No Reason for Cabin Fever - Live Music Every Day

It was a musical week in my world. Usually, I’m out on the weekend, with the occasional Thursday evening. However, good music doesn’t just happen on the weekend in the Quad-cities. Often it happens in the middle of the week too. In fact, you can pretty much find music happening somewhere every night of the week.  One thing led to another this week, and I found myself short on sleep but deep in music…

The week actually began last Sunday evening with a trip to Galesburg for Curtis Hawkins’ farewell party – which I wrote about HERE.  Monday night was spent working on photos from a very busy weekend, and then Tuesday and the snowstorm came along. My granddaughter has her piano lesson on Tuesday nights, but this week her lesson was cancelled due to the storm.

Hal Reed and Kevin (B.F.) Burt at the RME Cafe

Then I received a message from a friend. It seems that a blues musician was scheduled to play at the library and his gig was cancelled. Hal Reed was hosting an impromptu concert at The Muddy Waters that night for this fellow named Kevin Burt. I took a look outside – yeah, the snow had pretty much stopped – my street was cleared already. Ok – it’s adventure time!  The show started at 7, so I figured it was a safe, early evening. It ended up being a not-so-early evening, but it was well worth needing the extra dose of coffee Wednesday morning.  Kevin Burt put on quite the show. Hal Reed and Tom Zick joined him. Burt was in town as part of an artist-in-residence program with the Mississippi Valley Blues Society in conjunction with Black History month.  He and Reed spent the week visiting with school children about the history of blues music.

Ziggie McQuay and John O'Meara Jam at Muddy's

On Thursday the Blues Society held a public presentation of “Blues in the Schools” at the RME Café, where Burt and Reed performed and were eventually joined by Zick, Ellis Kell and Ren Edstrand. Kevin (B.F.) Burt created a blues song from topics tossed out by the audience. The group on stage played along, displaying their versatility and making songwriting look easy.  Some of the group wound up at The Muddy Waters later for John O’Meara’s jam night, where Burt joined Johnny O. and the jam. The Mississippi Misfits also joined in.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Now that's a washboard!
 

Friday night I found myself at The Redstone Room. Well – I didn’t really find myself, I went there intentionally. The Giving Tree Band was in town, and I was looking forward to some great music.  Opening act Frank F. Sidney's Western Bandit Volunteers started the night off with some great foot-stomping music. They are a large band, and well suited to the big stage in the Redstone Room.











 

Attending a Giving Tree Band show almost requires the music fan to be a skilled multitasker. There is so much activity on their stage, it’s impossible to see everything at once.  There are so many instruments! All of the members of the band are so well tuned to each other that even though there are so many of them, there are no gaps between them. At the same time, individually they are worth watching as each exhibits their own stage presence and style.  Unlike many shows, there isn’t a focus on one member, which left me at odds as to who to photograph first. If you haven’t had a chance to see this amazing group, watch for them this summer, as they announced Friday night that they will be headlining the Hillcrest Slip n Slide Music Festival.

I finished out my weekend with two evenings of fun with the Mississippi Misfits as they played the Brady Street Pub Saturday night and traveled Sunday to Chicago to take the stage at the House of Blues.

This week:

Friday – North of 40 is playing at Martinis on the Rock, The 11^th Street Precinct will have Jason Carl and the Whole Damn Band, and Jordan Danielsen is at Bleyarts. You’ll find Hoot Gibson at the Rusty Nail, RIBCO has Soap, and Day Joy is playing Rzz-Tox. The Muddy Waters is hosting The Mercury Brothers,  Just Chords is playing Kilkennys, and Danika Holmes is at the Grape Life. Fargo has Smooth Groove for a 2 day engagement, and Chuck Murphy will be at Eagle Ridge Resort for 2 days as well.

Saturday – River City 6 is playing at The Rusty Nail, North of 40 is at the Greenbriar and the Night People are at Ducky’s Lagoon. Rozz-Tox has a big night, with Madden the Moment, Northern lights, Norman Toronto and his band, and Lewis Knudsen and the Bandits. Jason Carl will be opening for the Trippin Billies at RIBCO, Funktastic Five is at Martinis on the Rock, and Purgatory’s has Propaganda.  Just Chords is at Barrelhouse 211, Rascals has Lynn Allen, and you’ll find me in Muscatine with 1^st Impression as they bring the heat (and a bunch of new music!) to the Brew.

How’s that case of Cabin Fever going?  Need a cure? Get out and find some live music. There’s live music somewhere in the Quad-Cities every night of the week, and it is guaranteed to cure what’s ailing you!