River Cities' Reader - Issue 835 - July 25, 2013

7/27/2019 River Cities' Reader - Issue 835 - July 25, 2013

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River Cities Reader Vol. 20 No. 835 July 25 - August 7, 20132 Business Politics Arts Culture Now You Know RiverCitiesReader.com

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River Cities Reader Vol. 20 No. 835 July 25 - August 7, 2013 3Business Politics Arts Culture Now You Know RiverCitiesReader.com

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Image courtesy of the Andy

Warhol Museum, Pittsburgh


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familys Chicago legacy is one of Daleysbiggest liabilities and, Im told, the easiestto understand. His banks investment in thehugely controversial Chicago parking-meterdeal is another big hit. Daleys lead role in thepassage of the North American Free TradeAgreement doesnt play well with labor-

union members. But afterconsulting several politicalpros, some of whom havebeen (or may eventually

be) involved in attackingDaley, I decided to go witha question about JPMorganChase.

It is, as I said, not a fairquestion, but with Quinnundoubtedly planning abrutal populist assault onDaley, its probably close tosomething youll eventually

see in an ad, although I didnt include the fact

that Daleys bank bought a fleet of new jets afew weeks after receiving its federal bailout, norcould I use faces and voices of Illinoisans whowere wrongly foreclosed upon.

Would you be more likely or less likely tovote for a Democratic gubernatorial candidatewho ran a major bank that received federalbailout money, foreclosed on large numbers ofIllinois homeowners, and engaged in predatorysubprime mortgage lending? voters wereasked.

Unsurprisingly, that question moved theneedle in a big way. According to the poll, awhopping 73 percent of Democrats were lesslikely to vote for the candidate. Results such asthat indicate the issue has major traction. Just16 percent said it didnt make any difference,and another 11 percent said it made themmore likely to vote for the candidate possiblya negative reaction to the harsh nature of aquestion about a fellow party member.

The question proved devastatinglyeffective, said pollster Gregg Durham. Theresponses will certainly give Mr. Quinn apolitical harpoon that could cause significantdamage.

Yes, Quinn has serious problems. Thats whythe incumbent is only receiving the potentialvotes of 38 percent of his own party members.The June poll found that a mere 33 percent ofDemocrats approved of his job performance,for crying out loud.

Incumbents with lousy poll numbers suchas Quinn have no other choice but to attack,

attack, attack. And Daley will definitely providea target-rich environment for the governor.

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

ILLINOIS POLITICS

Governor Pat Quinn is leading hissole Democratic-primary rival, andchallenger Bill Daley will have some

serious problems with his blue-chip rsum,according to a new Capitol Fax/We AskAmerica poll.

The poll of 1,394 likely Democratic primaryvoters found Quinnleading Daley by fivepoints, 38-33. Thatsexactly where the two

stood in a January poll.A June poll had Daleyleading Quinn by a point,38-37, but since thenQuinn has made somepopular moves, includingvetoing legislative salariesout of the budget andusing his veto powers torewrite the concealed-carry bill.

The most recent poll was taken July 17,a day after Attorney General Lisa Madiganshook up the race by announcing her decisionnot to run for governor. It had a margin oferror of 2.6 percent. Cell phones made up 28percent of those called.

Twenty-eight percent of likely primaryvoters were undecided, suggesting that thereis plenty of room for movement by either manand possibly an opening for someone else toenter the race.

According to the poll, Quinn leads amongwomen by seven points (38-31) and amongmen by two points (40-38). Quinn has a 47-27lead among African Americans and a 45-36lead among Latinos. Daley leads 37-35 withwhite Democrats. Daley leads by only a pointin the suburban collar counties and by sixpoints Downstate; Quinn has a 15-point leadin Chicago and a nine-point lead in CookCounty.

But a question crafted to mimic a campaignattack shows a potentially killer Daleyweakness. Daley was the Midwest chair ofJPMorgan Chase a too big to fail bank when it received $25 billion in federal bailoutmoney, according to the CNN Money Website. The company also agreed to settle with thefederal government on federal mortgage-fraudand wrongful-foreclosure charges.

Because I wanted to see how Democraticvoters would react to attack rhetoric, thequestion I posed was neither fair nor balanced.Campaigns do this sort of thing all the time

to see where their weaknesses are, so its not aradical concept by any means.

Daley has several very big negatives,according to people in both parties whohave polled or focus-grouped the race. His

by Rich Miller

CapitolFax.com

Poll Shows Daley Vulnerableto Bank Attacks

A question

crafted to mimic acampaign attack

shows a potentially

killer Daley

weakness.


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Support for Industrial Hemp Grows Even in Congress

The Drug Wars Collateral Damage

By most standards, Jason Kak-erts Iowa Hemp for Victorypage on Facebook (Facebook.

com/IowaHempforVictory) is amodest grassroots political effort.He started the page in 2011, and thisweek it had only 58 likes.

This is just getting started out,the 31-year-old graphic artist said lastweek in his studio at the BucktownCenter for the Arts. Right now this iskind of a one-man show.

But Kakert (a former RiverCities Readerintern) is an eloquentadvocate for industrial hemp, andhes part of a movement thats gainingsignificant traction. Last month, theU.S. House by a vote of 225 to 200 passed an amendment to the farmbill that would allow institutions ofhigher education to grow or cultivateindustrial hemp for the purpose of

agricultural or academic research,according to the amendmentssummary. The amendment onlyapplies to [the nine] states thatalready permit industrial hempgrowth and cultivation under state law.

The amendment is now attached tothe House-passed farm bill, but its fate isuncertain at best; the larger politics of thefarm bill dwarf this particular issue.

Yet the amendments passage represented

a major surprise victory for hemp advocates.As Tom Murphy, the national outreachcoordinator and a board member of the not-for-profit organization Vote Hemp, said in aninterview last week: We were expecting a 50to 375 defeat.

He called passage of the amendmentthe culmination of years of education andlobbying, and also said support was easierto garner because it was an agricultural-research bill for higher education instead of

a more sweeping effort to legalize industrialhemp.For the uninitiated, industrial hemp

is hailed as a hardy, versatile crop. Somepeople claim it can literally save the world,but a more realistic, sober analysis comesfrom last months Congressional ResearchService report Hemp as an AgriculturalCommodity (RCReader.com/y/hemp1):Some estimate that the global market forhemp consists of more than 25,000 products.... Hemp fibers are used in a wide range of

products, including fabrics and textiles, yarnsand raw or processed spun fibers, paper,carpeting, home furnishings, constructionand insulation materials, auto parts, andcomposites. The interior stalk (hurd) is

used in various applications such as animalbedding, raw-material inputs, low-qualitypapers, and composites. Hemp seed andoilcake are used in a range of foods andbeverages, and can be an alternative foodprotein source. Oil from the crushed hempseed is an ingredient in a range of body-careproducts and also nutritional supplements.Hemp seed is also used for industrialoils, cosmetics and personal care, andpharmaceuticals, among other composites.

During World War II, the federalgovernment encouraged farmers to growhemp (and it made the film Hemp for Victory,from which Kakerts Facebook page gets itsname). Kakert said hes found references to11 hemp-processing plants in Iowa fromthat era, and his interest in the subject was

spurred when he came across a manual for aDeere & Company hemp harvester from the1940s.

Kakert said hes excited by the possibilitiesof hemps myriad uses. He would like to printon hemp canvas, for example.

And he believes that legalized industrialhemp could be a boon to the local economy:We wouldnt have to get cotton from downsouth; we could make hemp fabric thatsgrown in Iowa. If I want to build a house out

of hempcrete, why should I have to import itfrom the UK?

He added: The U.S. is importing millionsof dollars in hemp products that could begrown and made in the United States. Whyis this?

The reason is that industrialhemp is a Schedule I drug under theControlled Substance Acts definitionof marijuana (all parts of the plantCannabis sativa L), and it cannotbe grown or processed in the UnitedStates without a permit from theDrug Enforcement Administration(DEA). However, hemp products canbe imported into the United States.

Equating industrial hemp withthe drug marijuana dates back to theMarihuana Tax Act of 1937. Afterthat law was ruled unconstitutionalin 1969 in Leary V. United States,Congress responded in 1970 with theControlled Substances Act.

At that point, Murphy said, therewas no hemp industry in the UnitedStates to fight the laws definitionsthat made industrial hemp an illegaldrug: The last industrial-hemp

crop grown commercially was donein 1957 in Wisconsin, so when theControlled Substances Act was beingdrafted, there were no hemp farmersor processors to say, Hey, wait a

minute. What about us?Kakert said that lawmakers didnt

necessarily realize they were throwingthe baby out with the bathwater, yet thelegal linkage remains. As a result, the issueof industrial hemp is often tied to (and

confused with) drug legalization, and Kakertand other industrial-hemp advocates areadamant about drawing distinctions betweenthem.

