Dominant What?

Musicians:

Jimi Hendrix

Joe Perry

Ringo Starr

Janick Gers

Adam Levine

Artists:

Michelangelo

Leonardo Da Vinci

Writer:

Oscar Wilde

Actors:

Tom Cruise

Mark Hamill

Sarah Jessica Parker

Hugh Jackman

Jim Carrey

Scientists:

Albert Einstein

Ben Franklin

Nikola Tesla

What great company! I have something in common with all these people. It’s known as Cross-Dominance. (And it’s not one bit kinky).

Cross-dominance generally relates to handedness – ambidextrousness is a type of cross-dominance. The ambidextrous person can use the left and right-hands equally well. A cross-dominant person might be left-handed or right-handed, but prefer the opposite hand for certain activities. In my case, I am left-handed, but my right arm is stronger. I use my left hand for activities that require dexterity, but my right for activities that require more strength. I can use my right hand for writing and eating, but am more dexterous using my left hand for those activities.

Cross-dominance also translates to other body areas.  My right eye is my dominant eye. Some cross-dominant people might be right-handed and left-footed.

On the softball diamond, my cross-dominance came in handy. Being a southpaw, I batted left-handed, which sometimes worked to my advantage with pitchers. I threw right-handed for power though, and could make the long throw from far out in center field. Some baseball players use the advantage of cross-dominance to become switch hitters.

I have a cousin who is also cross-dominant, and he enjoys showing that ability off at dinner time. It usually happens when he’s seated to my left (because we’re both left-handed). Someone will make a comment about seating all the lefties together and he will invariably remind us all he is able to use his right hand to eat. And then he proceeds to do so for the entire dinner, bumping elbows with me at every bite!

Giving Back

I recently tweeted about setting up some computers that were being donated to some very lucky GED students, and that it was one of the reasons I work for a non-profit. I see this job as my opportunity to give back to some of the organizations that helped me out when I needed it. Yes, it’s a non-profit and the pay isn’t the best – and yes, I’m overeducated for my position. But one of the things I love about my job is that I’ve found a way to use my IT education and skills to assist others – and give them opportunities I didn’t have.

There are a lot of people to thank for getting me to where I am today. I often say I raised two kids on my own, on jobs that paid minimum wage or just barely over it. But I didn’t really do this totally on my own. I had a lot of help – from my parents and a whole lot of non-profit folks.

Because I worked a lot of hours on weekends, for about four years, my parents had both kids all weekend, nearly every weekend. If they had plans to go out of town, we made alternative arrangements. For the biggest part though, it was Mom and Dad all the way. When things broke at my house my dad was right there to help me learn how to fix them. Note: he always helped me. He never did it for me. He believed very strongly that I needed to learn to do all those things for myself. That’s how I learned about plumbing, heating, hanging drywall, finishing concrete… the list goes on. There were times my folks helped me out financially too – so let it be said I owe them, big time. And I do what I can for them. 

When my son was 5, I enrolled him in Head Start. Beside the fact that it saved me a whole bunch of money on child care, it also provided him with a boost that carried him all the way through school. Yes, I really believe Head Start made a difference in my son’s life. I regret that we lived in San Antonio when my daughter was that age. The Head Start program there was limited, and the waiting list was sky-high. She never had that benefit. Summers were always a problem – finding decent childcare that fit within my very limited budged was near impossible. Along came the Y – their summer program was provided on a scholarship basis. That money provided by the

United Way

gave my kids a quality program for a summer. We also benefitted from other

United Way

summer programs in other years. For a long time, I’ve donated money every year to

United Way

. I’m sure I’ve paid back their assistance dollar-for-dollar by now. I’ll continue to give, in the hopes that more people can be assisted and can better their situations.

Another program that really helped us during that time was Liheap. The program provided funds for heating our little house in the wintertime. And the Weatherization program did a great job of weatherizing my home and reducing my heating costs.

When I went back to school, Pell grants got me through the first few years. After 2 years of school, I was able to elevate myself beyond “minimum wage”. The next step was to find an even better job. The non-profit opening came up 9 years ago. It’s been a win-win situation. Not only do I have the opportunity to give back to some of the programs that provided me with assistance in those oh-so-lean years, but I have a great job that offered me the time to continue my education. Though my employer did not fund my education, I was able to combine my projects for various courses with projects we needed at the workplace. This provided me with the ability to reduce the amount of time I spent on school work after my workday ended. The end result was that both my employer and I benefitted from my coursework.

Early on, I wondered how I could leverage my IT education and experience to assist others who wanted to better their situations. Working at a non-profit has been a way to do this… I provide support to the workers who make a difference in people’s lives every day. And occasionally, I get to do something that provides direct assistance, like repurposing computers for people who are looking at education as a way up.

When I make the next step in my career path, I hope to find another way to give back to these programs. After all – if it weren’t for all of them, I wouldn’t be where I am today.