river cities' reader issue 893 - october 1, 2015
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8/20/2019 River Cities' Reader Issue 893 - October 1, 2015
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8/20/2019 River Cities' Reader Issue 893 - October 1, 2015
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River Cities’ Reader • Vol. 22 No. 893 • October 15 - 28, 20152 Business • Politics • Arts • Culture • Now You Know • RiverCitiesReader.com
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River Cities’ Reader • Vol. 22 No. 893 • October 15 - 28, 2015 3Business • Politics • Arts • Culture • Now You Know • RiverCitiesReader.com
WORDS FROM THE EDITOR
Educate Yourself on Four Need-to-KnowSubjects While They Still Matter
by Kathleen McCarthy
[email protected] COMMENTARY By Jean Regenwether
It’s Just a Dog … but …
How many times have you heard the
phrase “It’s just a dog”? But timeis certainly changing our opinionsand treatment toward – and our lives with– our furry companions. “A dog is a familymember” is a good way to describe theevolution taking place.
Focusing on “It’s just a dog” suggeststhat dogs are creatures with no ability tothink; they just follow humans around forfood and shelter. Consequently, dogs musthave no feelings. No joy, no anger, no love,no loss.
We are lucky to live in a time in whichsuch viewpoints are changing, and hugekudos must be given to early dog trainersand animal behaviorists for realizing thatthe “dogs have no feelings” argument isclearly wrong.
Over the past several decades, studieshave been conducted to determine howdogs think, learn, and feel, and theirresults have been amazing. In the 1980s, veterinarian and animal behaviorist Ian
Dunbar worked extensively with puppiesunder the age of six months, and initiatedoff-leash training with great success. Hispioneering studies on the social livesand hierarchies of dogs are used today in Continued On Page 13
training and behavior work.
Karen Pryor was a marine-mammaltrainer who brought her operant skillsand positive, reward-based methods tothe dog-training world. Pryor introduceddog trainers to clicker-training in the early1990s, and showed how positive methodsof training are highly effective, and farmore enjoyable, for both dog and owner.
These are just two individuals amongmany who advanced the understandingof dog behavior into the science of dogtraining.
We have learned that dogs do think.(Sorry to disappoint those who thinkthey just love you for the food.) They caneven think analytically – dogs are verygood at solving problems – and can bequite independent in their thinking. Anyobservant person also knows they cancount; just take out three treats, give thedog two treats, and try to get away with it.
Such knowledge has helped dogtraining evolve into a practice that
employs more positive methods, withmethods that reward correct behaviornow more commonplace. The days ofphysical force, punishment, and other
After 21 years of publishing, the
depth and breadth of civic disen-
gagement continues to befuddle
me, confirming that people get the govern-
ment they deserve. Everyone senses the
undercurrent of serious trouble afoot in
this country. But no amount of leaderships’
disgraceful conduct, criminal enterprise,
or wholesale injustice – all of which cause
profound suffering for our families, friends,
neighbors, co-workers, and community atlarge – rises to a level that produces mean-
ingful activism. Why is that?
Mostly it is because of denial, lack
of imagination, laziness, inertia, and
an absurd amount of self-absorption.
Ignorance plays a part, but most people
are intelligent enough to grasp problems.
Instead, they choose to ignore such matters
as a means to absolve themselves from
responsibility head-in-the-sand style.
Clearly, this is not the American way. Or at
least it didn’t used to be.
No matter how much civic impotence
we claim, there is still plenty we can
individually affect if we are willing
to sacrifice a bit of convenience. Our
ancestors, after all, sacrificed their lives.
First, we must reaffirm that we are
created with inherent rights that are ours
whether government exists or not. The
United States Constitution protects rights
we already have by limiting government’s
ability to interfere with those inherent
rights. That is a core principle that must
be internalized before we can correct our
course as a nation.
Each individual has enormous, albeitmostly unused, power in our form of
bottom-up governance; a constitutional
Republic under the rule of law, including,
but not limited to, the power of the vote,
the power of the purse, and the power of
the jury. The Bill of Rights secures free
speech and the press, worship, assembly,
petitions for redress of grievances, due
process, and the right to bear arms, to
name a few. Read the Bill of Rights and you
will find that it states very clearly, without
ambiguity, “Congress shall make no law”
that interferes with the above.
Is anyone surprised when politicians and
bureaucrats readily step in and usurp moreContinued On Page 13
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River Cities’ Reader • Vol. 22 No. 893 • October 15 - 28, 20154 Business • Politics • Arts • Culture • Now You Know • RiverCitiesReader.com
What We Have Here Is aFailure to Negotiate
by Rich Miller
CapitolFax.comILLINOIS POLITICS
Last year, gubernatorial candidate BruceRauner pledged to “crack down onwaste” in government in order to save
taxpayers over $140 million. He also vowed tocut $500 million from the Illinois Departmentof Central Management Services and findanother $250 million in Medicaid savings.
Very little of that has happened to date, as
the governor himself inadvertently admittedduring a speech last week inthe southern Cook County
suburbs.Instead of saving
$500 million at CMS, forexample, Rauner touted just $15 million in savings,mainly from grounding
the state’s fleet of airplanes– although that doesn’ttake into considerationthe cost of paying mileagereimbursements for all
those folks who can nolonger fly.
The governor identified a grand total of$107 million in what he said are savingshe’s found this year, but most came from
cuts at the Department of Healthcare andFamily Services, and people I’ve talked toaren’t buying those numbers because somemajor state cost controls have been allowed
to expire. He also failed to mention that he vetoed a bill that the Democrats say would’veresulted in $400 million in DHFS savings –
far more than his own stated campaign goaland lots more than the $70 million he claims
to have actually saved.Governor Rauner also bemoaned the lack
of a budget and the myriad court orderswhich are forcing state spending at lastfiscal year’s levels. “I can’t control” the court
orders, the governor said. That’s true, butthe governor could try negotiating with thestakeholders and the courts to come up withmore affordable orders. He’s not a complete victim.
And, of course, he repeatedly complainedthat the Democratic General Assemblyhasn’t allowed votes on a single one of hisTurnaround Agenda items.
He has a right to complain, but he’s not alegislator and needs to eventually realize thathe can’t pass bills on his own.
Rauner also has to come to terms withthe fact that “giving” the Democrats some
Republican votes on a tax-hike roll call inexchange for Democrats whacking unionsisn’t exactly a Democratic “win.” To quite a
few Democrats, that’s a most definite lose-loseproposition.
For crying out loud, man, what aboutan infrastructure projects plan? How aboutfinding anything that could help grease a victory instead of this unseemly whining
about how the other side won’t cave?And the Democrats, for their part, have
got to get it into their heads that they have aRepublican governor.
“I’ve stated all year that I will work with thegovernor cooperatively and professionally, butwe will not devastate Illinois’ middle class andstruggling families by furthering an agenda
aimed at driving down their wages andtheir standard of living,” said House Speaker
Michael Madigan shortly
after the governor’s speechlast week.
Okay, well, firstof all, comparingGovernor Rauner toRod Blagojevich earlierthis year was definitely
neither cooperative norprofessional on Madigan’spart, and his presssecretary claimed thegovernor was acting like “a
scared second grader” when he skipped outof that south suburban speech without takingreporters’ questions.
Apart from that, Madigan’s two pension-reform laws most definitely were designedto reduce the standard of living of retirees.And Governor Rauner was absolutely rightlast week to point out the various labor law
exemptions that Madigan has passed forChicago. Even so, that doesn’t mean theDemocrats would ever accede to Rauner’sdemand that teachers and local governmentemployees should be stripped of their right to
bargain over wages, benefits, overtime, andworking conditions. Ain’t gonna happen, man.
Eventually, because the governor is soanti-union and won’t talk about a budgetuntil he gets some wins on that front, Speaker
Madigan and the Democrats are going to haveto do something that unions don’t love or thisimpasse will never end.
The problem for the Democrats is intensely
political. Rauner’s horrible idea to spend
the first four months of his administrationtouring the state demanding a so-called “rightto work” law united unions like never before.Some major trade unions actively backed
cuts in pension benefits for public employees,believing it would free up money for otherstate spending (a position encouraged bySpeaker Madigan, by the way). Now, thanksto Rauner, they’re all one big happy family.