I split the two up, Kakert said, becausethe biggest hurdle right now ... is that theresstill this misunderstanding and this stigmathat you say hemp, [and] a lot of people say,Im against marijuana.

That confusion, he said, makes it difficultfor many legislators to support industrial

hemp. (See sidebar.) Lawmakers dont wantto be considered soft on drugs, Kakert said,since this has been collateral damage in thedrug war. Its got that stigma attached.

Although industrial hemp and the drugmarijuana come from the same species ofplant (Cannabis sativa), theyre differentvarieties, theyre grown differently, andthey look different because of how theyrecultivated and the parts of them that areused. Most crucially from a drug-controlperspective, theyre distinguished by the

percentage of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC),the psychoactive component ofCannabis;industrial hemp is bred or processed to havea relatively low percentage of THC comparedto drug marijuana.

Because of that, Kakert said, discussing

industrial hemp and the drug marijuanatogether makes no sense, and he refusedto state a position on legalizing marijuana

as a drug. Its like asking somebody whomanufactures oregano or powdered sugarwhat they think about drug policy, justbecause they look the same as marijuana

and cocaine, he said.Vote Hemps Murphy said that the DEA

exploits the legal situation: The only reason

that theres a stigma attached to industrialhemp is because of law enforcement andspecifically the DEA saying that there is

no difference between the varieties. Its alldefined as marijuana under the ControlledSubstances Act. They can intentionallyconfuse and conflate things.

The current lumping together of industrialhemp and drug marijuana is in significantpart simply maintaining the tough-on-

drugs status quo. But Murphy said the DEAalso continues its opposition because itsarguments are so weak. Legalization, he said,would make the agencys stated concerns

look like little more than unfounded fear-mongering.

Undermining OppositionLaw-enforcement organizations most

notably the DEA generally oppose hemplegalization even when it has nothing to do

with legalizing the drug marijuana.The core rationale was tersely outlined

by Gil Kerlikowske, the director of theOffice of National Drug Control Policy, in astatement last year: Hemp and marijuanaare part of the same species of cannabisplant. While most of the THC in cannabisplants is concentrated in the marijuana,all parts of the plant ... can contain THC, aSchedule I controlled substance.

This is largely a false-premise argument,

hemp activists claim. The central problemwith U.S. drug policy as it relates toindustrial hemp, they say, is precisely theControlled Substances Act definition,which doesnt differentiate something onesmokes to get high from something thatwould provide no high if smoked.

Other claims opposing industrial hempare similarly dubious. The DEAs talkingpoints on the issue were published by theHuffington Post last month, and the agency

made two primary arguments against thefarm-bill amendment.

Actually, it made two basic argumentsagainst the legalization of industrial hempgenerally, neither of which would reallyapply given the amendments narrow

COVER STORY

A hemp field in France. Photo by Barbetorte


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by Jeff Ignatius

[email protected]

scope: First, it is impossible to distinguisha marijuana plant containing 0.3 percentor less of THC from a marijuana plantcontaining higher THC levels withoutscientific analysis. The bill would therebymake it essentially impossible for lawenforcement to enter a grow site todetermine the THC content of the hempplants since there would be no way toestablish probable cause to obtain a search

warrant without first entering the premisesto collect samples. As a result, the bill wouldprovide easy cover to hide more potentmarijuana plants. Second, even if all themarijuana plants contained 0.3 percentor less THC, they would still provide anenormous quantity of psychoactive materialbecause it is very easy and inexpensive toconvert low-grade marijuana into high-grade hashish oil.

The primary argument, then, is a purelylogistical one that law-enforcementagencies wouldnt be able to visually tellindustrial hemp from drug marijuana.Related to this is a claim that industrial anddrug Cannabis could be grown in the samefield together.

These assertions have been mocked byhemp activists and with good reason.The oilseed and fiber varieties are bothsown differently f rom the drug varieties,Murphy said. They are row crops theyare not a horticultural crop and theyreharvested at different times, and theywould look distinctly different from the air,especially just based on density.

The Congressional Research Service

report supports that: Among the visualplant differences are plant height (hemp isencouraged to grow tall, whereas marijuanais selected to grow short and tightlyclustered); cultivation (hemp is grown asa single main stalk with few leaves andbranches, whereas marijuana is encouragedto become bushy with many leaves andbranches to promote flowers and buds); andplanting density (hemp is densely plantedto discourage branching and flowering,whereas marijuana plants are well-spaced).

Theres also the issue that intermingledhemp and marijuana crops would cross-pollinate, resulting in both being poor fortheir intended use. As former CIA Director(and hemp activist) James Woolsey has

been quoted as saying: If you wanted tohide marijuana in a field of industrial hemp,youd have to be very high.

Furthermore, because of asset-forfeiturelaws, trying to hide drug marijuana ina farm field of industrial hemp wouldbe extremely risky even if low-THCCannabis were removed from ScheduleI. Anybody violating the ControlledSubstances Act in such a brazen manner ...

would be literally betting the farm, Murphysaid.He added that the DEA seems intractable

on the issue because its stated fears wontbecome reality. If they allow industrialhemp to be grown, it shows that theyvebeen lying all along that its all the same,we cant tell the difference, he said.

And drugs wont become a largerproblem, he said, addressing opponentsclaim that industrial hemp is the camelsnose under the tent. Drug warriors assert,he said, that if you allow industrial-hempfarming, therell be kids shooting up heroinin the streets.

The Market for HempThe Congressional Research Service

estimates that the market for hemp

products in the United States was roughly$500 million in 2012 and growing. The

report states that global hemp cultivation in roughly 30 countries, includingCanada was 200,000 acres and 380

million pounds in 2011.One argument against legalizing

industrial hemp is that its long-termmarket prospects arent strong. When

Kentucky earlier this year was debatinglegalizing hemp production, the law-

enforcement coalition Operation UNITEfocused on this aspect in its press release.

One sheriff said: Is there a limited marketfor industrial hemp? Probably so, but

the market is not going to be as great astheyre proposing it to be. Where are the

independent studies? If there was a huge

market for hemp, there would be lobbyistssitting in Washington trying to get this

legalized on a national level.The Congressional Research Service

said studies have provided contradictoryfindings about the market prospects for

domestic hemp production in the UnitedStates. Some studies have found that by

legalizing hemp production, agriculturalproducers ... could benefit. But the U.S.

Department of Agriculture concluded that

hemp markets are, and will likely remain,small, thin markets.

Kakert said its silly to inject market

potential into the debate over legalizingindustrial hemp. Whos to say that anindustry should be illegal based on market

speculation? he said. If I want to gomake ketchup popsicles and people think

its a terrible idea, that doesnt mean itshould be illegal.

He conceded that starting out, it would

probably be considered a specialty crop,and it would be something that farmerscould use to diversify their crop rotations.

... If its something farmers arent interestedin, so be it. But they should at least have

the opportunity. ... When you prohibit amarket, nobody really knows until thatmarket is a free market.

The current prohibition of industrialhemp, he added, looks particularly

odd in light of the governments Hemp

for Victory campaign. Wheres thedisconnect? Kakert asked. Where didit go from being a patriot to basically a

felon? ... Wheres the burden of proofhere? We should be asking, Whats the

justification for prohibition?

Quad Cities Reps LargelySilent on Industrial Hemp

The River Cities Readercontacted the

six members of Congress representing

the Quad Cities and 13 state legislators

representing Scott and Rock Island counties to

gauge lawmakers knowledge of and opinions

on the issue of industrial hemp. Only three of

the 19 lawmakers responded.

Press secretaries for members of Congresswere asked their bosses views on the House

farm-bill amendment allowing for limited

industrial-hemp growth and their opinions on

legalizing industrial hemp beyond institutions

of higher education.

State legislators were asked about their

familiarity with the issue and their opinions

on state-level industrial-hemp legislation.

(Both Illinois and Iowa had an industrial-

hemp bill introduced this year, but neither got

out of committee.)Legislators were e-mailed questions on

July 17 and asked to respond by July 22. The

limited number of responses and the content

of them appear to suggest that industrial

hemp remains a poorly understood issue that

is a low priority among people representing

the Quad Cities or perhaps that its tenuous

associations with drug policy make legislators

hesitant to answer questions.

Among U.S. senators and representatives,

only a representative of U.S. Senator Chuck

Grassley (R-Iowa) responded: Senator

Grassley is looking into this issue, wrote Press

Secretary Beth Pellett Levine. It hasnt come

up in the Senate.

Although no representative of U.S. Senator

Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) responded, Harkins

office did provide some information in an

e-mail response to local hemp activist Jason

Kakert: That particular amendment was

not among those debated on the Senate floorduring Senate consideration of the farm bill.

... Generally, I have been supportive of efforts

to facilitate market access for new agricultural

products.

