Fall Leaves Crisp Air and LIve Music

Holy cow! It’s mid-October already. The leaves aren’t just turning.  Did you hear that sound? “whump!” That was one of my maple trees dumping half of its leaves at once.  With the cold weather, the live music scene is definitely moving indoors, and there aren’t as many opportunities for me to catch multiple live shows in a weekend. I’m still out there – but I suspect for at least the next few months, I won’t be scrunching as much music into the space of a weekly blog. That’s actually better for the musicians I write about, as they all get a little more space.

Sometimes My Plans Change

The ladies of Paper Bird on the Community Stage

Though I didn’t get my weekly dose of jam night, I did manage to find plenty to keep me busy.  Thursday night I headed down to the River Music Experience and checked out a visiting band, Paper Bird. With 3 female vocalists, this band has harmony written all over it. Add to that some male voices in backing vocals as well and the sound becomes well-rounded and very rich.  Paper Bird is a large band – there are 7 members total. Unfortunately, they were booked for the (tiny) Community Stage instead of the Redstone Room. Apparently there just isn’t enough interest in certain performances to warrant opening the Redstone Room. It’s a shame – because their sound would have been even more amazing there, although they ended their set with an unplugged number that brought total silence to the room as the audience hung on every single note.

Live Music Street Fest Style!

Now that the Bix7 race and the Bix Biederbeck Memorial Jazz Festival have seemingly gone their separate ways – Quad citizens get two weekends of music and no longer have to choose between Jazz and the bands of the Street Fest. Along with the Wells Fargo Street Fest, several downtown Davenport bars have joined in the fun, adding their own outdoor parties to the mix. This year along with the Shenanigans/Macs/Kilkenny’s party, Barrel House 211 tossed in a bash, and newcomer Davinci’s joined the fray. There was live music everywhere!