The Democrats are so frozen in positionthat they can’t or won’t budge until things getso bad that they will have no other choice but
to ding the unions at least a little bit, whichmay be the ultimate plan here.
It’s just a mess everywhere you look.
Rich Miller also publishes Capitol Fax (a daily political newsletter) and CapitolFax.com.
How about findinganything that could
help grease a victory
instead of this unseemly
whining about how the
other side won’t cave?
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River Cities’ Reader • Vol. 22 No. 893 • October 15 - 28, 2015 5Business • Politics • Arts • Culture • Now You Know • RiverCitiesReader.com
in 1933.
The SAA Design Group of Madison,
Wisconsin – now part of Ayres Associates – was
the prime consultant for this beautiful park,
including the playground and fountain.
The striking geometric patterning in
Schwiebert Park’s fountain and playground
the fountain. The most striking visual element of
this area, though, is the beautiful elliptical shapes
in the fountain’s floor that cover an area nearly
100 feet in length. To me, they suggest planetary
orbits; to someone else, they might suggest
something very different in this imaginative
environment.
The creative qualities and open-ended
play encouraged by the fountain area are
characteristic of a “playscape,” an area that
breaks away from specific play equipment.
Playscapes were inspired in large part by
sculptor and landscape visionary Isamu Noguchi
(1904-1988), who began working on playscapes
Playgrounds can be
innovative, bold
environments with
intriguing sculptural forms:
their colors bright and excit-ing; their designs active –
imprinted with the rhythms
of jumping, climbing,
running, and hanging. They
can capture our imagination
as fully as abstract works of
fine art.
The fountain and
playground area in
Schwiebert Riverfront Park
and the Davenport Skateparkin its entirety are among the
most compelling and visually
exciting environments
created for play in the Quad
Cities. There are other
wonderful places in the
Quad Cities for children
to play, learn, and
socialize, such as the
Family Museum in
Bettendorf and theLearning Center in
Davenport. (Happily,
the Mother Goose
entrance to the latter
is restored.) But they
are inside or fenced
in – not necessarily
“in plain sight.”
The groups
of playground
equipment at
Schwiebert
Riverfront Park,
on the Mississippi
riverfront between 17th and 20th streets in
downtown Rock Island, are like islands on a sea
of blue padded tiles – crazy geometric shapes
with Dr. Seuss-like chutes and ladders on metal
stilts. Each has multiple entries and unique
nooks and crannies waiting to be explored.
Integrated into the playground are digital
electronic games without instructions.
Near this playground is a fountain areaalso designed for play. Children run through
or from water sprays that bubble up from the
ground, starting and stopping unexpectedly. Or
through a row of water arcs lining one side of
Art in Plain Sight: Schwiebert Riverfront Park and the Davenport Skatepark
Article and photos by Bruce Walters
Vol. 22 · No. 893 Oct. 15 - 28, 2015
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S i n c e 1
9 9 3
Continued On Page 13
ART
(above and below right) Schwiebert Riverfront Park
Davenport Skatepark
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Brooks Strause Plays the Devil’s Advocate in Song; October 23 at Rozz-Tox
A Restless Spirit
“It was not really a comfortable situ-
ation,” said Brooks Strause. “It was
okay. It worked well, and it was
worth it artistically.”
Such dull words suggest a mundane
departure for a musician – an experimental
song, the dipping of a toe into a new
stylistic stream. But Strause – the prolific
34-year-old singer/songwriter from
Muscatine now based in Iowa City – is not
nearly so timid.
He was, in fact, talking about having
a bucket of actual lamb’s blood dumped
on him for a photo shoot for his second
album. Differences in animal aside, Strause
volunteered to be Carrie White – and it
was his idea.
In that photo, Strause is foregrounded
and exhaling smoke, with a couple
clutching each other in the background.
The concept, he said, “represented love
in a way I haven’t seen it represented that
much,” which made it a good match for theStrause-ian love songs that made up his
album Dead Animals (whose first releasewas housed, it should be said, in actual
animal fur).
In case you’re curious, Strause said
“there wasn’t really time” for second
thoughts at the shoot: “This photograph
has to get done. Let’s do it.” And “it was
kind of surprising – the texture. I definitely
got some in my mouth very quickly. It
wasn’t really as gross as I thought it wasgoing to be.”
So he’s human after all – although that’s
not necessarily apparent from the flood
of work he’s been producing. His seventh
album, the richly rewarding The ChymicalWedding of Brooks Strause, was releasedthis month, and he’ll be performing
October 23 at Rozz-Tox. Dead Animals wasreissued earlier this year by the Maximum
Ames label, and 2014 saw two new full-
lengths, Acid Casual
andRenaissance Beast
.
Oh, but there’s more. He has a rock/folk
opera, an album of electronic music, and
a solo-acoustic record in various stages of
completion, and he’s written all the songs
for his next rock-and-roll outing with his
band The Gory Details – with whom he’ll
share the stage at Rozz-Tox.
Strause offered a simple reason for this
burst of creativity: time. He works home-
health-care overnight shifts that give him
plenty of time to sleep, leaving his days
free for music. And “I had been solidlyin relationships for 10 years. I’ve spent a
lot of the last three years single, which is
artistically fruitful, and spiritually. That
just helps me focus on my own work and
myself as a human being.”But there’s clearly also a restless spirit
at work, somebody eager to bust through
constraints and connect wildly disparate
influences. Each album might have its own
coherence and clear reference points, but
Strause said his careening body of work has
a shape – in a hugely ambitious way.
He gave the example of his in-the-works
electronic album mining ’80s and ’90s
sounds. “Being able to introduce that ...
gives more context to the things on my
previous records that were influenced by
’20s ragtime,” he explained. “I feel like
musically I just want to bridge all these
things. I want to find something that hasn’t
been done in the whole context of modern
music history. ...
“I realized that I have been exploring
classic styles – world styles – and the
further I push out, the more it makes sense.
It’s a bigger picture, which makes it a little
clearer as I branch out ... .”
Last year’s Renaissance Beast , he said,was “the record where I really took control
of pushing out of those boundaries and
deciding that the further I could go, the
more all-encompassing I can be stylistically
... . If you create a context, then you can do
anything you want. Creating a precedent
for any sound to be present.”
Ceding ControlThe irony of the new album, however,
is that Strause gave up the reins. Priorto now, Strause had produced five of hisrecords and co-produced the other.
But on Chymical Wedding , Quad Citiesproducer and musician Pat Stolley is
responsible for all thearrangements andtextures.
“I initially wroteit envisioning a’50s-influencedrecord – somewherebetween doo-wop andearly rock-and-roll –and that’s how I wasplanning on producingit,” Strause said. “AndI sat on it for a whileand just became lessexcited about puttingthe time into producingit myself after havinga little bit of distancefrom it and decided togive it to Pat Stolley toproduce.
“He said that as long
as I gave him ful l control production-wise,he would record it. I’ve been a big fan ofhis music for a really long time – since Iwas 16, I’ve been obsessed with his music– so it seemed like the right time to giveup control ... which is something I haven’tdone.”
It helped that both men were familiarwith the centuries-old manifesto ChymicalWedding of Christian Rosenkreutz , atouchstone work for people interested in
alchemy and an inspiration for the recordand (obviously) its title. The link is clear inthe first words of “The Creeping Heart”:“Water and the air and the earth make atree. / Magic and the mind and the firemake me.”
“Lyrically,” Strause said, “it’s a break-uprecord, but also the break-up I was goingthrough at the time tied into mysticalstudies, and getting into spiritual alchemy.I was just noticing overlap in these
different concepts, how I was trying to getthrough this relationship stuff while I wasalso learning how to transform as a humanbeing spiritually. Juxtapositions and tyingthose things together became kind of thegoal in writing that album.”
Handing it off, Strause said, was anacknowledgment of how “involved” hisoriginal idea would have been to execute.“I was realizing that if I wanted momentsto sound like The Platters, I was going tohave to get a big string section together.