Neither U.S. Senator Dick Durbin

(D-Illinois) nor U.S. Senator Mark Kirk

(R-Illinois) responded, and neither has

indicated a position on industrial hemp.

And while neither U.S. Representative Dave

Loebsack (D-Iowa) nor U.S. Representative

Cheri Bustos (D-Illinois) responded, they didcast votes on the amendment Loebsack in

favor and Bustos against. (Bustos husband is a

captain with the Rock Island County sheriffs

office.)

Among Iowa legislators, only Iowa

Representative Linda Miller (R-Bettendorf)

responded: I do not know much about this

issue, and it has not come up in the Iowa

House, she wrote.

She did hit on a key source of confusion,

however: I do not see the Iowa legislature

being able to come to a consensus on the issue.

It always seems to get mixed up with issues in

regards to legalizing marijuana.

Among Illinois legislators, only Senator

Mike Jacobs (D-Moline) responded. In a

phone interview, he said he was approached

roughly six years ago by a California company

about the issue of industrial hemp, and

his responses showed that hes done some

homework on the issue. Im not afraid ofhemp, he said. Hemp is not marijuana. ... Its

not a recreational drug. Its a product we can

use like corn.

Asked whether industrial hemp should

be re-legalized, he said: Yeah, I do. I think

its kind of ridiculous. ... Living in a farming

community, ... if we could have another

product, another crop that we could use for

household goods, and use for fuel, paper,

building materials, clothing, why wouldnt

we?Still, Jacobs said, its unlikely the Illinois

legislature will move on the issue without

pressure from the public, or from farmers

wanting to grow or companies wanting to

process hemp in the state: I doubt itll come

from within the legislature. ... People have to

raise the issue. Its not the kind of issue that a

politicians going to just run with. ... But ... if

somebody comes forward with a plan ... .

Jeff Ignatius


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Vol. 20 No. 835July 25 - August 7, 2013

River Cities Reader532 W. 3rd St.

Davenport IA 52801

RiverCitiesReader.com

(563)324-0049 (phone)

(563)323-3101 (fax)

[email protected]

Publishing since 1993

The River Cities Readeris an independent

newspaper published every other Thursday, and

available free throughout the Quad Cities and

surrounding areas.

2013 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 Executives:

Roseanne Terrill [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]

Design/Production Interns: Ellen Korn

ADMINISTRATION Business Manager: Kathleen McCarthy

Office Administrator, Classifieds Manager, CirculationManager: Rick Martin [email protected]

Distribution: William Cook, Steve Cowan Cheri DeLay,Greg FitzPatrick, Daniel Levsen,

Jay Strickland, Doug Wilming

Continued On Page 14

Jass It Up!DanLevinsonsRoofGardenJassBandattheBixBeiderbeckeMemorialJazzFestival, August2and3

by Mike Schulz

[email protected]

He's performed alongside such

talents as Wynton Marsalis and Mel

Torm, and worked as personal

assistant to jazz great Dick Hyman. Hestoured nationally and internationally, land-

ing everywhere from Paris Bilboquet JazzClub to Los Angeles Playboy Mansion.

Hes been featured on Garrison Keillors

A Prairie Home Companion,and thesoundtracks for The Aviator, Ghost World,

andBoardwalk Empire.

But in the early 1980s, says jazzaficionado Dan Levinson, he couldnt even

convince friends to listen to the music he

loved.I was taking records out of a library in

Santa Monica, says the 48-year-old Levinson,

and landed on a record that RCA Victor hadput out called The Best of Dixieland, and the

last track on it was the Original Dixieland Jazz

Bands recording of Livery Stable Blues. It wasthe first so-called jazz record ever issued, in

1917, and I was absolutely blown away by it. I

couldnt get enough of it. And I just assumedthat when I played it for all my friends, they

would feel the same way I did.

So I played it. I said, Listento them! Listento that sound! And I remember them saying,

Oh, God, turn that off. What is that screeching

noise? And I said, Thats the clarinet... .These were the same people who went to

rock concerts and had music blasting in their

ears, but they couldnt listen to 1917 jazz. Theyjust looked at me. What happenedto Dan?

Audiences will get at least some sense of what

happened to Dan during Levinsons forthcomingsets at this years Bix Beiderbecke Memorial Jazz

Festival, when the widely admired, New York-based bandleader and clarinet and saxophoneplayer brings his ensemble Dan Levinsons Roof

Garden Jass Band to Davenports Adler Theatre

and RiverCenter August 2 and 3.With his group performing genre classics

including its own rendition of Livery Stable

Blues and lesser-known titles from the late-1910s through the swing era, Levinson hopes to

inspire an appreciation for early jazz that eluded

his friends 30 years ago. But more than anything,he hopes to inspire simple happiness.

Whats wonderful about this music that we

play, Levinson says during our recent phoneinterview, is that its accessible to people who

know nothing about jazz. You can just listen to it

and feel good. Theres no pretense about it, and

you dont have to understandit. Its all right there

in front of you.

Shortcuts ...A Los Angeles native, Levinson says he

displayed an affinity for music apparently from

a very early age. Im told that when I was twoyears old, I wouldnt go to sleep unless my father

put his transistor radio in my crib.

Yet despite Levinsons musical leaningsfrom childhood on, he says, I didnt have the

discipline to really learn an instrument when

I was young. I kind of dabbled with piano andguitar and singing a little bit, but unfortunately,

I didnt have parents that disciplined me and

forced me to learn. Laughing, he adds, Theywere very indulgent. If I didnt want to practice,

that was okay.

In 1983, Levinson moved to the East Coastto study musical theatre at NYU, a decision that

he says was made because I was always looking

for a shortcut a way to be involved with musicwithout having to practice an instrument.

But when I was 20 years old, I realized

that Id better get cracking and either learn aninstrument or learn to do something, because

I was looking the rest of my life straight in the

face and didnt know how to do anything. And Ireally, reallywanted to be a musician.

He didnt, however, want to pursue the

instruments he dabbled with as a youth. Beinga terrible reader [of music], and playing guitar

and piano where you play multiple notes at once,I really had a hard time. I would just sit for hourstrying to read a page of music, one part at a time.

And so I thought, Well, maybe if I played an

instrument where I only have to play one note at

a time again, a shortcut maybe itll be

easier to learn.

So I took a trumpet lesson first. And

I told my teacher, Look, Im going toschool full-time, and I may not be able

to practice trumpet every day, againlooking for ways not to do all that hard

work. And my teacher Ill never forget

said, Well, man, you dont want to playthe trumpet then. You gotta practice this

instrument every day. If you want to play

an easy instrument that you dont have topractice every day, play the clarinet.

Levinson laughs. So I took a clarinet

lesson, and after the first one, I couldpick out When the Saints Go Marching

in in the low register. And I thought, Yeah, this

is much easier. Thisll be an easy instrument.And I learned very quickly that I was wrong.

Yet he was also determined.

I tend to have an obsessive personality, saysLevinson. If I decide to focus in on something,

I do nothing but that. So I would practice I

know this sounds crazy up to 10 hours a daysometimes. There were practice rooms at NYU,

and I would get in there as soon as my classes

were over, and Id be in there until they threwme out at whatever time that was sometimes

11 oclock at night. And thenId go sit at, like,

the East River, or at a park someplace, or atmy apartment, and just keep practicing. I was

absolutely obsessive about practicing.

Levinson credits several specific jazz artists

with helping him turn those early years ofpractice into a career that has now lasted more

than a quarter-century. One, he says, was James

Rosy McHargue, who was a clarinetist,

saxophonist, arranger, singer, and a greatpersonality. I met him in 1984 when he was 82

years old, and he lived another 15 years after that.He knew and recorded with Frank Trumbauer,

he knew Benny Goodman and all those guys

who were gigging around Chicago, he had metand seen Bix Beiderbecke many times ... .

Can you imagine, Levinson continues,being that close to someone who knew Bix, and

told stories about going to see Bix, and about Bix

taking him to his cabin and playing piano forhim? I was sitting with someone who was there.

Who was my living connection to that era of

music that was my passion. More than anybodyelse, Rosy was my inspiration and my mentor.

Another influential musician, Levinson says,

MUSIC


9/24


were the largest vintage graphics he found

to efficiently cover surface areas, and they

often mentioned locations around the Quad

Cities.He added: I collected things for at

least a year and a half for the skin ofPPMH.

As you can tell ... collection is a serious part

of the process. It is a good thing I started

when I did, because as theAmerican Pickers

have become more popular, lard containers

have become more scarce.

