River Cities' Reader - Issue 905 - March 31, 2016

8/18/2019 River Cities' Reader - Issue 905 - March 31, 2016

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River Cities’ Reader • Vol. 23 No. 905 • March 31 - April 13, 20162 Business • Politics • Arts • Culture • Now You Know • RiverCitiesReader.com

ILLINOIS POLITICS

Rauner’s Primary Reaction IllustratesHis Separation from Reality

It’s almost impossible to make a dealwith somebody who won’t acceptreality. And that’s been the case in

Illinois or more than a year, as GovernorBruce Rauner has made one politicallyunrealistic demand afer another whilereusing to negotiate a budget until thosedemands are met, all the while blamingthe entire impasse on the intransigenceo House Speaker Michael Madigan.

Because the public debate is sowrapped up in partisanship and ideol-ogy, it’s been tough or a large segmento the population to wrap its collectivemind around what’s really been going on.Many see this fight as the “new, good”Rauner versus the “old, bad” Madigan.While that argument certainly has plentyo merit, it’s not nearly the entire story.

It takes two to tango, and the truth isand has always been that Rauner doesn’teven have enthusiastic support among

legislative Republicans or a big chunko his urnaround Agenda, particularlythose demands opposed by labor unions.His complete agenda cannot pass bothlegislative chambers no matter who theHouse speaker is.

Afer what happened the day aferthe March primary election, however,Rauner’s obvious inability to accept somestark political realities might finally helpmore olks understand what the rest o us

have been seeing or the past year or more.Tere is no doubt that Rauner had a

bad March 15. While he wasn’t directlyinvolved in Madigan’s Democratic primary,there’s zero doubt that the people whounded Madigan’s opponent were riendlyto the governor’s interests. Tey made thecampaign a reerendum on Madigan’sentire career, and Madigan won handily.

Te same money conduit Rauner usedto und other races, Dan Prof, came upwith $1.3 million via a “dark money”group to give direct ly to RepresentativeKen Dunkin (D-Chicago). All that otherRaunerite money ($1.6 million) spenton Dunkin’s behal didn’t just appearout o nowhere, either. And nobodyreally believes that the Illinois Chamberdecided without prompting to all o asudden run an additional million-dollarV ad supporting Dunk in (who had oneo the lowest Chamber ratings o anystate legislator) without first consult-

ing its own board o directors. Tat racebecame a very public reerendum onRauner, but Dunkin ended up winning just 32 percent o the vote. Oops.

And then there’s state Senator Sam

McCann (R-Plainview). Rauner person-ally endorsed McCann’s GOP opponent,Bryce Benton; unneled millions o dollarsinto Benton’s race (via Prof and througha $50,000 contribution rom himsel);and personally campaigned with Bentonin the days leading up to the election. Hethrew the kitchen sink at McCann, witha boatload o cash spent to make the raceabout how McCann was Speaker Madi-gan’s “avorite senator.” McCann won bymore than 5 percentage points. Tat’s asolid Rauner deeat in anyone’s book.

Everyone with even semi-honest eyes

could see that Rauner was a big loser. Yes,

he won several other primary races, but he

basically steamrolled a bunch o unprepared

amateurs with overwhelming financial

resources and (in most cases) viciously nega-

tive ads. Without a doubt it’s important to

win those litt le races (Madigan himsel does

it a lot), but the marquee contests against

ormidable oes – who are ar more like thelegislative Democrats Rauner will ace in

November – most definitely went south.

And yet there he was claiming viapress release that Madigan was the pri-mary election’s real loser, even though allo Madigan’s candidates won.

“Tere were many races last night where

special interests backed by Speaker Madi-

gan ailed to deeat Republican incumbents

and candidates who support Governor

Rauner’s call or structural reorms,” hispost-election press release bellowed.

Somehow, in Rauner’s mind, it’sMadigan’s ault that some Republicanhopeuls with a smidgeon o union back-ing lost their races to Rauner’s heavilyfinanced candidates.

Te excuse I heard aferward was thatMadigan had issued his own press releasepointing out the governor’s losses, andthe governor elt he needed to respond.Okay, I get that. Madigan didn’t have torub Rauner’s nose in the previous day’shumiliations. But has nobody ever heardo taking t he high road, or at least a roadthat exists in the real world?

Like I said at the beginning, accept-ing political reality is not this governor’sstrong suit. I that wasn’t abundantlyclear beore the primary election, itsurely became clear the day afer.

And this governmental impasse ain’tever gonna end until that stark act o

lie changes.

Rich Miller also publishes CapitolFax (a daily political newsletter) andCapitolFax.com.

By Rich Miller

CapitolFax.com

Davenport, Iowa • 563.326.7804

www.figgeartmuseum.org

CURRENT EXHIBITION

Joseph Rusling Meeker, Mississippi River Bluffs ,

1880, oil on canvas, Collection Muscatine Art Center

This exhibition is generously sponsored by

Roy J. Carver Charitable Trust

MississippiRiver Views from the

Muscatine Art Collection

THROUGH JUNE 5, 2016


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Business • Politics • Arts • Culture • Now You Know • RiverCitiesReader.com River Cities’ Reader • Vol. 23 No. 905 • March 31 - April 13, 2016 3

An Open Letter to Local Law Enforcement

Our ederal government has been takenover by globalist bankers. Our ederal

government no longer represents the

interests o Americans. Elections cannot

solve these problems as they are rigged. Tey

have poisoned our air, ood, water, medicine,

education, media, economy, and culture.

I will not belabor these acts. I you don’t

already know this, you soon will.

I take these assaults very personally, as

you should. As the criminals in our ederal

government employ you to assist them in our

destruction, I must extend an olive branchbeore it is too late.

Te Obama administration has purged

the military o any constitutional generals

and is now training the military to fight the

American citizens. Tey are militarizing,

ederalizing, and now globalizing you – the

local police – to assist.

Absurdly, Army manuals written by the

anti-reedom Southern Poverty Law Center

and the Anti-Deamation League, the 2009

MIAC Report, and Homeland Security iden-tiy Christians, pro-liers, libertarians, gun

owners, patriots, and returning veterans – by

any definition and common sense, the most

law-abiding – as potential domestic terrorists.

Simultaneously they are training our military

and encouraging you – our police – to engage

in real acts o terrorism against these groups.On December 31, 2011, the National

Deense Authorization Act (NDAA) was

quietly passed by criminals on both sides o

the aisle against the wil l o We the People andour Constitution. It authorizes our military

to kidnap American citizens on American

soil who are suspected o a “belligerent act.”

Tese suspects may be renditioned to an

undisclosed location without a warrant and

detained indefinitely without a trial and with-

out being charged or convicted o any crime.