I just started realizing how it was a lot ofstuff I hadn’t done before, and I knew itwas going to be a really big challenge. ...The biggest production job [on one of hisalbums] took 10 years to finish the record,
and I didn’t want that to happen. ...“The idea of working with Pat seemed ...
equally exciting and less work.”Initially, he said, he tried to describe to
Stolley his aims for Chymical Wedding . But“once he started talking to me about whathis ideas were, I realized that it was goingto be beyond what I had thought it wasgoing to be. I wasn’t even going to be ableto predict what each song was going tosound like, so I just let go.”
Stolley wrote in an e-mail: “I saw it asa chance to have some real fun and twistBrooks’ material around. I basically justlistened to each song and imagined what Iwanted to hear. If I couldn’t do the part, I’dget someone to play.”
Strause said of the process: “InitiallyI just gave him demos that I recorded inmy bedroom ... and he listened to themfor a while and started having me cometo the Quad Cities for four-hour chunks
of time. And I would just record guitar, vocals – usually at the same time – to aclick track or a drum machine, and thenI would go. And then the next time that Iwould come, he’d give me a mix with all ofthe things that he’d added. He brought inother musicians while I wasn’t there andmade the record like he would make hisown records. ...
“The chords, the structure of thesongs is all me. All of the layers, all of the
fleshed-out sound, that’s pretty much Pat.”There were surprises, Strause said.
“When I had written the songs, I reallydidn’t hear any electronic sounds in them”– the synthesizers and drum machines thatStolley added. “It wouldn’t have occurredto me to put those sounds in those songs....
“That’s why the collaboration happened,and why it worked. I was willing to give upthat control. ... I knew it was going to be
something ... that I wouldn’t have made onmy own.”
Yet Strause added that even thoughhe and Stolley never discussed hisoverarching vision for his catalog, theyended up of like minds: “When I firstheard the mixes that Pat had done andheard what he was doing with the record,there was overlap with the record I wasworking on at the time.”
Much of Chymical Wedding is alluring
and easily accessible, with Stolley’sarrangements and Strause’s warm voicedrawing listeners in. Opener “GoodWorld” could have come from the 1960s,with a synchronized rhythm in thedrums, guitars, and chorus vocals. “Bridge
COVER STORY
Photo by Laura Heath
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River Cities’ Reader • Vol. 22 No. 893 • October 15 - 28, 2015 7Business • Politics • Arts • Culture • Now You Know • RiverCitiesReader.com
by Jeff Ignatius
Over Nothing” and “Hearts” have someswinging country influence, while “Really”is straight-ahead pop rock.
But “The Creeping Heart” announcesthe arrival of the bluntly foreign, withStrause singing over a throbbing, subduedlow end and click-heavy percussion, withminimal echoing of the vocal melodyin ghostly keyboards. A break near theend augments the core instrumentationwith guitar, and each element serves with
purpose.“Time Slayer” has an undeniable groove,
but it’s also coarse and kid-like, giving theimpression of a demented circus tune.
“Undead Ends” is a love song ofsalvation until its final line, and Stolleyforeshadows the closing turn withdowncast reverb guitar and quavering keysthat give it an unsteady solemnity fromthe outset. The album might be as muchStolley’s as Strause’s, but the producer
has clearly and thoughtfully digested thematerial before putting his stamp on it.
The result is an often bright treatmentof darkness. Iowa City’s Little Village magazine summarized the album well:“The tension between what is wishedfor and what exists drives these songs.Strause’s voice – a reedy baritone thatwavers subtly, accented at times by apurring of vocal fry – is the perfect vehicleto express an uncertain vacillation between
belief and disillusionment.”
Mining the UncomfortableJust as Strause is trying to push
himself in his work, he’s also trying to beconfrontational with listeners. And it’s not just the lamb blood and real fur.
“With my songs,” he said, “I don’t doa lot of storytelling usually. I’m kind ofdescribing aspects of life, or trying todraw pictures and perspectives that I have,
or can have. Just to widen other people’sperspectives. Just to start a conversation,to make people think about things.”
And that’s especially true of his folk/rock opera The Lamentable Tragedy ofButch Strange, whose narrative threadsounds true to the last word of the title.
“It’s about a serial killer named ButchStrange who loves to murder women,”Strause said. “He goes out into the night,he’s singing about how that’s what he lives
for. ... Then this bug starts speaking to himin an alley and offers him three gifts, andit’s about the change that he goes throughwhile receiving those three gifts.”
If that sounds a bit silly, Strause has aserious purpose. “I’m attracted to a lot
of dark concepts, because I think they’reunder-explored. I think people let feardictate their actions – at least frequently.If you explore something, it quells thatfear to some extent. So I guess I use a lotof those dark concepts to inoculate myselfagainst them.” And he sometimes useshorror and fantasy to dig around in thoseareas.
More specifically, he said, ButchStrange is intended to question whether
people seen as monsters can rescue theirhumanity – even a little bit. “If you thinkabout the shooting that just happened [inOregon], and the shootings that have beenhappening – a very modern issue – it’ssomething that’s hard to approach withcompassion [for the shooter] a lot of thetime, which is very compelling to me. ... Iwanted to explore that and see if I coulddepict the most horrifying, despicablecharacter that I could think of and see if I
could give him any kind of redemption. ...“It’s hard to say if I did. ...“When I’ve seen various people like
that on the news, I think: What wouldmake somebody do that? There have beenseveral times that I’ve thought: Whatcircumstances could have happened inmy life where I would have turned into amonster like this? Are there things thatcould have happened to me that wouldhave brought me to that place? Usually,
I can think of something where it’s like,‘Maybe. Maybe that would have doneit.’ That was really interesting for meto explore. I don’t think there are a lotof people who would admit that – thatthose people tend to be a creation of theircircumstances. ...
“Philosophically, I like the devil’s-advocate mentality. I want to talk aboutthings people are not comfortable talkingabout. ... Those are things ... I strive towrite about, because so many songs are just about the same things over and overagain. You can write a nice love song, butthere are thousands of nice love songs. [If]you write some kind of weird, nasty lovesong, maybe you’re hitting on somethingoriginal.”
Brooks Strause & the Gory Details will perform on Friday, October 23, at Rozz-Tox(2108 Third Avenue, Rock Island; RozzTox.com). Bedroom Shrine and US-MODE
open, and admission to the 9 p.m. all-agesshow is $10.
For more information on Brooks Strause,visit BrooksStrause.Bandcamp.com.
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a fiercely impassioned, moving figurewho avows that her speeches and beliefsare truly hers, and who also Google-searches sexy celebrities and barelypasses her physics tests and giggles atthe Minions just like any other teen.For audiences close to Malala’s age, themovie’s ideal demographic, that’s bound
to be enough.It’s enough for some of the rest of us,too, because while I would’ve preferred
more exploration and insight, I can’t say
I didn’t wholly enjoy getting to know
Malala Yousafzai even in this worshipful
light. The film itself is beautifully
assembled, with lovely hand-animated
sequences providing exposition and
history, and visual and aural examples of
Taliban cruelty providing the crushing
“why” behind Malala’s human-rights
efforts. Yet it’s the scenes of her out of
warrior-orator mode – goofing with
her brothers, laughing with Jon Stewart,
teaching her dad how to tweet – that
are Guggenheim’s most endearing
and transfixing; your jaw all but drops
knowing that such poise, selflessness,
and purity of spirit are emanating
from someone not yet 20. He Named
Me Malala is the rare work that truly
deserves the adjective “inspirational,”
even if it does make you feel awful forhow you may be wasting your own life …
like, by spending two hours of it at Pan.
For reviews of The Martian, The Walk,Sicario, the Putnam Museum’s TinyGiants 3D , and other current releases,visit RiverCitiesReader.com.
Follow Mike on Twitter at Twitter.com/ MikeSchulzNow.
Movie Re views by Mike Schulz • [email protected]
PAN
Not long into director Joe Wright’sorigin fable Pan, the 12-year-old Peter(Levi Miller), newly captured by piratesdescending from bungee cords, surveysthe World War II fighter planes strikinghis kidnappers’ airborne pirate ship andshouts, “Oh, come on!” Roughly an hour
later, in the midst of another aerial attack,Captain Hook (Garrett Hedlund) – aheroic American boasting Indiana Jones’wardrobe and two functional hands –gazes at the melee involving enormousCGI birds of prey and shouts, “Oh, comeon!” What does it say about a movie wheneven its leads can’t believe in the on-screennonsense?