As much as the exterior ofPPMHisderived from popular culture, the interior

relates to an elite tradition. Inside, the hut

is a kind ofWunderkammer, or chamber

of wonders. Dating back centuries, such

rooms were showcases for treasured and

valuable collections and are now regarded

as the predecessor of modern museums. A

stuffed alligator would have been mounted

above old master paintings next to African

masks, etc. The walls of Rathjes hut, floor

to ceiling, bear shelves displaying objectsyou might have brought home from

childhood wanderings mammal skulls

next to variegated rocks, and shells next

to a rusted metal toy. Rathjes chamber has

a less stuffed-to-the-gills approach than

some, but it evokes the same sense of pride

in collecting. He has provided a museum

within a museum.

Rathje notes on his Web site that there

is an obsession to make things to get them

out of your head and into the world, to leaveyourself a milepost that marks the passage of

time and an accumulation of effort. Large

in scale, cohesive in concept, and visually

rich, this exhibit achieves a kind of milepost:

a new level of synergy for collaboration

among area artists. It also is the first big-

gallery show focused on a local talent that

has been presented by the Figge in years.

We are given the titleQuestionable

Architectureand asked,Can a structurebe considered architecture if it has noapparent function? This is not a final-exam

topic; the exhibitions structures are witty

artistic accomplishments made to tweak our

imagination about space-making and the

approximation of architecture.

For more information on Terry Rathje, visit

TerryRathje.com. For more information on the

Figge Art Museum, visit FiggeArtMuseum.org.

Sherry C. Maurer holds an MFA in painting,

an MA in art history, and a BFA with a

printmaking concentration. She was the

director of the Augustana College Art Museum

from 1983 to 2013.

Questionable Architecture: Terry Rathje in Collaboration with Steve Banks and Monica Correia, at the Figge through August 25

Elegant Amusement

by Sherry C. Maurer

[email protected]

Tree house, snow fort, dollhouse, sand castle most ofus enjoyed playing with some

kind of architecture as a child. Theexhibition Questionable Architecture,by Terry Rathje in collaboration withSteve Banks and Monica Correia, un-leashes a whiff of that joy for viewerswith fanciful structures that appeal assophisticated art forms.

The exhibition running

through August 25 is located inthe fourth-floor gallery of the Figge

Art Museum, and a transitional

experience is suggested by the lattice-

passageway entrance, constructed

with loosely assembled wood slats

arcing above that recall youthful

explorations in building. Nearly a

dozen structures are in place that

you walk around in the conventional

way, but you also walk into and

through some of the works. Materials

range from a pagoda constructed of

found objects to a tunnel of foam

planks trussed together with bamboo

skewers.

Rathje commutes from the banks

of the Wapsipinicon River in Scott

County to Macomb, where he is an

assistant professor of graphic design

at Western Illinois University. He

received his MFA in 3D design fromthe University of Iowa, which is where

he met mentor and collaborator

Correia presently an associate

professor of design there; her design

work has been gaining international

recognition. Steve Banks, a graduate

of Florida State University, is himself

a Quad Cities artist who creates

multimedia works.

Over the past three decades,

Rathjes work has evolved from two-dimensional paintings and drawings with

naturalistic imagery to wall objects made of

assembled parts, such as used license plates.

In an e-mail this month, Rathje wrote that

he shifted gradually to his three-dimensional

structures, as the objects got larger, and

soon I was thinking about creating spaces,

which naturally starts to overlap with

architecture.

One of the first encounters in the

exhibition is the seven-foot-tall Capagoda(2006), which on approach appears to be

a refined tribute to the architecture of a

Buddhist temple. Such temples are built so

that you wind around the floors in a spiral,

ascending and then descending, gaininga heady spiritual experience. Up close,

Capagodais tipped sideways just enough

to reveal that it actually is made up of

found objects: Shiny hub caps are balanced

on rusted canning-jar lids. The sculpture

melds the elegance of a temple form with

the amusing discovery of the construction

materials. (Rathje noted that he used parts

found in scrap yards and along a river bank.)

Structures in the exhibition often are clad

with recycled metal graphics, sometimesplaying painted signage against manipulated

snippets of license plates. The Way(2008)

juxtaposes the statements OPEN TO

CONJECTURE against NO PLAN B,

among other quips to

contemplate.

The beehive-shaped

wood shelter Skep

(2009) is methodically

fitted together like a

puzzle of many wood

panels. The doorway is

but a foot high, jesting

with our sense of scale:

Its as if we once weresmall enough to enter

but now as adults we

look at the roof; we are

given the perspective

of a giant. Although

perhaps intentional,

I found the presence

of dark dirt scuffs on

the wood surface to be

distracting.

The title of the workOphidian(2012) refers

to snakes, and I liked the

overall undulating tunnel

shape of the piece. But at

first glance I wondered

about the

inconsistent gaps

in the side walls

of foam planks.

Were these

gaps an issue ofcraftsmanship

akin to the dirt

scuffs onSkep?

Onceinside

Ophidian,

however, it was

clear that the

gaps, whether

part of the

original plan for

the piece or something discovered by chance,were intentional. They allow for a gentle

sparkle of light dashes on the shadowed

walls a magical light, not to be missed.

ThePPMH (Personal Portable Museum

Hut)(2012) has an exterior covered in

reclaimed metal signage, deftly arranged

to fill the walls with graphics and color. A

circa-1960 flattened sand bucket printed

with a beach scene idyll, including a child

starting to build a sand castle, is set against

containers for Muriel cigars and Mrs.

Tuckers Shortening.

I asked Rathje if there was a reason for

the frequent recurrence of lard brands in

the piece. He replied that those containers

ART

Clockwise from top: Ophidian, Skep,

PPMH, andCapagoda


10/24


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

TURBOThis might not be incentive enough

to catch Turbo if you werent alreadypredisposed to do so, but in DreamworksAnimations tale of a snail (voiced byRyan Reynolds ... yup, him again ... )who acquires super-sonic velocity and

eventually races the Indianapolis 500,Richard Jenkins voices a character wholooks uncannily like Richard Jenkins. Imean, uncannily. The face, the physique, theair of nervous resignation ... its all there.Whats notthere in director David Sorensfamily entertainment is any deviation fromformula or narrative surprise; its storylineis the standard believe in yourself and youcan accomplish anything pap that wouldcarry more weight if our shell-backed herodidnt become a speed demon through suchimpossible circumstances. But the film issurely sprightly and colorful enough todelight young audiences not up for anotherviewing ofDespicable Me 2 orMonstersUniversity, and beyond Jenkins, there arealternately incongruous and perfectly fittingvoice-actor/character match-ups to keepgrown-up chaperones reasonably amused.Ken Jeong as a petite, wisecracking granny?Pretty great. Paul Giamatti as a kvetchingland mollusk with anger issues? Freakin

priceless.

For reviews ofGrown Ups 2, PacificRim, and other current releases, visitRiverCitiesReader.com.

Follow Mike on Twitter at Twitter.com/MikeSchulzNow.

THE CONJURINGI was about halfway through my screening

ofThe Conjuringwhen I noticed that I was

having a most unusual reaction to director

James Wans haunted-house opus: For the life

of me, I couldnt stop smiling.

Thats not to say that I hadnt also been

jumping out of, and shrinking into, myseat on more than a few occasions; Wans

mostly gore-free scare flick which tells the

purportedly true story of a Rhode Island

family besieged by a malevolent spirit in

1971 is perhaps the most legitimately

startling release of its type since Wans

own Insidious from a couple years back.

Yet that was also the exact reason for my

incessant grinning. Modern fright films are

so routinely disappointing that its a shock,

and a great one, when a genre entry actually

appears to get everything just right, and from

its early-70s mise-en-scne to its disarmingly

committed portrayals to its marvelously

calibrated jolts and protracted creep-outs,

theres hardly a minute in The Conjuringthats

less than than wholly, thrillingly effective.

The scene that first made me aware of my

ceaseless smiles was the one thats been so

smartly exploited in the movies trailers, in

which Lili Taylor plays a seemingly benign

game of hide-and-clap with one of her five

daughters and, without her knowledge, anunseen, unwelcome houseguest. But Wan,

directing with beautiful control and finesse,

sustains his outings funny/scary vibe through

sequences as grand as the climactic exorcism

and moments as subtle as the family poochs

terrified unwillingness to leave the front

porch and enter the house, and his uniformly

outstanding cast navigates a delicate balance

between earned

seriousness and

knowing satire.

(Patrick Wilson and

Ron Livingston are

especially engaging,

and Vera Farmiga,

with her gift for

lending emotionalgravitas to every

role she undertakes,

is a figure of

heartbreaking

empathy here.) The floorboards creak, the walls

groan, your heart races, and your horror-loving

happiness just keeps escalating in The Conjuring,

a stylish and ticklish Boo! movie in which the

only proper response is Yay!

R.I.P.D. and RED 2As a huge fan of her for more than 20 years

now, I nearly plotzed when I realized that two

of the movies Id be seeing over the weekend

would feature Mary-Louise Parker in significant

roles. In retrospect, I wouldve been even more

stoked if those movies werent R.I.P.D. and RED

2, but cest la vie.