Our military has recently conducted

urban, asymmetrical warare drills in L.A.,

Boston, St. Louis, and Fort Lauderdale. Asmall American city has been built at Fort

A.P. Hill in Virginia and Camp Lejeune or

troops to practice domestic warare. Opera-

tion Jade Helm 15 was recently conducted on

the streets o exas, New Mexico, Arizona,

Caliornia, Nevada, Utah, and Colorado.

Tese drills simulated infiltrating American

cities and extracting American patriots –

precisely what the NDAA authorizes. Te

mainstream media dutiully ignored it.

Te Department o Homeland Security

(DHS) has purchased at least 2.1-billion roundso hollow-point ammunition. Tis ammo is

too expensive to use or target practice as they

claim, and their use in war is a violation o the

Hague Peace Conerence o 1899 and 1907.

Tis is roughly five bullets or every American.

As i that weren’t disturbing enough, on

January 15, HR 378 was introduced in the

House o Representatives and assigned to a

congressional committee. HR 378 is a “ban

on purchase, ownership, or possession o

enhanced body armor by civilians.” It appliesto “enhanced” or “ype III” body armor spe-

cifically designed to protect against the exact

ammunition now being hoarded by DHS.As our captured ederal government

destroys our culture and economy, they ully

expect the moral and decent to resist. Tey

try to convince you that this resistance is ter-

rorism and give you the tools to crush us.

Te Law Enorcement Support Office

(LESO) under the 1033 Program authorized

in the NDAA has provided at least 600 (and asmany as 13,000 – it’s a secret) Mine Resistant

Ambush Protected vehicles ree o charge

to large- and small-town law-enorcement

agencies all over the country, including the

one given to the Scott County sheriff’s depart-

ment. LESO’s slogan is “transerring property

rom the warfighter to the crimefighter.” Te

Rock Island County sheriff’s department

and the Bettendor Police Department both

have bullet-proo, armored BearCat vehicles.

In 1787, ounding ather James Madison

warned that “a standing military orce, with

an overgrown Executive, will not long be sae

companions to liberty. Te means o deence

against oreign danger have been always the

instruments o tyranny at home.”

As our God-given, constitutionally guar-anteed rights are perverted into govern-

ment-granted privileges, we ofen resent

the puppets, not the masters. We citizens

invented you police to protect us. Now you are

one o our greatest ears. Tis is all by design.

As you are told that the good guys are a threat,

you violate our rights. O course we don’t like

it. Tis is a sel-ulfilling prophecy. We must

not be ooled by those who would have us

pitted against each other.

It is not you against us. It needs to be lawenorcement and the law-abiding against the

lawless intrusion o our ederal government. It

is We the People against those who are pittingus against each other. A patriot is no threat

to ellow patriots. By definition, a patriot is a

threat to a tyrant. Officer, you must choose a

side. Are you a patriot or a tool o tyranny?Te county sheriff is uniquely qualified

and specifically bound to protect his citizens

rom these tyrants. A January 2014 resolu-

tion o the Constitutional Sheriffs & Peace

Officers Association maintains a list o

“abuses” that “will not be allowed or toler-

ated,” reerring specifically to “actions by the

ederal government and its agents.” In reer-

ence to this list, it urther states that “there is

no greater obligation or responsibility o anygovernment officer than to protect the rights

o the people. Tus, any conduct contrary to

the United States Constitution, Declaration

o Independence, or the Bill o Rights will

be dealt with” by signees o the resolution –

county sheriffs – “as criminal activity.”

Officer, I am no threat to you. When you are

asked to disarm me or kill me, will you? You

took an oath to uphold and deend the Consti-

tution, not our criminal government.

A hyperlinked version of this commentary isavailable at RCReader.com/y/openletter.

Scott Carlson is a local business owner and patriot who lives in Eldridge, Iowa, andbelieves in the libertarian philosophy held bythe founders of this great country. No victimequals no crime.

Guest Commentary By Scott Carlson

Scott County’s Mine Resistant Ambush Protected vehicle


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Guest Commentary By Jacob G. Hornberger FFF.org

Hey, FDR Was a Fascist, Too!

It’s the latest rage among Americanlefists to point out that Donald rumphas ascist proclivities. A recent exam-

ple is Robert Reich, who was secretary olabor under President Bill Clinton rom1993 to 1997. In an article recently onRaw Story, Reich states that “rump hasfinally reached a point where parallelsbetween his presidential campaign andthe ascists o the first hal o the 20thCentury – lurid figures such as BenitoMussolini, Joseph Stalin, Adol Hitler,

Oswald Mosley, and Francisco Franco –are too ev ident to overlook.”

Reich isn’t the only one. FormerMexican President Vincente Fox alsocalled rump a ascist. Current MexicanPresident Enrique Pena Calderon said thatrump’s “strident” rhetoric is how “Mus-solini got in, that’s how Hitler got in.”

In another recent article, this one inthe Los Angeles imes, reporter Patt Mor-rison states: “Well, there’s language and

there’s style and manner that has echoeso the ascism o Europe in the 1920s and’30s. Tere’s the claim that the UnitedStates is in decline and needs a strongleader. And that was at the heart o whatMussolini and Hitler promised. Teyoffered a recipe or revival: nationalism,aggressive oreign policy, attacks on theenemies inside and out without muchregard or due process, an obsessionwith decline and with enemies like Jews

or socialists, oreigners – those are theechoes o t hat today.”

But in their attacks on rump, those onthe lef conveniently orget a discomortingact: Teir hero and icon – the man they (aswell as conservatives) have extolled and glo-rified or some 80 years, President FranklinD. Roosevelt – was himsel a ascist.

Oh, sure, it’s true that much o FDR’sNew Deal was socialist, such as the ederalpension plan – Social Security – that he per-manently oisted onto the American people.

But let’s not omit the other hal o thestory: Roosevelt also embraced economicascism, especially in his efforts to getAmerica out o the Great Depression.

Te best example was FDR’s NationalIndustrial Recovery Act (NIRA), a ascistprogram that would have fit perectlyin Mussolini ’s ascist Italy. Under theNIRA, ederal officials organized privateAmerican businesses, industries, andcorporations into giant cartels that

established “codes o ai r competition,”which set prices, wages, and productionin their particular sectors, all enorcedby ederal orce. More than 500 codes o“air practice” were developed.