Originally, I had another eight-letterword in place of “nonsense” (it starts with
“b” and ends in “t”), but I’m refrainingfrom using it in the spirit of familyentertainment. A spirit, I should add, thatWright and screenwriter Jason Fuchs don’tappear to give two hoots about in Pan – agarish, charmless, obnoxious adventureso stupefyingly bad that it might easilyinspire cries of “Oh, come on!” amongchildren of all ages. Given Hollywood’sobsession with superheroes and rebootingand superhero rebooting, it’s no shock that
J.M. Barrie’s boy who could fly has beengiven his very own origin story, completewith parental abandonment in the preludeand the promise/threat of sequels at theend. But it was still flabbergasting to see just how thoroughly Wright and companymucked this thing up. The openingscenes in Peter’s orphanage – with apiggy Mother Superior waddling aroundand grubby youths looking ready to sing“Consider Yourself ” at a moment’s notice
– filled mewith dread. Bythe time Peterwas whiskedto a Neverlandwork campstraight out of Mad Max: Fury
Road , with theslaveholdermasses(honest toGod) crooning a mash-up of “Smells LikeTeen Spirit” and “Blitzkrieg Bop,” I wasbemoaning dread’s absence, because thetruth of what was happening was far, farworse.
A pirate ship hovers in outer space,where everyone can miraculously stillbreathe, and where a chicken lays an egg just so the object can float toward us in3D. (I’m guessing the format is also theonly reason a mid-film mano a manotakes place on a trampoline.) Islandnatives, when shot, burst into puffs ofcolored smoke. Peter and Hook wanderthrough jungles of plastic flora suggestingfive figures spent at Pier 1 Imports. HughJackman, as the grotesque and scurrilousBlackbeard, enters the picture mid-song,as though he were again hosting the
Tonys. Hedlund, aiming for Harrison Fordand not even achieving Josh Holloway,speaks in a strangely flat sing-songindicating that the native Minnesotan hadlearned his lines phonetically. Tinkerbelland her fellow fairies are cast as laserbeams. Rooney Mara, perhaps the whitestwoman on Earth, is cast as Tiger Lily,and manages to lead throngs of fellowtribespeople despite a vacant stare reading“recently lobotomized,” or perhaps “finger
stuck in lightsocket.” Minuteby minutehere, you can’tbelieve what astaggering messa reported $150million can
buy, especiallyconsidering itevidently can’tbuy a coherent
story, or a cohesive tone, or halfway-decent green-screen effects, or even onemildly engaging character. A pan isn’tpunishment enough for Pan. This cynical,ridiculous assault deserves to walk theplank.
HE NAMED ME MALALAIt’s both intriguing and tell ing thatDavis Guggenheim’s documentary onPakistani female-education activistMalala Yousafzai – shot in the head bythe Taliban at age 15, a 2014 Nobel PeacePrize recipient at 17 – is titled He Named Me Malala, and not I Am Malala, thetitle of the autobiography that inspiredthe film. The name change would seemto suggest that Guggenheim was taking a
close look at Malala’s relationship with herfather Ziauddin Yousafzai, and whether, assome critics have maintained, this lifelongeducator forced his daughter into anactivist role, and consequently endangeredher life, merely to promote his ownagenda. Well, the film won’t provide muchinsight into that, nor does it dive terriblydeeply into how Malala’s phenomenalinternational fame has personally affectedher. What it will do is deliver a primer on
Ar-r-r-r-r You Kidding Me?
Levi Miller and Hugh Jackman in Pan
by Mike Schulz • [email protected] Mike Schulz • [email protected]
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What’s Happenin’Theatre Machinal Augustana College
Friday, October 16, through Sunday, October 25
Last month, playwright Sophie Treadwell’sexpressionistic drama Machinal – a work inspiredby a real-life 1927 murder – celebrated the 87th
anniversary of its Broadway debut. But when Augustana
College stages this little-known classic October 16
through 25, it won’t exactly be the same show New Yorkaudiences saw in 1928. For one thing, it won’t feature
Clark Gable in his Broadway debut. For another, I’m
reasonably sure the original didn’t incorporate the
talents of a beatboxer.
Treadwell’s intense, thoughtful play tells of a young
stenographer who finds herself being driven slowly mad
by the suffocating forces surrounding her: the daily
pressures of a dehumanizing work grind; a dismissive
harridan of a mother; marriage to a man (her boss, no
less) she loathes. By the time she gives birth to a child
she has no feeling for, all seems hopeless for the youngwoman – until she meets a charismatic young man at a
speakeasy and falls into a passionate affair.
I probably don’t need to mention that things don’t go
at all well from there, and you’ll certainly have an idea of
just how badly they go if you’re familiar with Machinal ’s
inspiration: Long Island housewife Ruth Snyder, a photo
of whose execution via electric chair was notoriously
published in the New York Daily News.
But while author Treadwell’s tale is grim, theatrical
productions of her achievement have more frequently
been called exhilarating, with the New York Postdeeming it “thrilling” and “a vivid, bracing portrait of
a woman pushed to the edge.” Treadwell’s characters
are rich and complex, as can likely be attested by
Augustana’s cast: Christine Broughton as our tormented
heroine, Debo Balogun and Keenan Odenkirk as the
woman’s respective lover and husband, an ensemble
boasting Sarah Baker, Andrew Gilson, Thomas Hand,
Emily Johnson, Emily Mason, Joshua Price, and Jenna
Stitt. And the show’s stream-of-consciousness style andexpressionistic bent al low for intense imagination and
stage magic. (Not for nothing, I presume, did Machinal ’s
2014 Broadway revival earn Tony nominations for
scenic, costume, lighting, and sound design.)
Which brings us to Augie’s beatboxer Caleb Ivey,
who will, according to director Jennifer Popple, “bring
the sounds of this ‘world’ to life in each performance.”
Treadwell’s expressionism also means that the
inhumanity of Machinal ’s cityscape can be explored
through performances unconfined by realism. “I
have never used choreography in a non-musical,” saysPopple, “but we have had a movement coach who has
helped with the mechanized movements of the actors
when they are inside the ‘machine.’
“Between that and the live sound production by our
student beatboxer, it has been my most challenging play
to date,” which is saying something given that Popple’s
2015 credits alone include the QC Theatre Workshop’s
hearing-loss drama Tribes and Augustana’s hippie-
generation take on Shakespeare’s As You Like It . “But the
work is exciting and raw, and it will be amazing to see it
all come together.” Machinal will be performed in the Bergendoff
Hall of Fine Arts’ Potter Theatre on Fridays and
Saturdays at 7:30 p.m. and Sundays at 1:30 p.m., and
more information and tickets are available by calling
(309)794-7306 or visiting Augustana.edu/theatre.
MusicCraig FinnRozz-Tox
Monday, October 26, 8 p.m.
Urge OverkillRock Island Brewing Company
Thursday, October 29, 8 p.m.
Within the next couple ofweeks, Dayrotter.com founder
Sean Moeller will, through his“Moeller Mondays Presents” label,be treating music lovers to concertsby two equally gifted and acclaimedalternative-rock acts: Brooklyn-based singer/songwriter Craig Finn,who will play Rozz-Tox on Monday,October 26, and Chicago’s UrgeOverkill, which will perform at the
Rock Island Brewing Company on ...Thursday, October 29.
Hey, if Moeller wants a Thursday tobe a Monday, let it be a Monday.
Familiar to many as the frontmanfor the indie rockers The Hold Steady,Finn is especially noted for his lyricalstorytelling technique, with hisoutput described by Uncut Magazineas “narratives driven less by thewordy exposition of yore than acute
observation, devastating detail, byturns exclamatory, epigrammatic, andgrainily authentic.” A former member
of the Brokerdealer and LifterFinn has more recently embark solo projects, bringing his indierock stylings and poetic sensibito 2012’s solo debut Clear Hear Eyes and this past January’s Faithe Future.