Of the pair, I found director Robert

Schwentkes R.I.P.D. the less enjoyable one,

mostly because I liked the film better when

it was calledMen in Black. With its initialsstanding for Rest in Peace Department,

this supernatural action comedy finds Ryan

Reynolds deceased Boston cop and Jeff Bridges

deceased gunslinger recruited to bring yowling

monsters to justice while the apocalypse

looms, and its likeMIB without cleverness,

sharp pacing, or decent effects. (Parker plays

the Rip Torn to Reynolds Will Smith and

Bridges Tommy

Lee Jones.) But

while Schwentkes

effort looks shoddy

and sounds tinny,

and Reynolds

appears bored

and embarrassed,

you can at leastexperience some

mild pleasure via

Bridges skillfully

mush-mouthed

Rooster Cogburn parody and Parkers

witheringly acerbic wit; R.I.P.D. doesnt deserve

the performers, but once were stuck with their

movie, we certainly do.

As for RED 2,director Dean Parisots sequel

to 2010s action slapstick about retired and

extremely dangerous assassins, its not onlymore fun than R.I.P.D.; its more fun than RED.

Granted, considering the movies incoherently

staged mayhem and senseless narrative

involving a potential doomsday device, its

stillnot very good, and star Bruce Willis looks

as unengaged here as Ryan Reynolds does in

R.I.P.D. Yet freed from delivering the originals

relentless exposition, John Malkovich, Helen

Mirren, and others lend the film considerable

comic flair were even given a momentary,

in-joke face-off between dueling HannibalLecters Brian Cox and Anthony Hopkins and

the brilliantly deadpan Parker is a continual

hoot as Willis newly gun-toting amour, whom

characters keep referring to as the girl. Given

that Parker herself is 48, that seems somewhat

demeaning, but as RED 2 marks the performers

first leading role on-screen over a quarter-century film career, who am I to bitch?

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

Ghost World

Vera Farmiga in The Conjuring

INMEMORIAM:

MILDRED FISH HARNACK

EXHIBIT OPENS SUNDAY,

AUGUST 4THATTHE GERMAN

AMERICAN HERITAGE CENTER

Holocaust Education Committeeof the Greater Quad City Area


12/24


TheatreThe AcharniansLincoln Park

Saturday, July 27, through

Sunday, August 4

Hard as it is to believe,summers almost over.And I know its almost overbecause its already time forGenesius Guilds annual,end-of-summer slapstick inRock Islands Lincoln Park which, this year, is Guildfounder Don Wootens takeon the Aristophanes comedyThe Acharnians.

Running July 27 throughAugust 4, this tongue-in-cheek updatingof the classic Greek play will no doubtboast all of the elements we Guild fans

look forward to in Wootens season-enders:gentle skewerings of local celebrities andinstitutions (including Genesius Guilditself) and not-so-gentle skewerings ofnational politicians and pop-culturefixtures; exposition delivered throughfamiliar ditties featuring new, satiric lyrics;a mad, Keystone Cops-esque chase aroundthe Lincoln Park stage complete withfrenzied leaps in the air and a climacticgroup pratfall; Bob Hanske. But what

you might not know in advance of seeingThe Acharnians is what Aristophanestale first staged in 425 BCE is actuallyabout. So sit back, because this storys ahumdinger.

Theres this man named Dikaiopolis,

you see, whos exhausted

by the ongoingPeloponnesian War,and frustrated by thepoliticians who refuse toseek an end to it. Yet afterbefriending an immortalnamed Amphitheus,Dikaiopolis is granted aprivate peace for his ownhousehold one thatssoon disrupted by the

arrival of an angry mob offarmers. Seizing a hostagein the form of a hefty bagof charcoal, Dikaiopolisdemands that the farmersleave him be, and makesplans to deliver a public,anti-war diatribe withthe help of his playwright

neighbor Euripides. And in short order, allof these events lead to Dikaiopolis finding

his head on a chopping block, and theplays chorus members arguing over themorality of the war, and farmers daughtersdisguising themselves as pigs, and anAthenian sycophant winding up packed instraw, and ... .

And you havent read a word Ive written,have you?

Oh, for Petes sake, its MichelangelosBacchus statue, people! Its featured on The

Acharnians Wikipedia page! Its artisticnudity, so letsfocus here!

Ah, forget it. The Acharnians will beperformed on Saturdays and Sundays at8 p.m., admission is free (though donationsare encouraged), and more information isavailable by visiting Genesius.org.

Whats HappeninWhats HappeninEventMississippi Valley FairMississippi Valley Fairgrounds

Tuesday, July 30, through Sunday, August 4

The eagerlyanticipatedsummertime blast thatis the Mississippi ValleyFair will take place July

30 through August 4 atthe Mississippi Valley Fairgrounds, which meansits time for me to again extol the annual joysof the events carnival rides, local musicians,contests, arts and crafts vendors, childrensactivities ... . Oh, who are we kidding? Its time

for me to again extol the joys of funnel cakes.Man, but those things are tasty.

But this year, the musical headliners serv ingas the fairs nightly grandstand attractionsform such an impressive collective of artiststhat sugar-coated foodstuffs, for me, takean immediate backseat. I mean, think aboutit: Toby Keith on Tuesday; Josh Turner onWednesday; Dwight Yoakam on Thursday;Lynyrd Skynyrd on Friday; Diamond Rio onSaturday; and Jake Owen (pictured) on Sunday.

Theatre12 Angry MenDistrict Theatre

Thursday, August 1, through

Saturday, August 10

One of the great entertainmentsof the 20th Century will soonbe in performance at the DistrictTheatre, as the Rock Island venueplays host to Reginald Roses

timeless jury-room drama 12Angry Men August 1 through 12.An intense, thought-provoking,frequently funny work adaptedfrom Roses acclaimed golden-age-

of-television presentation,the production explores

the perks and perils of theAmerican judicial systemthrough the story of onedefendants potentially

wrongful sentencing, and its TVprecursor inspired an Oscar-nominated, 1957 film directed bythe late, great Sidney Lumet.

Over the years, 12 Angry Menhas also inspired a great manyactors to seek out roles as theshows squabbling jurors, and forhis District Theatre presentation,director Tristan Tapscott hasassembled a mixed-gender cast thatincludes (in numerical order) SaraKutzli, Bob Manasco, Pat Flaherty,

Patti Flaherty, Mitch DHamer, Doug Kutzli, E

Steve Touvelle, WayneRuebling, and Deb ShiBut lets say youre fa

with Lumets classic, awanting to know whosthe Lee J. Cobb and Mroles in the District shremember which charbased solely on their ju(which are also their cnames). Just sing theseto the 12 Days of Chrand all will be clear!

For the 12 angry jurDistrict gives to thee ...

Twelve shes in ad

youimagineiftheanswertothatlastonewasactuallyAorC?Moviewouldvebeenafreakinbloodbath.

1) performed the iconic hits Free Bird and S2) had a chart-topping single with Why Dont3) had a chart-topping album with Barefoot Blu4) won a Grammy Award for The Reason5) starred in a movie titled Beer for My Horses6) was on the receiving end of Billy Bob Thornt

RiverCitiesReader.com


13/24


What ElseIs HappeninMUSIC

Saturday, July 27 Battery: Masters of

Metallica. Heavy-metal tribute musicians

in concert. Rock Island Brewing Company

(1815 Second Avenue, Rock Island). 9:30p.m. $10. For information, call (309)793-

4060 or visit RIBCO.com.

Tuesday, July 30 John Hiatt & theCombo. Concert with the venerable

singer/songwriter/guitarist, featuring an

opening set by Holly Williams. EnglertTheatre (221 East Washington Street,

Iowa City). 8 p.m. $35-45. For tickets and

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

Wednesday, July 31 Joy Kills Sorrow.

Boston-based string band in an Intimate atthe Englert presentation. Englert Theatre

(221 East Washington Street, Iowa City). 8p.m. $15. For tickets and information, call(319)688-2653 or visit Englert.org.

Thursday, August 1, through Sunday,

August 4 Bix Beiderbecke Memorial

Jazz Festival. Annual celebration of jazz

great and Davenport native Beiderbecke,

with downtown venues including the AdlerTheatre, Davenport RiverCenter, LeClaire

Park, and the Putnam Museum hosting

concerts, workshops, and more. $45 daypasses, $5-25 single- concert tickets. For

tickets and information, call (563)326-1732

or visit BixSociety.org.Tuesday, August 6, and Thursday,

August 8 A Night of Sunshine. Cabaret

MusicDon McLeanEnglert Theatre

Saturday, July 27, 8 p.m.

(To be sung to the tune of ... well, youll figure it out ... .)

A long, long time ago,I can still remember how his music used to make me smile.And, I knew if he showed up here, Id watch his show, buy him a beer, andMaybe Id be happy for a while.