Not surprisingly, FDR put a militaryman, retired Hugh Johnson, to run thisascist program. Johnson had graduatedrom West Point, made the military hiscareer, and ultimately reached the rank o

General. According to Wikipedia, “Oneauthor claims Johnson looked on ItalianFascist corporatism as a kind o model. Hedistributed copies o a ascist tract called‘Te Corporate State’ by one o Mussolini ’savorite economists, including giving oneto Labor Secretary Frances Perkins andasking her to give copies to her Cabinet.”

o encourage compliance with theNIRA, FDR and Johnson adopted a symbolthat could have come straight out o Mus-

solini’s playbook: the “Blue Eagle.” In whatis undoubtedly one o the creepiest ederalcampaigns in U.S. history – one that wouldhave made Mussolini proud – U.S. officials“encouraged” U.S. businessmen to post theBlue Eagle symbol in their storeront win-dows in a show o solidarity with the ed-eral government. Any business that reusedto do so was immediately denounced andostracized or its lack o “patriotism.”

In 1935, thanks to justices who werestill fighting to retain America’s ound-ing constitutional principles, the U.S.Supreme Court declared FDR’s NIRAunconstitutional. Tey rightully pointedout that such a scheme had no place inAmerica’s constitutional order.

Let’s not orget Hitler: He led Germanyout o the Great Depression with a ascistprogram based on massive spending onpublic works, government/business part-nerships, government management othe economy, and building up Germany’s

military/industrial complex.Sound amiliar? It should, because that

was FDR’s economic program too.

Continued On Page 6

Franklin D. Roosevelt


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Hey, FDR Was a Fascist, Too!As late as 1937, great leader Winston

Churchill had nothing but praise orthe leadership skill o Germany’s greatleader: “One may dislike Hitler’s systemand yet admire his patriotic achievement.I our country were deeated, I hope weshould find a champion as admirable torestore our courage and lead us back toour place among the nations.”

While we’re on the subject o Nazi Ger-many, perhaps it would be instructive to postthe ollowing planks rom the Nazi Party

platorm and ask whether any o the presi-dential candidates, Democrat or Republi-can, disagree with them: “We ask that thegovernment undertake the obligation aboveall o providing citizens with adequateopportunity or employment and earning aliving. Te activities o the individual mustnot be allowed to clash with the interestso the community, but must take placewithin its confines and be or the good o all.Tereore, we demand: an end to the power

o the financial interests. We demand profitsharing in big business. We demand a broadextension o care or the aged. We demand ...the greatest possible consideration o smallbusiness in the purchases o the national,state, and municipal governments. In orderto make possible to every capable and indus-trious [citizen] the attainment o higher edu-cation and thus the achievement o a posto leadership, the government must providean all-around enlargement o our system

o public education. ... We demand theeducation at government expense o gifedchildren o poor parents. ... Te governmentmust undertake the improvement o publichealth – by protecting mother and child, byprohibiting child labor – by the greatest pos-sible support or all clubs concerned with thephysical education o youth. We combat the... materialistic spirit within and without us,and are convinced that a permanent recov-ery o our people can only proceed romwithin on the oundation o ‘Te CommonGood Beore the Individual Good.’”

Perhaps we should also remind our-selves o the letter that Hitler sent Roos-evelt through U.S. Ambassador TomasDodd: “Te Reich chancellor requestsMr. Dodd to present his greetings toPresident Roosevelt. He congratulatesthe president upon his heroic effort inthe interest o the American people. Tepresident’s successul struggle againsteconomic distress is being ollowed by

the entire German people with interestand admiration. Te Reich chancel-lor is in accord with the president thatthe virtues o sense o duty, readinessor sacrifice, and discipline must be the

supreme rule o the whole nation. Tismoral demand, which the president isaddressing to every single citizen, is onlythe quintessence o German philosophyo the state, expressed in the motto ‘Tepublic weal beore the private gain.’”

For anyone who would like to urtherexplore the parallels between FDR’s NewDeal and Mussolini’s ascism and, or thatmatter, with Hitler’s national socialism, Ihighly recommend a book titled Tree NewDeals: Reflections on Roosevelt’s America,

Mussolini’s Italy, & Hitler’s Germany, 1933-1939 by Wolgang Schivelbusch.

Te lef definitely has a point aboutrump’s ascist proclivities, but let’s aceit: Te accusation doesn’t apply only torump but also to conservatives in general.

Don’t conservatives avor government/business partnerships? Don’t they avorgovernment management o the econ-omy? Don’t they claim that their presiden-tial candidates can manage the economy

better than the Democratic candidates?Don’t they avor economic regulation?Don’t they avor public works? Don’t theyextol the interstate highway system, whichwas modeled on Hitler’s autobahn system?

Indeed, don’t conservatives avorreplacing FDR’s socialist Social Securitysystem with a ascist one – one in whichthe government orces people to investpart o their income into government-approved retirement accounts? Don’t

they extol and gloriy the ascist retire-ment plan brought to Chile by ascistChilean dictator General Augusto Pino-chet, who himsel extolled and glorifiedSpain’s ascist dictator Francisco Franco?Don’t conservatives also avor manda-tory health savings accounts, wherebythe government manipulates or coercespeople into establishing medical IRAs?

For that matter, let’s not orget theDepartment o Labor, which Robert Reichheaded and which conservatives have longembraced as a permanent part o America’sgovernmental system. It would be difficultto find a better model o economic ascismthan the Department o Labor, given itscontrol over private American businesses.

Let’s ace it: Fascism has a glorious his-tory among both Democrats and Repub-licans, so long as it’s cal led “reorming”or “saving” ree enterprise. All thehubbub over Donald rump’s ascism ispersonal, not ideological.

Jacob G. Hornberger is founder and president of Te Future of FreedomFoundation (FFF.org), where this articleoriginally appeared.

Guest Commentary By Jacob G. Hornberger FFF.org

Continued From Page 4


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COVER STORY By Je Ignatius [email protected]

A Minor History with a Major ImpactAuthor Gary W. Moore Discusses His Father’s Story, April 12-15

Gary W. Moore had lots o dots to con-nect about his ather’s lie. Te prob-lem was that, or many years, Gene

Moore reused to talk about them.Gary Moore will be participating in a

handul o local events related to his 2006book Playing with the Enemy as part o theScott County Reads ogether programApril 12 through 15, and you can get a senseo the connections rom the hardcover’s

subtitle: A Baseball Prodigy, a World at War,& a Field of Broken Dreams.

Gene’s story itsel is antastic, but so is thetale o the book’s becoming – with a curiousson and a reticent ather, and with tantaliz-ing bits o inormation finally put togetherinto a narrative that’s both heartwarmingand heartbreaking.

Tere was, or example, the January 1949letter to Gene rom the Pittsburgh Piratesminor-league baseball system, promising to

“give you every chance and our ablest assis-tance in making a capable ball player.”