Meanwhile, Urge Overkill isperhaps best known for coverinNeil Diamond’s “Girl, You’ll BeWoman Soon” for Pulp Fiction,either the band’s credit or detriI can no longer hear that smoohaunting melody without pictuUma Thurman OD-ing. Foundin the mid-1980s,Urge Overkillgone on to release six studio ala live album, and a 1993 compi
CD, and their power-pop hook and powerhouse vocals have w
1) “The Valiant”2) “Quiet Person”3) “Jackson”4) “Rented Room”5) “When No One’s Watchin6) “End of Story”
t h o w m u c h w o u l d y o u p a y t o h e a r C r a i g F i n n a n d U r g e O v e r k i l l c o l l a b o r a t e R e n t e d R o o m W h e n N o O n e ’ s W a t c h i n g – E n d o f S t o r y ” ?
Debo Balogun and Christine Broughton
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MUSICThursday, October 15 – Dylan Sires
& Neighbors. Concert with the Iowa-
based rock ensemble, featuring opening
sets by Waking Robots and Chrash.
The Redstone Room (129 Main Street,
Davenport). 7:30 p.m. $8.50-9. For tickets
and information, call (563)326-1333 or
visit RiverMusicExperience.org.
Friday, October 16 – Smoke n’ Guns.
Nashville-based country-rock duo Alecia
Arnall and Lindsay Bowman in concert.
Rascals Live (1414 15th Street, Moline). 8p.m. For information, call (309)797-9457 or
visit RascalsLive.com.
Friday, October 16 – American
Heroes: Songs & Stories. Tales of
little-known Quad Cities heroes in
a co-presentation by local historian
Roald Tweet and folk singer/songwriter
Chris Dunn. Butterworth Center (1105
Eighth Street, Moline). 7 p.m. Free. For
information, call (309)743-2701 or visit
ButterworthCenter.com.Friday, October 16 – Bucktown
Revue.A celebration of Mississippi
River Valley culture through music,
storytelling, poetry, and humor, with
emcee Scott Tunnicliff and special guests.
Nighswander Theatre (2822 Eastern
Avenue, Davenport). 7 p.m. $12 at the
door. For information, call (563)940-0508
or visit BucktownRevue.com.
Saturday, October 17 – MirandaLambert. Grammy-winning countrymusician in concert, with opening setsby RaeLynn & Clare Dunn and CourtneyCole. i wireless Center (1201 River
What ElseIs Happenin’
by Mike Schulz
Continued On Page 12
MusicThe Thirteen Chamber ChoirSt. Ambrose University
Saturday, October 24, 7:30 p.m.
According to History.com, 10 percentof the U.S. population has a fear of thenumber 13. More than 80 percent of U.S.
high-rise buildings don’t have a 13th floor.
Financial losses in excess of $800 million
are reported due to Americans’ collectiveparaskevidekatriaphobia – the fear of Friday
the 13th that prevents many people from
marrying, traveling, or even working on that
particular, occasional day of the month.
As someone who was born on June 13
(the year being none of your business),
I’ve always found this particular phobia
rather silly. And I’m guessing that attitude
also prevails for the latest St. Ambrose
University guests in the Galvin Fine Arts
Center’s Visiting Artist Series, consideringthey’re the supremely gifted vocalists
of a nationally touring ensemble whose
moniker is the Thirteen Chamber Choir.
No tristaidekaphobes in that group! (Those
are people with a fear of the number 13 as
opposed to a fear of Friday the 13th. This
is quite the four-dollar-word article so far,
isn’t it?)
Founded by acclaimed conductor
Matthew Robertson in 2012, this
professional choir based in the New YorkCity area specializes in masterpieces of the
Renaissance and Baroque eras, with a focus
on the early and middle Tudor periods.
Performing regularly throughout the
United States, the Thirteen Chamber Choir
also enjoys
occasionalresidencies at
colleges and
universities
nationwide, and
has released a
trio of albums
in which its baker’s-dozen talents bring
thrilling new life to infrequently recorded
works by the likes of Benjamin Britten, G.P.
da Palestrina, and Thomas Tallis.
During St. Ambrose’s October 24event, the ensemble will perform from its
repertoire titled “Innovation & Brilliance:
Sound-Sculptures from the Franco-Flemish
School.” Boasting compositions from
masters of the period including Josquin
des Prez, Orlande de Lassus, and Antoine
Brumel, the concert will not only fill the
Galvin Fine Arts Center with harmonically
complex yet gloriously supple arrangements,
but will underline why the American Record
Guide has lauded the group for its “tight andattractive vocal blend and excellent choral
discipline.”
So be sure to check out the Thirteen
Chamber Choir at St. Ambrose. You’ll no
doubt be knocked out by the performers’
exquisite solos and harmonies. You may
even feel inspired to purchase one of the
group’s three albums. And now that I’ve just
typed three 13-word sentences in a row, I’m
gonna spend the rest of the day grasping my
shamrock key chain and avoiding cracks in
the sidewalk – you know, just in case.
For more information on, and tickets to,
the Thirteen Chamber Choir’s October 24
performance, call (563)333-6251 or visit
SAU.edu/galvin.
uller,d on
-ityFull
h in
gaand to
ent,h,ingdhasums,ation
wed
crowds throughout the group’sfrequent tours in the United States,Europe, and Australia. They’ve alsowowed critics, with PopMatters.compraising their “lean, muscular” soundand “taut rhythm section.”
Given the accolades and throngs offans both Craig Finn and Urge Overillhave amassed, Sean Moeller certainlyknows his talent. But how well do youknow his talent? Try matching theabove songs with the album in whichthey’re found.
For more information onCraig Finn’s October 26 Rozz-Toxengagement, visit RozzTox.com, and
for more on Urge Overkill’s October
29 concert with openers the GoddamnGallows, visit RIBCO.com.
”
A) Craig Finn’s Clear Heart Full EyesB) Urge Overkill’s Rock & Roll Submarine
A n s w e r s : 1 – B , 2 – B , 3 – A , 4 – A , 5 – A , 6 – B . B o n a s o n g t i t l e d “ T h e V a l i a n t Q u i e t P e r s o n J a c k s o n
Party with a Purpose at thePresented by
Thursday, November 12, 2015 • 5:30 - 9:00 pm at CASI1035 West Kimberly Road, Davenport, IA 52806
Fabulous Food & Drink, Raffle, Silent Auction,
Hat Contest, Necker’s Diamond Derby, and more...Tickets: $30 until November 1 • $40 November 1 through 12
Purchase your tickets NOW at HatBash.com or call 563.386.7477
Join the Fun and Support Area Seniors!
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Drive, Moline). 7:30 p.m. $39.75-59.75.
For tickets, call (800)745-3000 or visitiwirelessCenter.com.Saturday, October 17 – Celtic Woman.
All-female Irish ensemble in its 10th
Anniversary World Tour. Adler Theatre (136
East Third Street, Davenport). 7:30 p.m. $32-
102. For tickets, call (800)745-3000 or visit
AdlerTheatre.com.
Saturday, October 17 – Mondo
Generator. Rock, punk, and metal musicians
in concert, with opening sets by Peter
Pan Speedrock and Killshakes. Rock Island
Brewing Company (1815 Second Avenue,Rock Island). 9 p.m. $12-15. For information,
call (309)793-1999 or visit RIBCO.com.
Sunday, October 18 – Cindy Scott and
Brian Seeger. New Orleans jazz vocalist
Scott and guitarist Seeger lead a 3 p.m. jazz
workshop and perform
a 6 p.m. concert in
the Third Sunday Jazz
Matinée & Workshop
Series. The Redstone
Room (129 Main Street,Davenport). $10-15. For
tickets and information,
call (309)373-0790 or visit
RiverMusicExperience.org
or Polyrhythms.Ning.com.
Thursday, October
22, and Friday, October
23 – George Jones: The
Grand Tour . A musical
journey through country star Jones’ life
with musician Larry Tobias. Circa ’21 Dinner
Playhouse (1828 Third Avenue, Rock Island).
Thursday: 6 p.m. buffet, 7:15 p.m. show,
$50.16. Friday: noon plated lunch, 1 p.m.
show, $44.41. For tickets and information,
call (309)786-7733 extension 2 or visit
Circa21.com.
Thursday, October 22 – Margo Price &
the Price Tags. Concert with the Nashville-
based country artist and her ensemble. Rozz-
Tox (2108 Third Avenue, Rock Island). 8 p.m.