But then I waited too damned long thought thered be seats, but I was wrong.I should have called the Englert. Yes, Don McLean would be hurt.I cant remember if I cried, right after my Iowa City ride,When hits were played while I stayed outsideThe day my chances died.

So bye bye, ol American Pie.Don McLean was being seen but I was left high and dry,With no ticket in hand for that folk-singing guy.Shouldve known that the demand would be high,Known that the demand would be high.

No, I couldnt see that famous name and inductee into the Grammy Hall of Fame.No Vincent or Crying would I hear.Why oh why did I not take to sec to call the Englert and just checkOn whether seats up and disappeared?Now Im feeling sad and all alone, playing Tapestryin my room at home,For, like, the millionth time. Yes, I gotta say that ImRegretting that act of foolish pride, thinking one last ticket they would hideSo I could sneak my ass inside, the day my chances died.

So bye bye, ol American Pie.Couldve charged it on my Master Card, but didnt. And why?Cause I spent my time being lazy and ... ahem ...Don McLean has left the building. Bye bye.Sigh.

Dont let this sad tale happen to you! For tickets to the legendary Don McLeans July 27performance at Iowa Citys Englert Theatre, call (319)688-2653 or visit Englert.org.

by Mike Schulz

[email protected]

Continued On Page 16

Is anyone thinking about funnel cakes anymore?

If youre a fan of these multi-platinum-selling and multiple-award-winning musicians,probably not. And if youre a true fan, youshould have no trouble scoring 100-percenton the quiz above, which asks you to matchthe accomplishment with its accompanyingartist(s).

For more information on this yearsMississippi Valley Fair, visit MVFair.com.

iamond, SallyVillarreal,

ess, Lindapy.miliard are nowplaying, say,rtin Balsamw, but cantcter is whichror numbersaracterrevised lyricsstmas song,

rs, the

ales,

Eleven shes from Europe,Ten awful bigot,

Nine really old guy,Eight Henry Fonda,Seven wishy-washy,Six nice house-painter,Fi-i-i-ive from the slu-u-u-ums!Four wears eyeglasses,Three wont give in,Two sweet milquetoast,And Juror One is the foreman,

you see!

Youre welcome! And happyholidays, folks!

For tickets to 12 Angry Men,call (309)235-1654 or visitDistrictTheatre.com.

Answers:1C,2E,3D,4A,5B,6F.Butcan

eet Home Alabamae Just Dance

e Jean Night

ons sling blade

A) Diamond RioB) Toby KeithC) Lynyrd SkynyrdD) Jake OwenE) Josh TurnerF) Dwight Yoakam


14/24


The pleasing Americana music andnimble, emotive vocals of CarolineRoses America Religious the title

track from her debut album mask massiveamounts of meaning. Perhaps more accurate-ly, they mask a lot ofwords whose meaningyoure left to decipher for yourself.

Take this line, which Rose said shesfrequently asked about: America religious, Ieat slices of white privilege processed by agri-business.

What I wantpeople to get outof that line and thesong in generalis discussionabout what racerelations are like,and what thingslike immigrationreform mean today,and agribusiness,

she said in a recentphone interview promoting her July 30performance at the River Music Experience.

That didnt clear things up much, did it?I dont really care what people think that

it means, she said. As long as theyre talkingabout it, I think its great.

Based onAmerica Religious, Rose certainlybears discussion. The music is varied,compelling, and sharp in its genre, withHere Come the Rain a standout in texture,arrangement, and vocal performance.

But the lyrics are what leap out.America Religious touches on one

aspect of her storytelling, opaquely (perhapsimpenetrably) literate. It begins: Sun beampatches, like lightning in my vision, stumblingtrembling as a tremor in the depths beneaththe trenches.

There are a lot of thoughts in that song,she said, and a lot of words that are sort ofcrammed into the song. I like it that way. Ilike having more words and more meaning

packed very densely into a song so that youcan listen to it more than once and hear newthings each time.

Then theres the much more plainspokenNotes Walking Home from Work, whoseDylan-esque folk style showcases incisive andsmart writing: I go for a walk round halfpast eight and / There on my stoop a manasking for change / I give him a dollar / Heasks for one more / I ask him, What for? /He says, Does it matter? And this is an aside

in a song from the point of view of a manworn down by routine, dissatisfied not withhis station but himself: I think somewherebeyond my chest youll find a spine.

And if those examples make Rose sound

a little too serious, try Six Foot Woman,with its nerdy sexual aggression: Why dontya pink Cadillac me? / Write out a proof andsubtract me?

Despite her lengthy discourses on othersongs, she tersely says of that one, You canprobably gather that songs just about wantingto sleep with everyone.

For somebody still in her early 20s, Rose isthoughtful, mature, and careful about songs

and music. She

said she and hermusical partnerJer Coons finishedbut scrapped tworecords beforereleasingAmericaReligious earlierthis month. Thefirst record thatyou put out is thefirst impression

that people get ofyou, so in my mind it was a really big dealwhat I put out as a first record, she said.

And she recognizes that theres a difficultbalance to find between the words, theirmessages, and the music.

Most songs start as stories or poems, shesaid, but much of what she writes doesnttranslate to music. A lot of them its reallyhard to make into songs, she said. A lotof them just stay as poems. And I could

probably write like 17 books of poems thatdont make it into songs.The key, she said, is to express ideas and

thoughts suitable to pop structures, and tothen craft musical settings that emphasizethem.

Music is a beautiful, powerful thing thatcan make words stand out much more than ifthey were on their own, she said. Im hopingthat the music helps to highlight the wordsrather than deters people from listening to thewords. ... I dont want it to distract from the

words.But she also stressed the importance of

comfortable and relatable styles to drawpeople in: When youve got something tosay, the most important thing is to get peopleto listen. ... If thats in a pop structure, thatsgreat. Whatever tools youve got, I say utilizethem to their full capacity.

Caroline Rose will perform on Tuesday, July 30,on the River Music Experiences Community

Stage. The free all-ages show starts at 7 p.m.,with opener Mo Carter of Busted Chaneliers.

For more information on Caroline Rose, visitCarolineRoseMusic.com.

CarolineRose, July30attheRiverMusicExperience

Get People to Listenby Jeff Ignatius

[email protected] MUSIC

honed my reading skills over the last 20 years,

I can get by all right alongside all those strong

players.He was also, in the mid-90s, occasionally

invited to sit in for an absent Woody Allen

during sets with The Bunk Project, the jazz

ensemble that showcased the filmmakers

intimidating clarinet skills. The musician

admits, however, that those particular gigs

both on the bands Brazilian tour and in

their regular Monday-night sets at New Yorks

famed Michaels Pub did lead to some

disappointment.

Can you imagine the looks on peoples faceswhen I walk out on-stage at Michaels Pub, and

people have paid all this money, and Woodys not

there? asks Levinson with a laugh. You hear

people saying, Oh my God ... who is that?!Among fans of early jazz, such a question

doesnt arise much anymore, considering

Levinsons active leadership of numerous New

York-based ensembles including the New

Millennium All-Stars, the Swing Wing, Fte

Manouche, and his Roof Garden Jass Band.

(A note to the curious: Levinson states that

while tomes have been written about it and

everybody has their different theories why

the original spelling of jass morphed into

jazz in the early 1920s, one theory is that

people couldnt seem to resist the temptation to

obliterate the letter j from bands posters.)

Although the Roof Garden Jass Band was

officially retired in 2007, local jazz favorite

Josh Duffee convinced Levinson to re-form

the ensemble for Bix festival performances in

2010 and this year, and it now boasts several

musicians still in their early 20s.Im very excited about that, says Levinson.

Because its new blood its young guys whove

just discovered this music and they can read

anything I put in front of them.

We had a rehearsal a couple of weeks ago. It

was the first time wed played together, and they

read it as though theyd been playing it their

whole lives. And the beauty of it was watching

them exclaim at the end of an arrangement,

Wow! This isgreat! I cant waitto play this at the

Bix festival!I mean, thats the kind of enthusiasm Ive

been looking for. Because when I play this

music, thats what Ifeel.

Dan Levinsons Roof Garden Jass Band is

scheduled to play the Bix Beiderbecke Memorial

Jazz Festival at the Adler Theatre (1 p.m. on

August 2 and 7 p.m. on August 3) and Davenport

RiverCenter (9 p.m. on August 2 and 4 p.m. on

August 3). For more information on Levinson and

his ensembles, visit DanLevinson.com.

For the full Bix Beiderbecke Memorial Jazz

Festival performance schedule, see the Readers

Live Music section on pages 20-23 orvisit

BixSociety.org.