Gary Moore ound the letter when he was

12, and it aligned with other things he’d heard.

He remembers visiting his ather’s home-town o Sesser, Illinois, when he was sevenor eight, and a man stuck his head out o thebar and asked i he was Gene’s kid. A groupo older men pulled him into the bar andtalked to him about his dad.

In a phone interview last week, Gary

Moore recalled telling his ather: “Teysaid you were the greatest baseball player toever play” in Sesser. He continued: “My dadkind o laughed and shrugged and he said,‘Tis town has 700 people in it. I you’re thebest baseball player in the town, that reallydoesn’t mean much.’”

When Moore was about 16, an oldercousin was talking to him about baseballuniorms. “He said, ‘When your dad camehome rom his first season with the Dodg-ers, he gave me his jersey. I wore that damnthing until it just ell apart.’ I looked at himand I said, ‘My dad never played baseballor the Dodgers.’ And he said, ‘Go homeand ask him.’ I went home and asked mydad and he just kind o shrugged and said,‘Don’t pay attention to him.’”

Moore said that as he got older, he wasincreasingly unwilling to accept thosedismissals. But his ather was equallystubborn. As a teenager, Moore said, hedemanded: “‘ell me about that letter you

got rom the Pirates.’ And he said, ‘I told

you never to ask me about that again.’ Andthat was it; he just shut down.”

Tat’s one set o dots. Gary Moore knewhis ather was a good baseball player who’dgotten a look rom at least two major-leaguebaseball organizations.

Te other dots are smudgy. Tere was a

visit to the Moore home by a German manin 1959 – when Gary Moore wasn’t yet five.“I don’t remember any details other than ...my sister and I hiding behind a chair andgiggling,” he recalled. “I think I was laugh-ing at his language; he talked different thananybody I’d ever heard beore.”

And a trip to Chicago’s Museum o Sci-ence & Industry in the early 1960s to seethe Nazi U-505 submarine. Moore said heremembers watching a film o the prisonersrom the ship, with closeups o each in a sin-gle-file line. “One o the sailors looks at thecamera, and he kinda smiles. I’m sure it wasa nervous smile. I’m sure he wasn’t having agood time that day; he’d just been captured.And my dad started crying.” Gene Mooresaid he had something in his eye.

“I knew there something about that sub-marine, and something about something,”Gary Moore said. “I’d ask my mother aboutit through the years, and she would justalways say, ‘You really need to talk to your

ather about that.’ My ather wasn’t talking.”

In high school, Gary got an assignmentto write about his mother. He decided toalso, on his own, write a piece about hisather. “When I wrote it about my mother, I

just wrote it,” he said. “When I wrote aboutmy ather, I realized: I don’t even know whatto write; I don’t really know who this man

is. I knew he ed us and clothed us, and Iknow he was a hard worker. I think he wasan honest guy, ... but I really didn’t knowanything about him.”

Once again, his ather was no help,saying: “When people remember me, I hopethey say, ‘He was a good husband [and] agood ather, and he worked hard.’ Tat’s allthere is about me.”

Gary knew that wasn’t true.

“The Dike Had Broken” In April 1983, Gene Moore had a health

scare. On May 12, a heart specialist gavehim a clean bill o health and said it hadn’tbeen a heart attack.

Gary and Gene lef the doctor’s office andwent out to dinner. Gene was in good spirits,and 28-year-old Gary decided to press his57-year-old ather about his lie in baseball.

“What changed in that restaurant is hehad this incredible sense o relie, he wasrelaxed, we were sitting there alone, I started

trying to talk to him, he started getting

angry, and or the first time in his

son’s lie, his son stood up to hisdad,” Gary said. “I said, ‘I’m notleaving here without you answer-ing these questions.’”

Gene still pushed back, but Gary didn’trelent. “My dad was crazy about his grand-kids. ... I said to him, ‘oby’s five years old;he loves you. Someday he’s going to want toknow about his grandather. He’s going toask me, and I’m not going to be able to tel lhim a damn thing. I want my son to know

you, and I need to know you.’ ...“You could tell the first five, six minuteso that conversation were painul. Ten allo a sudden it was like the dike had broken. Icouldn’t have shut him up i I wanted to.”

Gene died the next day o a heart attack.“I’d always thought this would be a story

I’d write,” Gary said o the tale he heard thatnight at dinner. “Early on, I knew it was anincredible story, an incredible lie. Sad in somany ways, but also very uplifing in others.”

Yet more than two decades passed beoreGary began writing. “It took time to digestmy dad’s lie,” he said, and “to understandthe potential impact on other people. ... I’msorry I waited so long, but I think had I doneit 10 years ago, 15 years ago, 20 years ago,it would have been a much different book,because I don’t think I totally understood.”

Without giving too much away, Gene wasa power-hitting catcher who, at age 15 andplaying or the semi-pro Sesser Egyptians,

Continued On Page 8

Left: The United States Navy North African Exhibition Baseball Team in1942. Gene Moore is the middle ofthe back row. Above: Gary W. Moore

On the cover: The 1949 letter to Gene Moore from the Pittsburgh Pirates’ minor-league system; Gene Moore’s basic-training photo; and GeneMoore (back row, fourth from left) with the Sesser Egyptians baseball team circa 1940.


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A Minor History with a Major Impactattracted the attention oBrooklyn Dodgers scout FrankBoudreau in 1940. His WorldWar II service had him playingor the Navy team, and eventu-ally teaching captured U-505 sailors to play baseball in asecret POW camp in Louisi-ana. Afer the war, Gene gotanother shot in the minors, butan injury cut short his career... with the saving grace o

the hobbled catcher helping ariend and teammate get to the majors.

It’s undeniably a great story. But whenGary Moore, at the urging o a riend,finally got around to writing it, there werelots o challenges.

“The Story Was Incomplete” For one thing, Gary’s conversation with his

ather had taken place 20-odd years earlier, and

he hadn’t taken notes or recorded it. Many o

the participants, like his ather, were dead.And the historical record is sparse.

Much inormation about the LouisianaPOW camp remains classified, and rostersand stats or minor-league baseball in themiddle o the 20th Century are spotty.Some readers o Playing with the Enemy have questioned the veracity o the entirestory, noting that there’s no record o aPirates minor-league team in Greenville,Mississippi, in the late 1940s. (Te 1949

letter rom the Pirates clearly says Green- ville, Mississippi, and Gary Moore said he verified the team’s existence with the city’shistorical society; it was one o many short-lived clubs set up to handle the flood o war

veterans coming back into baseball.)Moore stressed that the book is not a

biography; it’s historical fiction inspired bytrue events, with roughly hal the namesmade up. “It’s the best we could do, becausemy ather isn’t a historical figure,” he said.“He didn’t make it into the major leagues.And it’s all pre-Internet. Tere’s just notmuch o a record o his lie. ...