$7-12. For information, call (309)200-0978 or
visit RozzTox.com.Friday, October 23 – Hairball. Concert
tribute to Van Halen, KISS, Mötley Crüe,
Queen, Journey, Prince, and Aerosmith.
Quad-Cities Waterfront Convention Center
(2021 State Street, Bettendorf). 7:30 p.m.
$30. For information, call (800)843-4753 or
visit QCWCC.com.
Friday, October 23 – Great Sounds
Promotions 20th-Anniversary
Celebration.Nationally touring guitarist
Nick Colionne and saxophonist Richard Elliotin concert. The Redstone Room (129 Main
Street, Davenport). 8 p.m. $45.50-52.50. For
tickets and information, call (563)326-1333
or visit RiverMusicExperience.org.
Friday, October 23 – Midnight. Thrash-
metal musicians in concert, with openingsets by Luciferian Reign and Angelust. Rock
Island Brewing Company (1815 Second
Avenue, Rock Island). 9 p.m. $12-15. For
information, call (309)793-1999 or visit
RIBCO.com.
Saturday, October 24 – Lee Brice.
Chart-topping country musician in concert,
with an opening set by Nick Monroe. Adler
Theatre (136 East Third Street, Davenport). 8
p.m. $39.50-47.50. For tickets, call (800)745-
3000 or visit AdlerTheatre.com.
Saturday, October 24 – Portland CelloProject. Concert with the string musicians
playing from their pop repertoire, in a
Quad City Arts Visiting Artists presentation.
First Presbyterian Church of Davenport
(1702 Iowa Street, Davenport). 7:30 p.m.
$10-15. For tickets
and information, call
(309)793-1213 or
(563)326-1691, or visit
QuadCityArts.com. For
a 2013 interview withthe ensemble Artistic
Director Doug Jenkins,
visit RCReader.com/y/
cello.
Saturday, October
24 – Mountain
Sprout. Bluegrass
musicians in concert,
with opening sets by
Birdcloud and Blaine Cartwright. Rock Island
Brewing Company (1815 Second Avenue,
Rock Island). 9 p.m. $12-15. For information,
call (309)793-1999 or visit RIBCO.com.
Sunday, October 25 – The Ballroom
Thieves. Folk-rock musicians in concert, with
an opening set by PM Buys. The Redstone
Room (129 Main Street, Davenport).
7:30 p.m. $11.50-14. For tickets and
information, call (563)326-1333 or visit
RiverMusicExperience.org.
Wednesday, October 28 – Fruit Bats.
Chicago-based folk rockers in an all-ages
concert. Rozz-Tox (2108 Third Avenue, RockIsland). 8 p.m. $10. For information, call
(309)200-0978 or visit RozzTox.com.
THEATRESaturday, October 17, through Sunday,
October 25 – Hansel & Gretel . Student-
performed adaptation of the classic fairytale,
written by Vera Morris and directed by Aaron
Randolph III. Davenport Junior Theatre (2822
Eastern Avenue, Davenport). Saturday 1
and 4 p.m., Sunday 2 p.m. $6-8 at the door.For information, call (563)326-7862 or visit
DavenportJuniorTheatre.org.
Saturday, October 17 – Beauty Inside &
Out . Theatrical ensemble piece examining
different facets of beauty, written and
directed by Rock Island native Curtis B.Lewis Jr. Davenport RiverCenter (136 East
Third Street, Davenport). 7:30 p.m. $15.
For information, call (417)771-0444 or visit
JourneyLiveProduction.com.
Monday, October 26 – Miep Giles: A
Beacon of Hope. Judy Winnick performs her
one-woman show about the woman who
helped hide Anne Frank from the Nazis, in
a presentation sponsored by the Jewish
Federation of the Quad Cities. Moline Public
Library (3210 41st Street, Moline). 6 p.m.
Free. For information, call (309)524-2470 orvisit MolineLibrary.com.
KIDS’ STUFFFriday, October 16 – Disney Live!
Three Classic Fairy Tales. Stage adventure
featuring more than 25 Disney characters,
including Snow White, Cinderella, and Belle
from Beauty & the Beast . i wireless Center
(1201 River Drive, Moline). 4 and 7 p.m.
$16-61. For tickets, call (800)745-3000 or visit
iwirelessCenter.com.Sunday, October 18 – Pete’s Awesome
Party. QC United and anti-bullying mascot
Pete the Purple Bull host this day of
entertainment, hip-hop dance by RusHour’s
Juan Valtierra and Curtis Bell, art activities,
cookie decorating, demonstrations,
inflatable games, and more. Quad-Cities
Waterfront Convention Center (2021 State
Street, Bettendorf ). 1 p.m. For information,
visit QCUnited.org.
Sunday, October 25 – Tween Stars Live!
Interactive family entertainment featuring
TV stars Calum Worthy, Trinitee Stokes,
Spencer Boldman, Karan Brar, Paris Berelc,
and Noah Munck. Adler Theatre (136 East
Third Street, Davenport). Noon. $18-59.95.
For tickets, call (800)745-3000 or visit
AdlerTheatre.com.
EXHIBITSSaturday, October 17, through
Sunday, January 17 – Wendy Red Star .
Exhibit of multimedia works that exploreNative American identity and the distance
between romantic images of the Native
American and their world today. Figge
Art Museum (225 West Second Street,
Davenport). Tuesday through Saturday
10 a.m.-5 p.m., Thursday 10 a.m.-9 p.m.,
Sunday noon-5 p.m. Free with $4-7 museum
admission. For information, call (563)326-
7804 or visit FiggeArtMuseum.org.
Saturday, October 17, through
Sunday, February 7 – Wit & Whimsy:The Photographs of Kenneth Josephson.
Exhibition of works from the author’s
early explorations of the potential of
photographic images. Figge Art Museum
(225 West Second Street, Davenport).
Tuesday through Saturday 10 a.m.-5 p.m., Thursday 10 a.m.-9 p.m., Sunday noon-5
p.m. Free with $4-7 museum admission.
For information, call (563)326-7804 or visit
FiggeArtMuseum.org.
Wednesday, October 28, throughFriday, December 18 – Sonnenzimmer:Objects of Practice and Sonnenzimmer:The Impossibility of Language ofConstruction. Twinned exhibitions of fineart, printmaking, graphic design, sound
art, and publishing by Nick Butcher and
Nadine Nakanishi. Objects of Practice at St.Ambrose University’s Morrissey Gallery,
and The Impossibility of Language ofConstruction at the Catich Gallery (Galvin
Fine Arts Center, 2101 Gaines Street,
Davenport). Monday through Saturday9 a.m.-5 p.m. Free. For information, call
(563)333-6444 or visit SAU.edu.
EVENTSFriday, October 16, and Saturday,
October 17 – Bottom’s Up Quad CityBurlesque: Horror Icons. Halloween-
themed evening with the area burlesque
artists and comedians. Circa ’21 Speakeasy
(1818 Third Avenue, Rock Island). 8 p.m. $18-
20. For tickets and information, call (309)786-
7733 extension 2 or visit Circa21.com.
Saturday, October 17 – Christian
Care’s Walk the Walk. Sixth-annual walk
to “de-feet” domestic violence featuring
guest speakers, door prizes, a raffle, light
refreshments and a walk around the
Augustana pond. Meet at the gazebo
in front of Augustana College’s Thomas
Tredway Library (3435 Ninth Avenue,
Rock Island). 9 a.m. $10 registration. For
information, call (309)786-5734 or visit
ChristianCareQC.org.
Tuesday, October 20 – Sunset
Celebration. Celebration of the Nahant
Marsh Education Center’s 15th anniversary
featuring tours, food and beverages, door
prizes, children’s activities, storytelling with
Kenny Salwey, and live music by KendraSwanson and Ellis Kell. Nahant Marsh (4220
Wapello Avenue, Davenport). 5 p.m. $5-10,
ages 14 and under free. For information, call
(563)336-3374 or visit NahantMarsh.org. For
a recent cover story on Nahant Mash, visit
RCReader.com/y/nahant.
Saturday, October 24 – Quad Cities
Tweed Bike Ride. Third-annual leisurely
bicycle ride along the waterfront, with
tea and scones at Credit Island Park, a
“Twick or Tweed” party in the Village ofEast Davenport, and more. Freight House
(421 West River Drive, Davenport). 10 a.m.
registration, noon departure. Free. For
information, visit QCTweedRide.com.