Continued From Page 8

is Max Morath, whos a singer and pianist, and

still one of my great friends. He was a television

star in the 50s and 60s, and I befriended himby calling him out of the blue one day he was

listed in the phone directory just to tell him I

loved his music. He invited me over, and I went

to see him, and when we were talking, he said,

Dick Hyman lives upstairs, and I think hes

looking for an assistant.

... and All That JassEnter influential musician number three.

I got that job in 1987, says Levinson of hisemployment with the legendary jazz composer/

pianist Hyman, and held it for six years, until

Dick moved to Florida. And during that time, I

was making all sorts of contacts and practicing,

and he was a great influence on me in terms of

career choices.

One time he said to me, You know, Dan,

you cant make a living just playing the clarinet.

And I said, Well, Benny Goodman did. And

he said, All right. Benny Goodman was Benny

Goodman. But in the 1920s and early 1930s,

before he was Benny Goodman, he was playing

saxophone in studio bands. Even he had to

do it, so you need to play saxophone. So I got

myself an alto and started playing that, and

then somebody gave me a C melody sax, and

ultimately, I learned the saxophone.

(Asked if it was an easy transition from

clarinet to sax, Levinson says, No, but its

easier to go from clarinet to saxophone than

saxophone to clarinet. A lot of what you learn

transfers over, so if Im practicing clarinet, I dont

have to practice saxophone all that much.)During his first summer working for Hyman,

Levinson also formed his first band the same

band, albeit with different musicians, that hell

be bringing to the Bix Beiderbecke Memorial

Jazz Festival.

I put together the Roof Garden Jass Band

the year I graduated from NYU, says Levinson,

and we did a concert my first public concert

on July 1, 1987. The Original Dixieland Jazz

Band tribute event, which was held at the Eisner

& Lubin Auditorium in NYUs Loeb StudentCenter, was sold out, and John S. Wilson in the

New York Times gave it a really good write-up.

And in many ways, Ive never been able to

duplicate that in terms of success, he adds with

a laugh. Just a couple months ago, somebody

wrote to me and said, I was at your concert in

1987 and Ive never forgotten it. It changed my

life.

It also changed Levinsons. The concerts

acclaim led to continued bookings in New York

City; a year-long, 1990 stint in Paris, oftentimesplaying alongside noted jazzman Dick Miller; six

months of jazz immersion in New Orleans; and

a 1993 invitation to join the ensemble of Vince

Giordano & the Nighthwaks, which Levinson

calls a great gig thats still going on now. Having

Jass It Up!by Mike Schulz

[email protected]


15/24


Machine, seems to defy gravity,as it appears to be frozen ina daredevil jump over thefence above our heads. Other

powerful sculptural forms madefrom large iron gears and shafts their precise machined edgescontrasting with raw, rustedsurfaces can be partially seenthrough the fence openings.(Viewed from the street, thestudio is like the last refuge in azombie film.)

Marts sculptures exudestrength, drawn in part from the materialhe has chosen to works with: iron. His

passion for metalwork and welding beganat the age of 10 when his father handedhim a welding torch. His development asan artist working in metals began with achallenge to make a welding bead looklike a roll of dimes by an instructor inYokosuka, Japan, while Mart was enlistedin the Navy. Working at Alter MetalRecycling has given him access to analmost unlimited source of materials forhis artworks.

Mart has effectively worked with notagainst each environment. Althoughthey communicate strikingly differentmessages, both entrances compellinglyreflect their surroundings.

Bruce Walters is a professor of art atWestern Illinois University.

This is part of an occasional series on thehistory of public art in the Quad Cities. Iftheres a piece of public art that youd like to

learn more about, e-mail the location and abrief description to [email protected].

Eric Mart can be reached at [email protected].

ART

The entrance to the

Freight House FarmersMarket at 421 WestRiver Drive in downtownDavenport is framed by a15-foot-tall arched entry. Theartist, Eric Mart, also createdthe gateway to his studio andthe Sol-Iron Gallery at 620West Third Street, just a fewblocks away. Although bothentires are made entirely ofmetal and are similar in size,one is welcoming while theother is intimidating. Theirimpact is shaped, in largepart, by their settings and ourassociations with the objectsused.

The brightly painted,freestanding entrance tothe Freight House FarmersMarket is flanked by a varietyof flowering plants. It feels

friendly and open. Thehandmade, cutout letters areplayful. In this good-naturedcontext, the tines of thepitchfork at the top of thearch seem to reach upward,almost like the rays of arising sun. The vintage rotaryhoes seem like pinwheelsand flowers. Although thearchway serves as a business

sign, it is also a strikingsculptural form.

The use of actual toolsand farm implementseffectively conveys a senseof authenticity. Althoughtheyre used decoratively,one can also sense the artistsrespect for these tools in theirplacement along the spanof the arch overhead. The

unique sign communicatesthat this is a one-of-a kindbusiness, not a franchise orlarge corporation.

The other entrance isin a distinctively differentenvironment. Marts studioand gallery is situatedbetween an empty lot and atattoo parlor. The three-storybrick building is frontedwith an entrance and fence made fromremnant steel plates that rise 12 feet fromthe sidewalks edge. The height of theentrance and fence is itself foreboding.And while the entrance to the farmersmarket is always open, this one is barred

Art in Plain Sight: Two Entrances by Eric Mart

Article and Photos by Bruce Walters

with a reclaimed jail door with rustedbands of riveted metal.

At the west end of the fence facingthe one-way traffic on Third Street isan iron sculpture of a partial skeletonfigure riding a bicycle. The sculpture,titled Greatest Human Cylindrical

Counterclockwise from above:Greatest Human Cylindrical

Machine; Freight House FarmersMarket entrance; Sol-Iron

Gallery entrance


16/24


meet men, theres one thing many will havein common: insisting theyre interested inwhatever you are if they think youre hot.Try to help your friend see that holing upin the art museum isnt the answer. Sure,it might be kismet that Mr. Dreamypantsis standing in the lobby right next toher favorite sculpture, or he might justbe waiting to enjoy the work of Sir JohnHarrington, the guy who invented the flushtoilet found in the free public bathroom.

A Mitey LoveIm 5-foot-8; my fiance is just at 5-foot-

7. Im only comfortable when he wearslifts, especially if Im wearing heels. It maynot seem like a big height difference, butwhen he doesnt wear them, he feels li kemy son. I know theyre uncomfortable, andhe sometimes doesnt feel up to wearingthem. Mostly, though, he wont let me seehim without them, because he knows Imway more attracted to him when hes a tadtaller. I feel bad about this, and Ive prayedthat one day, my strong love for him willlet me ignore this minor flaw.

Trying to Get Above It

The dream was tall, dark, and handsome.Not elfish, dark, and handsome. Still, theproblem here could be seen another way:You need to be shorter. Unfortunately,accomplishing that is the less practical

solution, as it would require a saw. It mighthelp to understand that you want him tobe taller not because youre a bad personbut because youre a product of humanevolution. In our ancestral past, heightin a man likely had mating and survivaladvantages. (The short caveman wouldhave been less able to reach the lion withhis spear: Take that, you big meanie!) Asfor what to do in the present, elevator shoesmight be the solution youre both looking

for. While lifts are inserts stuck into theshoe, mainly raising the heel, elevator shoes,which can be custom-made by a podiatrist,have a hidden platform built in throughoutthe shoe. The latest models are cleverlydesigned and appear to be normal footwear.This means that a man neednt suffer thediscomfort of tromping around in heels justto be attractive to his partner. (Next thingyou know, hell be complaining about thescratchy red lace and underwire digging into

his flesh.)Got A Problem? Ask Amy Alkon.

171 Pier Ave, #280, Santa Monica, CA 90405

or [email protected] (AdviceGoddess.com)2013, Amy Alkon, all rights reserved.

Ask

theAdviceGoddess BY AMY ALKON

Mystery MeetA man my friend was crazy for just

broke up with her. I kind of saw thebreakup coming, as I thought they weretoo different, but she thinks he just falselyadvertised who he really is. They metonline, and he made himself out to bethis guy who loves art and culture, whichto her means going to museums, shows,and lectures and to him means stayinghome and making things. She now insiststhat the only way to meet people is in theactivity you want them to be doing. Forexample, if you want a guy who likes artmuseums and going to cultural events(which she does), youd better hang outin an art museum to find a date. I thinkits a mistake for her not to keep onlinedating, because I think shell meet a lotmore men.

Friend of Stubborn Woman

People try to put their best foot forwardon dating sites, and rather often, it turns outits not actually their foot.

Of course, deceptive self-marketing isnot exclusive to online dating, and onlinedating does offer certain efficiencies thattrying to meet a man at an art museum orcultural event does not. For example, people

join a dating site specifically because theyare looking for a partner. Some man youspot in a museum may also be looking for

a partner his wife, who was right behindhim just a room ago.