“Most o the story is oral histories. Someo it [was] what I remember rom my dad’sconversation. But most o it came romtalking to relatives ... .” Moore said he hadassistance rom the Dodgers and the Navy,and he got lots o inormation rom lielongresidents o Sesser, whom he gathered or adinner at a local restaurant to reminisce.

“But the story was incomplete,” Moore

said. “I have done a lot o connecting othe dots here that I could’ve gotten wrong.I’ve re-created conversations that I didn’thave access to. ... I put it together as best Icould. ... I never witnessed any o it. But I’m

confident, where the recordails us, [that] I got the spirit omy ather’s lie correct.”

Initially, Moore thoughtthat one key figure in the book– a man he calls Ray Laws –was All-Star pitcher Roy Face.Gary remembers watching, asan adolescent, Face warmlygreet Gene at a Cubs game.

But he could never find evi-

dence that Face and his ather

played on the same baseballteam; to the best o his knowledge, Gene’s

minor-league career ended beore Face’s

began. It’s only been since the book was ini-

tially published 10 years ago that he discovered

his ather played another year o ball afer the

core story o Playing with the Enemy finishes.

And over the years, other blanks havebeen filled in by readers who knew or knewo Gary’s dad. “It’s almost like a living,breathing story that continues to evolve,”

Moore said.Te author concedes that, in the grand

scheme o history, Gene’s story “has no histor-

ical importance to anybody. It doesn’t change

anything. It’s a history o my ather’s lie.”

But that history – one that easily couldhave died with Gene Moore – has survivedand taken on a lie o its own.

Beore the book was published – on hisdaughter’s wedding day, in act – Gary gota praising let ter rom President George W.

Bush, who’d somehow read a galley copy.Moore has gotten an e-mail rom Al Pacino.“I have received ... somewhere between

3,000 and 4,000 letters ... rom all over theworld, rom people who have said ... that myather’s story had uplifed them, encour-aged them, helped them change their lie,”Moore said. “It’s bizarre, some o the things.A little boy in Calgary, Canada, playing on alittle-league baseball team up there and hadterminal cancer. And said he was dedicatinghis last game that he thought he’d be ableto play to my ather. A veteran who recentlydied, a 92-year-old man in Poughkeepsie,New York, who died reading my book, andhis granddaughter wrote me and told mehe’d read it 10, 20, 30 times and his only wish... was that he be buried with the book. ...

“Te book has sprouted legs, and it’s goneplaces I never would have dreamed.”

Gary W. Moore will be featured in nine events from April 12 through 15 as part of the Scott

County Reads ogether project. For a full list-ing of events, visit RCReader.com/y/moore.

For more information on Gary W. Moore,visit GaryWMoore.com.

COVER STORY By Je Ignatius [email protected]



9/20


Vol. 23 · No. 905March 31 - April 13, 2016

River Cities’ Reader532 W. 3rd St.

Davenport IA 52801

RiverCitiesReader.com

(563)324-0049 (phone)

(563)323-3101 (fax)

[email protected]

Publishing since 1993The River Cities’ Reader is an independent

newspaper published every other Thursday,

and available free throughout the Quad

Cities and surrounding areas.

© 2016 River Cities’ Reader

AD DEADLINE:5 p.m. Wednesday prior to publication

PUBLISHER Todd McGreevy

EDITOR Kathleen McCarthy

EDITORIAL Managing Editor:

Jeff Ignatius • [email protected]

Arts Editor, Calendar Editor:

Mike Schulz • [email protected]

Contributing Writers: Amy Alkon, Jeff Ashcraft, Rob

Brezsny, Dee Canfield, Rich Miller, Frederick Morden,

Victoria Navarro, Brent Tubbs, Bruce Walters

ADVERTISING Account Executive:

Lauren Wood • [email protected]

Advertising Coordinator:

Nathan Klaus

Advertising rates, publishing schedule,

demographics, and more are available at

QCAdvertising.com

DESIGN/PRODUCTION Art Director, Production Manager:

Spencer Rabe • [email protected]

Graphic Artist:

Nathan Klaus • [email protected]

ADMINISTRATIONBusiness Manager: Kathleen McCarthy

Office Administrator, Classifieds Manager, Circulation

Manager: Rick Martin • [email protected]

Distribution: William Cook, Cheri DeLay,

Greg FitzPatrick, Daniel Levsen, M.M. Rice

Jay Strickland, Ron Thompson, C. Keyser

RiverCitiesReader.com

The most comprehensive events calendar in the QC

S i n c e 1

9 9 3

MUSIC By Mike Schulz [email protected]

Mahler and Brahms and Sebastian the CrabClassical and Disney Repertoires with the Quad City Symphony, April 2 through 16

For many, the word “symphony”

evokes the names o amed compos-ers such as Brahms, Mahler, and

chaikovsky, each o whose talents willbe duly represented in the springtimerepertoire or Quad City SymphonyOrchestra (QCSO) musicians.

But i you have young children, it’sentirely possible that the word “sym-phony,” or them, will soon bring to minda whole new set o names, among themMary Poppins, Pocahontas, and Mulan.

“We looked hard or a show that wethought would appeal to the entireamily,” says QCSO Executive DirectorBenjamin Loeb o April 9’s Te Magical Music of Disney concert, taking placeat Davenport’s Adler Teatre. “And thisone has been done all over the country,and has great music and really interest-ing visuals,” with snippets rom Disney’sanimated oeuvre synchronized to thesymphony’s perormance o its scores.

“But we also didn’t want the amilyconcert to just stand alone,” Loeb adds.“We wanted it to be part o a whole week-end o great community-engagement andamily-engagement opportunities.”

Consequently, beyond hearing someo the most memorable music rom theDisney canon, Adler/RiverCenter guestsover the April 9 and 10 weekend will betreated to a musically themed amily car-nival, concert sets by the QCSO’s youthensembles, and a community event inwhich symphony proessionals and ama-teur musicians will, or the first time inthe area, be perorming side by side.

And as i al l this weren’t enough orone month, these QCSO-sponsoredactivities take place just one week aferthe organization’s final Masterworksconcerts o its 2015-16 season, and oneweek beore the season-ending concertin the symphony’s and WVIK’s moreintimate Signature Series.

“Tere’s no question it’s a really busymonth,” says Loeb. “But it’s gonna be alot o un.”