Continued From Page 11
What Else Is Happenin’
Celtic Woman @ Adler Theatre -
October 17
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in the educative process. The Playground
Association of American was founded in 1906,
electing Theodore Roosevelt as honorarypresident. With his support, the number of
municipalities with playgrounds in America
grew from 90 in 1907 to more than 500 in 1910.
The Davenport Skatepark opened in 2006,
and Schwiebert Riverfront Park followed
in 2010, and they represent the continuing
evolution of playgrounds and parks.
New technologies and materials, as well
as evolving concepts about the purpose of
playgrounds, ensure that exciting changes are
still ahead. A new trend is to create multi-
generational playgrounds. For example,
the Humana Foundation and KaBOOM
have partnered to build more than 50 such
playgrounds in cities across America in the
past few years; the closest to us are in Cedar
Rapids, Des Moines, and Chicago. Mike Vietti,
a KaBOOM spokesperson, put it this way in
numerous articles: “Instead of adults just sitting
on benches while their kids play, they can also
be active and keep an eye on the kids.”
As Paige Johnson wrote at Play-Scapes.
com: “This is an incredibly interesting timefor playground design. The surge of interest
in public spaces and design for children,
urban interventions, and a maker culture are
intersecting with the availability of new materials
and advanced technology to create an explosion
of interesting play ideas and themes.”
Bruce Walters is a professor of art at Western
Illinois University.
This is part of an occasional series on the historyof public art in the Quad Cities. If there’s a piece
of public art that you’d like to learn more about,
e-mail the location and a brief description to BD-
Art in Plain Sight: Schwiebert RiverfrontPark and the Davenport Skatepark
Article and photos by Bruce Walters
is matched by the Davenport Skatepark at
700 West River Drive. SkateboardPark.com
described the 33,000-square-foot park as “agood-sized beast with super-smooth transitions.”
The Web site proceeded to list a handful of
skating features including “shallow bowls,” “a
small spine,” “street obstacles,” and “hubbas.”
To a non-skateboarder such as me, it is
better described as a breathtaking environment
of concrete rivers flowing through concrete
canyons. The ramps and arcs are graceful – like
an ocean’s wave that a surfer could ride, but the
bright stripes and checkerboard patterns are
the visual language of a speedway. Both give the
park a sense of excitement.
The project manager for the Skatepark
was Brad Siedlecki, owner of Pillar Design
Studios (based in Arizona and Chicago). His
co-designer, Colby Carter, is lead designer
for California Skateparks. A professional
skateboarder for 10 years, Carter has designed
and developed more than 250 skateparks and
events worldwide.
The park’s most distinguishing feature is
the shelter, concession-stand, and restroom
structure designed by Rock Island architectPerry Gere. Its dynamic geometric concrete
forms are angled to spectacular effect –
reflecting the visual daring of the park as a
whole. Architecturally, the building suggests
a mid-century modern style (Googie more
specifically), yet it feels contemporary.
American playgrounds date from the late
19th Century, when suffragettes and other social
reformers attempted to improve the conditions
of the poor living in slums created by the
industrial revolution. They can also be tracedto German psychologists and educators such as
Friedrich Fröbel (who originated kindergarten
in Germany in 1837); they saw playgrounds as
fundamental for child development and essential
ART
WORDS FROM THE EDITOR
Educate Yourself on Four Need-to-KnowSubjects While They Still Matter
by Kathleen McCarthy
GUEST COMMENTARY By Jean [email protected]
It’s Just a Dog … but …harsh techniques of this sort are fadingaway, and positive, pleasing, reward-basedmethods build a bond between you andyour dog.
The study of animal behavior has growninto an extensive field. Dogs can haveissues such as anxiety, fear, aggression,et cetera, and the behavior-modificationtechniques that have emerged from thesestudies have, in many case, saved dogs’lives.
Dogs are also individual beings,
whether they’re Golden Retrievers,
Border Collies, or Teacup Poodles. Eachdog is different and each dog within its
breed will be different, exhibiting its own
separate personality, likes, and dislikes.
Plus, every breed has genetic tendencies.
For example, the Golden Retriever is
bred to retrieve; the Border Collie to
herd. But while genetics offers a base, not
every Border Collie will herd, and we all
know that many of our Golden Retriever
friends love the sofa. (Retrieve what?)
So that misguided statement “It’s
just a dog” simply does not fit these
magnificent animals. Dogs think, love,
cry, mourn, play – all the fascinating
emotions we see our dogs display every
day. They are loyal and interesting
friends that bring so much to our lives.
We humans should consider ourselves
lucky that so many thousands of years
ago, dogs decided we were okay to hang
with.
Jean Regenwether has worked withanimals in shelters and rescuessince 1970, specializes in basic andintermediate dog training, and offershome-based training. She can be reachedat [email protected].
and more governance with cumbersome
and deliberately vague legalese, especially
when the people are abdicating their
responsibility and not doing their part, on
such a massive scale, by not utilizing their
individual power? Leadership is giddy to
do so, in partnership with the largest global
corporations that control the infrastructureneeds of mankind. But don’t kid yourself.
The largest corporation on the planet is
the United States of America Inc., with
countless sub-corporations in the form
of agency departments in all 50 states
contributing to this global behemoth. The
actual head-count comprising leadership
in the government sector is one and the
same with those running the private sector.
The crossover, commonly referred to as the
revolving door, is widespread and entirelytoxic to economies, and also poses a dire
threat to republics under the rule of law –
such as America.
If you truly want to engage, then beginby educating yourself in one of these fourareas:
1) How to ef fectively protect our vote. Explore BlackBoxVoting.org tounderstand the vulnerabilities prevalentin computerized voting.
2) Learn how money and debt reallyworks, including mortgages, becausedebt is public enemy number one. Isuggest beginning with Murray N.Rothbard’s The Mystery of Banking , a
modern expansion of The Theory of Money & Credit by Ludwig Von Mises,because both of these economists give theinstability of credit and debt the weight itrichly deserves.
3) Understand the real purpose and
strength of the grand and petit jury
in our legal system. (Fully InformedJury Association, at FIJA.org, is a good
starting point.) Both have been severely
undermined, rendering courts into small
fiefdoms of control that abuse people with
the least resources to defend themselves.
There are many excellent books and
articles on America’s corrupted court
system and abuse of power worth exploring
(among them Justice: An ImpossibleDream), written by knowledgeable authors
who demonstrate rare courage in exposingever-increasing injustice.
4) Research alternative, trustworthymedia sources for accurate, relevantinformation beyond the largelypropagandized mainstream media thatmany of us parrot in an effort to feignbeing informed. It doesn’t matter whatyour political affiliation is, DemoCRITor RepubliCON – the talking points arenearly identical, with the only difference
being who gets the blame. Alternativenews organizations will cite their sources,allowing you, the reader, to verifyinformation presented. Your process fordetermining merit: “Mistrust and verify.”
Continued From Page 5 Continued From Page 3
Continued From Page 3
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two, get as far apart as you can.”) You couldask him – and reveal that you’ve been going all
Secret Squirrel on social media. But you could
also ask yourself, simply by applying context.
Look at the photo as one piece of information
in the whole of your experiences with him: Is he
increasingly sweet and attentive? Increasingly
eager to see you? Are you starting to meet his
friends? Chances are, you already have the
information you need to figure out whether
your relationship is going places – without
trying to conduct it at a speed that suggests yourancestry is part French, part Italian, and part
cheetah.
As Duck Would Have ItMy boyfriend just said, “Your lips
get bigger and smaller. What’s going on?” I
admitted that I’ve been getting them injected.
He hinted that I should stop, saying, “You’re
too hot. You don’t need it.” Do I really need to
kick the habit?
– Smoochy
If your boyfriend wanted to kiss something
inflated, he’d make out with his tires.