It sounds like your friend is blaming theInternet because a guy she liked didnt likeher back. They maybe both projected whatthey wanted on each other and neededto dig deeper to find out who the personthey were dating really was. This is whatdating is for. Its supposed to be a processof finding out about a person, not I baitedthe hook. I caught the fish. Now lets decide

whats for dinner at the wedding!We often dont need anybody to go tothe trouble of deceiving us. We do thatreally well on our own, like by tellingourselves weve found the perfect personand ignoring any evidence to the contrary.Instead, there needs to be a vetting process,whether you meet a man online or at anart walk. It involves asking questions andlooking to see who he is and being willingto find out that he isnt right for you. This

vetting is essential because, wherever you

performances with Sunshine Ramsey,

featuring performances by Circa 21 singersand musicians, and students from Sunshines

Performing Arts Studio. Circa 21 Dinner

Playhouse (1828 Third Avenue, Rock Island). 7p.m. $15-18. For tickets and information, call

(309)786-7733 extension 2 or visit Circa21.

com.

THEATREThursday, July 25, through Saturday,

August 3 She Loves Me. Tony Award-

winning musical/comedy/romance. Clinton

Area Showboat Theatre (311 Riverview Drive,Clinton). Thursday-Saturday 7:30 p.m., Sunday

and Wednesday 3 p.m.$16-23. For tickets

and information, call (563)242-6760 ior visitClintonShowboat.org.

Friday, July 26, and Saturday, July

27 Les Misrables: School Edition. TheBroadway smash performed by students in

the Centers annual musical-theatre camp,

directed by Dino Hayz. The Center for LivingArts (2008 Fourth Avenue, Rock Island). Friday

and Saturday 7p.m., Saturday and Sunday2 p. m. $15 at the door. For information, call(309)788-5433 or visit Center4Living.com.

Sunday, July 28 The Clown Who

Ran Away. Author Conrad Ceilers familycomedy, performed by the Junior Theatre

Mainstage Company. Davenport Junior

Theatre (2822 Eastern Avenue, Davenport).7 p.m. Pay what its worth ticket pricing.

For information, call (563)326-7862 or visit

DavenportJuniorTheatre.com.Thursday, August 1, through Sunday,

August 11 Monty Pythons Spamalot. Tony

Award-winning musical-comedy slapstick

based on Monty Python & the Holy Grail. TimberLake Playhouse (8215 Black Oak Road, Mt.

Carroll). Tuesday-Saturday 7:30 p.m., Sunday

and Wednesday 2 p.m., August 3 at 3 p.m. $15-23. For tickets and information, call (815)244-

2035 or visit TimberLakePlayhouse.org.Thursday, August 1, through Sunday,

September 1 Lumberjacks in Love. Musical

comedy by the composers and authors

ofGuys on Ice: The Ice-Fishing Musical. OldCreamery Theatre (39 38th Avenue, Amana).

Friday and Saturday 7:30 p.m., Sunday,Wednesday, and Thursday 3 p.m. $18-27.50.

For tickets and information, call (319)622-

6194 or visit OldCreamery.com.Friday, August 2, through Sunday,

August 4 Rent. The Pulitzer Prize-winning

rock musical presented by the City Circle Act-ing Company of Coralville. Coralville Center

for the Performing Arts (1301 Fifth Street,

Coralville). Friday and Saturday 7:30 p.m., Sun-day 2 p.m. $12-27. For information and tickets,

call (319)248-9370 or visit CoralvilleArts.org.

Saturday, August 3 The Princess &

the Pea. Stage fairytale presented by the

Missoula Childrens Theatre Company.

Ohnward Fine Arts Center (1215 East PlattStreet, Maquoketa). 3 and 6 p.m. $5-10. For

tickets and information, call (563)652-9815 or

visit OhnwardFineArtsCenter.com.Tuesday, August 6, through Saturday,

August 10 Seussical Jr. Hour-long version

of the Tony Award-nominated storybookmusical. Timber Lake Playhouse (8215

Black Oak Road, Mt. Carroll). Tuesday and

Thursday-Saturday 2 p.m. $6. For ticketsand information, call (815)244-2035 or visit

TimberLakePlayhouse.org.

VISUAL ARTSFriday, August 2 Flamingo Fling.

Annual tropical party featuring a live artauction of the flamingos previously on

exhibit, a cash bar, light appetizers, a best-

dressed flamingo guest contest, a raffle,and more. Quad City Botanical Center (2525

Fourth Avenue, Rock Island). 7 p.m. $10-15.

For tickets and information, call (309)794-0991 or visit QCGardens.com.

Sunday, August 4, through Sunday,November 3 In Memoriam:Mildred FishHarnack. Exhibit honoring the only Ameri-can woman executed under direct orderfrom Adolph Hitler for her role in the Berlinresistance movement. German AmericanHeritage Center (712 West Second Street,Davenport). Tuesdays-Saturdays 10 a.m.-4p.m., Sundays noon-4 p.m. Free with $3-5admission. For information, call (563)322-8844 or visit GAHC.org.

EVENTSFriday, July 26, and Saturday, July 27

Bucktown and Barrel House Bash. Birthdaycelebration for the venues, featuring a Friday-

night wine walk and an indoor/outdoor

festival on Saturday. Bucktown Center forthe Arts (225 East Second Street, Davenport)

and Barrel House (211 East Second Street,

Davenport). Friday 6-9 p.m., Saturday 11 a.m.-6 p.m. Free admission. For information, call

(563)324-0667 or visit BucktownArts.com.

Friday, July 26, and Saturday, July27 2013 Street Fest. Annual outdoor

celebration featuring live music, arts and

crafts vendors, a family-fun area, video-game tournaments, and more. Downtown

Davenport (Second Street between Brady

and Ripley streets). Friday 10 a.m., Saturday9 a.m. Free admission. For information, visit

DowntownDavenport.com.Saturday, July 27 Quad-City Times Bix 7

Road Race. 39th-annual, seven-mile foot race

featuring thousands of dollars in prize moneyawarded, with the Jr. Bix 7 for ages 12 andunder. Downtown Davenport (Fifth and Brady

streets). 8 a.m. $35-43 registration, $12-15 Jr.

Bix registration. For information, call (563)383-

Continued From Page 13

What Else Is Happenin


17/24


fiction writer Greg Egan in his story Learning toBe Me. Lets pretend that you, too, have a smalldark jewel inside your skull thats learning to be

you. Its a good metaphor for what I believe hasbeen happening all these years: You have beengradually mastering the art of being the bestLeo you can be. It hasnt been easy. You werentborn knowing how to be your beautiful, radiant,courageous self, but have had to work hard to

activate your potentials. Now youre moving intoan especially critical phase of the process: a timewhen you have the chance to learn how to loveyourself with greater ingenuity.

VIRGO (August 23-September 22):

Dear Astrology Guy: Please tell mewhy I have to work so hard meditate,

reflect, read, analyze, poke, prod, investigate

to discover truths about myself that must beobvious to others. Why is it so hard for me tosee where I need healing and where I need tolet go? Why is it such an ordeal to grasp whatis interfering with my wholeness when I can

quickly pinpoint what other peoples issuesare? Overworked Virgo. Dear Over worked:Im happy to report that you Virgos will soon beoffered a gush of revelations about who you are,

how you can heal, and what strategies will bestserve your quest to minimize your anxiety. Areyou prepared to absorb some intense teachings?For best results, make yourself extra-receptive.

LIBRA (September 23-October22): One of the worlds best race-

car teams is McLaren. It wins about 25 percentof the events in which it competes. Its skilleddrivers account for much of its success, but its

technicians are also pretty sensational. During apit stop in the middle of a race, they can change

all four tires on the car in less than three seconds.Do you have helpers like that, Libra? If you dont,its time to intensify your efforts to get them. And

if you do, its time to call on them to give you anextra boost.

SCORPIO (October 23-November21): Lets try an experiment. Itsrisky, but Im hoping you will do

it with such flair that there will be no karmicblow-back. What I propose, Scorpio, is thatyou have fun expressing more confidence than

usual. I invite you to strut a bit, even swagger,as you demonstrate your command over yourcircumstances. Enjoy acting as if the world isyour plaything ... as if everyone around yousecretly needs you to rise up and be a bigger,

bolder version of yourself. The trick, of course,will be to avoid getting puffed up with grandiosedelusions. Your challenge is to be more wildlydevoted to embodying your souls code withoutlapsing into arrogance.

SAGITTARIUS (November22-December 21): I suspect thatyou are longing to take a quantum

leap of faith, but are also afraid to take that

quantum leap of faith. You sense the potential

Go to RealAstrology.com to check out Rob Brezsny'sEXPANDED WEEKLY AUDIO HOROSCOPES& DAILY TEXT MESSAGE HOROSCOPES

The audio horoscopes are also available by phone at

1-877-

Documents

River Cities' Reader - Issue 835 - July 25, 2013