Part o the busy-ness comes rom theannual Masterworks season-closer, with

this year’s an impressively glorious andintimidating one: a program titled TeResurrection, in which Gustav Mahler’s90-minute Symphony No. 2 will be per-ormed in its entirety, sans intermission.(Te concert will be held at the Adler at8 p.m. on April 2, and at Augustana Col-lege’s Centennial Hall at 2 p.m. on April 3.)

Rarely staged, as it requires more than100 musicians and 100 choral membersto do ul l justice to Mahler’s composi-tion, Symphony No. 2 is being perormedby the symphony or the first time in 27years, and finds its members accompa-nying guest soprano Linh Kauffman,mezzo-soprano Adriana Zabala, and themembers o Quad City Choral Arts andthe Handel Oratorio Society. Collectively,this marks one o the largest assemblageso musical talent ever seen on either theAdler or Centennial Hall stages.

“We’re really proud to be doing itagain,” says Loeb, “and I think it’s an

accomplishment that the entire com-munity should be proud o – that thisrelatively small community can have anorchestra that can play a piece this bigand this cha llenging. It’s going to be a

special event or anybody who hears it.”

As will, Loeb adds, April 16’s finalconcert in the 2015-16 Signature Series,cheekily titled Joy of Sextets. Tis 7:30p.m. engagement at Davenport’s OutingClub will eature Arnold Schoenberg’sVerklärte Nacht and Johannes Brahms’String Sextet No. 1 perormed by fiveo the QCSO’s springtime principals – violinists Naha Greenholtz and DeborahColtvet Klemme, violists Deborah Dakinand Benjamin Davis, and cellist Hannah

Holman – plus symphony Music Direc-tor and Conductor Mark Russell Smith,himsel an accomplished cello player.

“Tere are two antastic chamberworks that are very hard to perorm,”Loeb says o the Joy of Sextets composi-tions, “and we have antastic musiciansplaying them. And i they want, attend-ees have the opportunity to have a reallylovely dinner beore the concert, rightthere at the same place.”

Yet while loyal symphony patrons havecome to expect a repertoire o classicalgreats in the Masterworks and SignatureSeries programs, Loeb says that he andellow board members have also “beentrying to figure out ways to create accessor more o the community to come tosymphonic concerts. And amily concerts,which have been successul across the coun-try, seemed like an opportunity or us.”

One such event, Loeb says, “hadalready been planned over a year ago”:the Side-by-Side Concert, taking placeat the Davenport RiverCenter at 3 p.m.on April 10. Te program will eaturethe proessional musicians perorm-ing alongside all five o the Quad CitySymphony youth ensembles – theYouth Symphony Orchestra, YouthPhilharmonic Orchestra, Youth StringEnsemble, Prelude String, and YouthChoir – in an event boasting more than150 musicians total.

“But then later,” says Loeb, “we hadthis idea o also creating a community-wide event in which anybody in the

Adriana Zabala

Continued On Page 13


10/20


On April 1, Davenport’s RedstoneRoom celebrates its 10th year odelivering exhilarating live perormances

to local audiences. In conjunction withthis milestone, the venue will be treatingpatrons to a gif, and considering the tradi-tional present or a 10th anniversary is tin,you’d certainly have reason to worry thatcans or cookware might be in the offing.But ear not: You’ll definitely appreci-ate this particular gif o tin ... given thatit’s preaced by “Jeff Aus”! (Editor’s note:Clever, Mike. Now move it along.)

Born in the Chicago suburb o Arling-

ton Heights, bluegrass musician JeffAustin embarked on his road to successafer meeting banjo player Dave Johnstonin Urbana, Illinois, and agreeing to playmandolin – an instrument on which hewas sel-taught – in Johnston’s band TeBluegrassholes. Following a move to Col-orado, the duo made the acquaintanceso guitarist Adam Aijala and bassist BenKaumann. And by 1998, this our-some had ormed their own bluegrassensemble: the progressive-bluegrass and

country ensemble known, then and now,as the Yonder Mountain String Band – amoniker you can’t spell without “tin”!wice! (Editor’s note: Yeah, Mike, we getthe motif.)

During Jeff Austin’s 15 years withYonder Mountain, the group touredextensively, perormed at the 2008Democratic National Convention, andound six o its albums scoring top-10positions on Billboard ’s bluegrass chart,

with three o them making it all the wayto number one. Yet Austin’s busy sched-ule stil l allowed him time or side proj-ects. In 20 06, he enjoyed a collaborationwith Keller Williams and Keith Moseley

under the band name Grateul Grass,and two years prior Austin released aull-length studio album with Te Big

Wu’s Chris Cast ino titled Songs from thein Shed . Look at that! in! (Editor’s note:Please stop it.)

In 2014, the Yonder Mountain StringBand and its longtime mandolin playerannounced an amicable parting oways. But i any ans mourned the losso Austin rom the scene, t hey weren’tallowed to or long. Backed by musiciansDanny Barnes, Ross Martin, and EricTorin, Austin’s solo debut Te Simple

ruth landed in February o 2015. And iresponse to the album and the Jeff AustinBand’s live sets are any indication,bluegrass aficionados will be treated tooutstanding musical interpretations ormany years to come.

Calling Te Simple ruth “primed orrepeat listens,” Relix.com stated, “Austinknows how to write a hook just as easi ly ashe knows how to stomp out a breakdown.”runstyledJunkpiled.com praised Austin’s voice or its “vulnerability and emotional

depth.” OurMusicalJourney.com ravedabout Austin’s “superb musicians” and“extremely impressive first solo effort.”And reviewing a 2015 Jeff Austin Bandconcert in Denver, GrateulWeb.comwrote, “Te entire set was filled with gems.”Most likely cassiterite, which is more com-monly known as ... diamond tin! (Editor’snote: I hate you, Mike.)

Te Jeff Austin Band perorms locallywith an opening set by Te Last Revel,

and more inormation on the RedstoneRoom’s 10-year anniversar y celebrationis available by calling (563)326-1333 or visiting RiverMusicExperience.org.

Music Jeff Austin BandRedstone Room

Friday, April 1, 8 p.m.

What’s Happeni


11/20


Theatre My Favorite Year Prospect Park Auditorium

Thursday, March 31,

through Sunday, April 3

Wisecracks. Yearn-ing romance.People bursting into

song. Workplace hostility. Intimidating deadlines. An at temptto keep an eccentric egomaniac sober or a ull hour. Butenough about Reader staff meetings. All this and more will alsobe in evidence in Quad City Music Guild ’s season-opener MyFavorite Year , the ony-winning adaptation o 1982’s Oscar-nominated comedy that runs at Moline’s Prospect Park Audito-rium March 31 through April 3.