There’s a reason you feel compelled to join
the reality-star-led parade of women duck-bill-
ing it up as opposed to going in for a nostril
enlargement. Men evolved to prefer women
with plump lips. As for why, it turns out that the
features men across cultures find beautiful are
those that give them the best shot of passing on
their genes. Biopsychologist Victor S. Johnston,who studies the biological basis of human facial
attractiveness, finds that full lips on a woman
(along with small jaws and a small chin) are
associated with low androgens (male hormones)
and elevated levels of the female hormone
estrogen – a combination that translates to
higher fertility. In other words, big pillowy lips
are basically a message from nature’s ad agency:
“Wanna have descendants? Pick me – not some
thin-lipped Lizzie.”
However, there are full lips and lips full ofstuff some plastic surgeon injected in them, and
any plastic surgery that can be spotted as such is
usually a turnoff to men. (You might as well get a
tattoo that says, “Hi, I’m insecure!”) So tempting
as it is to keep up with the Kardashians, you’ll
be more attractive to your boyfriend if you don’t
seem to need to. Best of all, to accomplish this,
all you have to do is avoid spending hundreds
of dollars to look like you just got out of a heavy
make-out session with the vacuum cleaner.
Got A Problem? Ask Amy Alkon.171 Pier Ave, #280, Santa Monica, CA 90405
or e-mail [email protected] (AdviceGoddess.com)©2015, Amy Alkon, all rights reserved.
Ask the
AdviceGoddessBY AMY ALKON
Photo-Bomb ScareI’m a 29-year-old woman, and I’ve been
dating a guy for two months. I was scrolling
(okay, stalking him) on Instagram and saw a
pic of him with this pretty girl with her arm
draped around his neck. Does monogamy just
happen, or should I initiate the “commitment
talk”?
– Nervous
Welcome to the place relationship dreams
go to die, also known as social media. One
moment, you see your relationship heading
toward the town of OnlyYouville, and the next,
it’s looking more like a 10 Commandments
production still of the Israelites crossing the
Red Sea.
Understand why men commit: because they
come to love a particular woman more than
they love their freedom – not because they’ve
decided it would be a bore to have sex with the
Pilates-teaching twins. Getting to “only you”
happens after a guy starts to feel attached to you,which comes out of a combination of sexual
attraction, emotional compatibility, and the
sense that you have a package of qualities that
he’s unlikely to get from anyone else. Feeling
this way takes time – time spent together, and
sometimes, a little time spent comparison
shopping. Trying to rush the process is like
planting a pea in the morning, yelling “Grow!
Grow! Grow! ” and expecting to be climbing a
beanstalk by noon.
Also, even for a guy who’s starting to careabout you, hearing “We need to have the
commitment talk” can be like hearing the
starting gun at the Olympics. There are couples
who get serious without ever having this icky
conversation. It just happens organically. But to
avoid misunderstandings, right from the start,
you should be indicating your interest in getting
into a relationship. No, not with strategically
strewn Brides magazines or messages magic-
markered across your breasts: “ Marry me!!! ”
You simply drop remarks about what you want
and then ask questions to draw out what a guy’s
up for. This allows you to get out fast if your
goals aren’t a match – as opposed to getting
to the four-month mark, holding him down
and screaming in his face: “So what’s it gonna
be, buddy? You looking to start a family, or a
harem?!”
As for the woman in this photo, she could be
someone to your man – or someone standing
near him when his friend was taking his picture.
(People shooting photos rarely say, “Okay, you
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will literally boost your intelligence. That’s why
I’m inviting you to explore the kingdom of
childhood, where you can encounter stimuli
that will freshen and sweeten your adulthood.
Your upcoming schedule could include
jumping in mud puddles, attending parties
with imaginary friends, having uncivilized fun
with wild toys, and drinking boisterously from
fountains of youth.
VIRGO (August 23-September
22): While still a young man, Virgo
author Leo Tolstoy wrote, “I have not
met one man who is morally as good as I am.”
He lived by a strict creed. “Eat moderately”
was one of his “rules of life,” along with “Walkfor an hour every day.” Others were equally
stern: “Go to bed no later than 10 o’clock,”
“Only do one thing at a time,” and “Disallow
flights of imagination unless necessary.” He did
provide himself with wiggle room, however.
One guideline allowed him to sleep two hours
during the day. Another specified that he could
visit a brothel twice a month. I’d love for you to
be inspired by Tolstoy’s approach, Virgo. Now is
a favorable time to revisit your own rules of life.
As you refine and recommit yourself to these
fundamental disciplines, be sure to give yourselfenough slack.
LIBRA (September 23-October
22): Many astronomers believe
that our universe began with the Big Bang.
An inconceivably condensed speck of matter
exploded, eventually expanding into thousands
of billions of stars. It must have been a noisy
event, right? Actually, no. Astronomers estimate
that the roar of the primal eruption was just 120
decibels – less than the volume of a live rock
concert. I suspect that you are also on the vergeof your own personal Big Bang, Libra. It, too,
will be relatively quiet for the amount of energy
it unleashes.
SCORPIO (October 23-November
21): For now, you are excused from
further work on the impossible tasks
that have been grinding you down. You may
take a break from the unsolvable riddles and
cease your exhaustive efforts. And if you would
also like to distance yourself from the farcical
jokes the universe has been playing, go rightahead. To help enforce this transition, I hereby
authorize you to enjoy a time of feasting and
frolicking, which will serve as an antidote to
your baffling trials. And I hereby declare that
you have been as successful at weathering
these trials as you could possibly be, even if the
concrete proof of that is not yet entirely visible.
SAGITTARIUS (November
22-December 21): One afternoon
in September, I was hiking along
a familiar path in the woods. As I passed my
favorite grandmother oak, I spied a thick, six-
foot-long snake loitering on the trail in front of
me. In hundreds of previous visits, I had never
before seen a creature bigger than a mouse.
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
1-877-873-4888 or 1-900-950-7700
FREE WILL ASTROLOGY by Rob BrezsnyARIES (March 21-April 19): Here’s
actor Bill Murray’s advice about
relationships: “If you have someone
that you think is The One, don’t just
say, ‘Okay, let’s pick a date. Let’s get married.’
Take that person and travel around the world.
Buy a plane ticket for the two of you to go to
places that are hard to go to and hard to get
out of. And if, when you come back, you’re
still in love with that person, get married at the
airport.” In the coming weeks, Aries, I suggest
you make comparable moves to test and deepen
your own closest alliances. See what it’s like to
get more seriously and deliriously intimate.
TAURUS (April 20-May 20): Somefirefighters use a wetter kind of water
than the rest of us. It contains a small
amount of biodegradable foam that makes it
ten times more effective in dousing blazes. With
this as your cue, I suggest you work on making
your emotions “wetter” than usual. By that I
mean the following: When your feelings arise,
give them your reverent attention. Marvel at
how mysterious they are. Be grateful for how
much life force they endow you with. Whether
they are relatively “negative” or “positive,”
regard them as interesting revelations thatprovide useful information and potential
opportunities for growth.
GEMINI (May 21-June 20): Jonathan
Strange & Mr. Norrell is a BBC TV
miniseries set in the early 19th
Century. It’s the fictional story of a lone wizard,
Mr. Norrell, who seeks to revive the art of occult
magic so as to accomplish practical works,
like helping the English navy in its war against
the French navy. Norrell is pleased to find an
apprentice, Jonathan Strange, and draws up acourse of study for him. Norrell tells Strange
that the practice of magic is daunting, “but the
study is a continual delight.” If you’re interested
in taking on a similar challenge, Gemini, it’s
available.
CANCER (June 21-July 22): We
humans have put buttons on clothing
for seven millennia. But for a long
time these small knobs and disks were purely
ornamental – meant to add beauty but not
serve any other function. That changed in the13th Century, when our ancestors finally got
around to inventing buttonholes. Buttons could
then serve an additional purpose, providing a
convenient way to fasten garments. I foresee the
possibility of a comparable evolution in your
personal life, Cancerian. You have an opening
to dream up further uses for elements that have
previously been one-dimensional. Brainstorm
about how you might expand the value of
familiar things.
LEO (July 23-August 22): You would
be wise to rediscover and revive your
primal innocence. If you can figure out
how to shed a few shreds of your sophistication
and a few slivers of your excess dignity, you
The serpent’s tail was hidden in the brush, but
its head looked more like a harmless gopher
snake’s than a dangerous rattler’s. I took the
opportunity to