Set in 1954, and inspired by such smash variety programs as SidCaesar’s and Imogene Coca’s Your Show of Shows, this song-and-dance-filled delight ollows newbie television writer Benjy Stone ashe begins his career as a proessional comedy writer in Manhattan.

Yet all manner o impediments threaten to derail Benjy’s big break:his show’s braying and bullying boss King Kaiser; his awkwardcrush on co-worker K.C. Downing; his meddling and embarrass-ing amily; and, most o al l, his seemingly impossible assignment –keeping the show’s guest star, matinée idol Alan Swann, away rombooze and women long enough to get through an hour-long livebroadcast without an FCC shutdown.

Described by alkinBroadway.com as a “wonderully enjoyable”production o “great enthusiasm and energy,” My Favorite Yearwas composed by the legendary, ony-winning team o Stephen

Flaherty and Lynn Ahrens – Ragtime, Seussical, Once on TisIsland – and its 1992 Broadway version boasted ony-nominatedstars im Curry, Lainie Kazan, and Andrea Martin, the latter owhom won her first ony or the show. But under the direction othe terrifically talented John Weigandt, Quad City Music Guild’scast should prove no less divine, as it includes such area avorites asIan Sodawasser, om Naab, Jennier Sondgeroth, Heidi Pedersen,Mark McGinn, Mike Schmidt, Joe Urbaitis, and Mark Holmes.

Filled with pep and what will certainly be ravishing periodcostumes, My Favorite Year should make even those o us notalive in 1954 nostalgic or its era o Buicks, poodle skirts, and

cigarettes smoked in unventilated offices. (Okay, maybe notthat last one ... .) But how much do you really know, or remem-ber, about 1954 – specifically, about 1954 living expenses? Prepyourselves or the My Favorite Year experience by matching theollowing items with their rough costs 62 years ago.

1) a bottle o catsup2) a loa o bread3) a gallon o milk 4) a movie ticket5) a pound o American cheese

A) 17 centsB) 25 centsC) 55 centsD) 70 centsE) 92 cents

My Favorite Year runs Tursday through Saturday at7:30p.m. and Sunday at 2 p.m., and more inormation andtickets are avai lable by calling (309)762-6610 or visitingQCMusicGuild.com.

A n s w e r s : 1 – B , 2 – A , 3 – E , 4 – D , 5 – C . A s y o u c a n s e e , r e g a r d i n g t h a t l a s t o n e , n o t e v e r y t h i n g i s m o r e e x p e n s i v e n o w a - d a y s ; e v e r y t w o w e e k s , m y W h a t ’ s H a p p e n i n ’ j o k e s p r o v i d e a p o u n d o f c h e e s e f o r f r e e !

Ian Sodawasser and Jess Fah

MUSICThursday, March 31 – Hailey

Whitters. Concert with the native

Iowan and Nashville-based singer/

songwriter, with an opening set

by Shaniah Paige. 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.

Friday, April 1, and Saturday, April

2 – Rozz-Tox Five-Year Anniversa ry

Weekend. Celebratory weekend

featuring sets by musicians Yonatan

Gat, Olivia Neutron-John, Brilliant Beast,

The Multiple Cat, and others. Rozz-Tox

(2108 Third Avenue, Rock Island). Friday

9 p.m., $10; Saturday 8 p.m., $8. For


RozzTox.com.

Friday, April 1, and Saturday, April

2 – Hersong & UUCQC Coffee House

Weekend. The Quad Cities female

vocal group performs in a weekendevent featuring a silent auction and

concert sets by Green Valley Rejects,

Rose n’ Thorns, Greenmore, Sarah

Allner, and others. Unitarian Universalist

Congregation of the Quad C ities (3707

Eastern Avenue, Davenport). 7 p.m. $5-

10. For information, call (563)359-9816

or visit UUCQC.org.

Saturday, April 2 – Terrance

Simien & the Zydeco Experience.

Concert with the Grammy-winning

zydeco musician in a Quad City ArtsVisiting Artists presentation. St.

Ambrose University’s Galvin Fine Arts

Center (2101 North Gaines Street,

Continued On Page 12

What ElseIs Happenin’

Dea r Jac k ie B ro w n:

I’m a tro u b led man, and t h is is ser io us b us iness. Y

o u sa id I’d be yo urs fore ver. B u t

Mar t ha sa y yo u lef t o ur sma ll to wn for a sma l l par

ad ise in a peacef u l wor ld, and I t h in k

t ha t, no w more t han e ver, teardro ps w i l l fa l l. I t’s l

ike a c herr y bom b e x p loded, and i t’s

cr um b lin’ do wn t he p in k ho uses of m y hear t.

Remem ber t ha t ho t n ig h t in a co ld to wn – t ha t fac to

r y to wn w it h t he ra in on t he scare -

cro w – w hen I ga ve yo u a r ide bac k home under t he

board wa l k w i t h a hand to ho ld on to?

Remem ber ho w we’d dance na ked, a l i t t le n ig h t dan

c in’, to t he R.O.C. K. in t he U.S.A. t ha t so

mo ves t he Amer icans in t h is tro u b led land t ha t is o

ur co un tr y? B u t i t’s a lone ly o l’ n ig h t ( I

a in’t e ven done w it h t he n ig h t!) and I need a lo ver, a

nd t hese are hard t imes for an hones t

man, so I’m j us t gonna le t i t o u t – le t i t a l l hang o u t.

W ha t if I came knoc k ing w i t h t ic ke ts to A pr i l 5’s J

o hn Me llencam p concer t a t t he

Ad ler T hea tre? Wo u ld I ge t a leg u p someda y? Wo u

ld yo u aga in be m y s wee t lo ve, so o ur

t h under ing hear ts co u ld be fi lled w i t h lo ve and h

a p p iness aga in ton ig h t? I’m no t r unn ing

an ymore, and t h is t ime I’ l l sa ve some t ime to dre

am and p la y g u itar – t he rea l l ife.

Ba b y, p lease don’t go to Was h ing ton or M iam i. I ca

n’ t hand le jus t ano t her da y w i t ho u t

e x press ion kno w ing I’ l l ge t no be t ter t han t h is. T h

is is yo ur las t c hance. Yo ur l ife is no w.

Jo in me for t he Me l lencam p concer t. C hec k i t o u t.

I t’ l l be a w ild n ig h t in w h ic h he’ l l t urn

m in u tes to memor ies. O t her w ise, I’ l l g i ve o ur t ic

ke ts to Jac k and D iane.

I don’ t mean to ra ve on, and I wan t to wa l k ta l l. B u

t m y hear t b urns, l i ke pa per in fire,

and i t h ur ts.

So ...... good n ig h t.

Yo u r po p s i nge r,

J u n io r

A Tribute to John Denver @ Circa ’21Dinner Playhouse - April 7

’By Mike Schulz

[email protected]


12/20


Davenport). 7:30 p.m. $11-15. For tickets

and information, call (563)333-6251 orvisit QuadCityArts.com or SAU.edu/galvin.

For a 2013 interview with Simien, visit

RCReader.com/y/simien.

Saturday, April 2, and Sunday, April

3 – Quad City Symphony Orchestra:

The Resurrection. The final Masterworks

concerts of the season with conductor

Mark Russell Smith leading Mahler’s

Symphony No. 2, featuring performances

by soprano Linh Kauffman, mezzo-

soprano Adriana Zabala, the Handel

Oratorio Society, and Quad City ChoralArts. Saturday: Adler Th eatre (136 East

Third Street, Davenport), 8 p.m. Sunday:

Augustana College’s Centennial Hall (3703

Seventh Avenue, Rock Island), 2 p.m. $6-28.

For tickets and information, call (563)322-

7276 or visit QCSO.org.

Saturday, April 2 – Charlie King and

Martha Leader. Songs on the struggle

for human justice in a fundraiser for

community organizations including

Palomares Social Justice Center, Oaks

of Mamre Catholic Worker House,

Centro Maya Project, Coalition of Native

Americans, and the African American

Museum of Iowa. Broadway Presbyterian

Church (710 23rd Street, Rock Island). 7

p.m. $8-10. For tickets and information, call

(309)786-6944 or v isit BroadwayQC.org.

Sunday, April 3 – Lucero and John

Moreland. Independent musicians

perform in their Young Outlaws Tour

2016. Codfish Hollow Barn (5013 288th

Avenue, Maquoketa). 7 p.m. $25-

35. For tickets and information, visit

CodfishHollowBarnstormers.com.Wednesday, April 6 – Pigeons Playing

Ping Pong. Funk, rock, and electronica

musicians in concert, with an opening

set by The Magic Beans. The Redstone

Room (129 Main Street, Davenport).

7:30 p.m. $11.50-12. For tickets and


RiverMusicExperience.org.

Thursday, April 7 – A Tribute to John

Denver . Folk and pop classics with tribute

artists Chris Collins & the Boulder Canyon

Band. Circa ’21 Dinner Playhouse (1828 Third Avenue, Rock Island). Noon plated

lunch, 1 p.m. show, $44.41; 6 p.m. buffet ,

7:15 p.m. show, $50.16. For tickets and

information, call (309)786-7733 extension 2

or visit Circa21.com.

Friday, April 8 – Flatfoot 56. Hardcore-

tinged Celtic punk with the Chicago-based

musicians. The Redstone Room (129 Main

Street, Davenport). 8 p.m. $11.50-12. For

tickets and information, call (563)326-1333

or visit RiverMusicExperience.org.

Saturday, April 9 – QCSO Family

Music Carnival. The Quad City Symphony

Orchestra hosts an event featuring a

“Palooza” Performance Stage and Fun Zone

activities including a musical-instrument

petting zoo, create-your-own childhood

time capsule, make-up-a-song, dance-

me-a-story, and more. RiverCenter (136

East Third Street, Davenport). 10 a.m. Free.

For information, call (563)322-7276 or visitQCSO.org.

Saturday, April 9 – The Magical Music

of Disney . The Quad City Symphony

Orchestra presents musical performances

from Disney’s animated films alongside

clips synchronized with the music. Adler

Theatre (136 East Third Street, Davenport).

2:30 p.m. $5-35. For tickets and information,

call (563)322-7276 or visit QCSO.org.

Saturday, April 9, and Sunday,

April 10 – Nova Singers: Voices of the

Prairie. Concerts with the professionalvocal ensemble featuring a repertoire

of Midwestern composers, songs about

the prairie, and the world premiere of a

new piece by Abbie Betinis, under the

direction of Laura Lane. Saturday: Knox

College’s Kresge Recital Hall (2 East South

Street, Galesburg), 7:30 p.m. Sunday: Figge

Art Museum (225 West Second Street,

Davenport), 4 p.m. $20-25. For tickets and


NovaSingers.com.

Sunday, April 10 – TobyMac. Grammy-

winning hip-hop, pop, and contemporary-Christian artist in his Hits Deep Tour, with

guests Britt Nicole, Colton Dixon, Building

429, Capital Kings, Finding Favour, and

Hollyn. iWireless Center (1201 River Drive,

Moline). 7 p.m. $15-69.50. For tickets, call(800)745-3000 or visit iWirel essCenter.com.

Sunday, April 10 – QCSO/QCSYEs Side-

by-Side Concert. Event featuring more

than 150 musicians from the Quad City

Symphony Orchestra and the Quad City

Symphony youth ensembles. Davenport

RiverCenter (136 East Third Street,

Davenport). 3 p.m. Free. For information,

call (563)322-7276 or visit QCSO.org.

Sunday, April 10 – Community-

wide Side-by-Side. Area musicians

of all ages and skills join the Quad Cit ySymphony Orchestra in a performance of

Tchaikovsky’s 1812 Overt ure, directed by

symphony conductor Mark Russell Smith.

Davenport RiverCenter (136 East Third

Street, Davenport). 6 p.m. $25 registration.

For information, call (563)322-7276 or visit

QCSO.org.

Sunday, April 10 – Selwyn Birchwood.

Concert with the Blues Music Award-

winning artist and his ensemble, sponsored

by the Mississippi Valley Blues Society.

Kavanaugh’s Hilltop Tap (1228 30th Street,

Rock Island). 6 p.m. $10-12. For information,

call (563)322-5837 or visit MVBS.org. For

a 2013 interview with Birchwood, visit

RCReader.com/y/birchwood.

Sunday, April 10 – Hotel California.

Concert tribute to the music of the Eagles.

Central Performing Art s Center (519 East

11th Street, DeWitt). 7 p.m. $10-25. For


or visit CentralPerformingArtsCenter.org.

THEATREThursday, March 31, throughSaturday, April 2 – Orphans. Tony-

nominated kidnapping dramedy by Kyle

Kessler, directed by SAU junior Rachael

Pribulsky. St. Ambrose University Studio

Theatre (Galvin Fine Arts Center, 2101

North Gaines Street, Davenport). Thursday

and Friday 7:30 p.m., Saturday 3 p.m. $6. For


or visit SAU.edu/galvin.

Friday, April 1, through Saturday,

April 16 – Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?Edward Albee’s Tony-winning exploration

of two marriages, directed by Tristan

Tapscott. District Theatre (1724 Fourth

Avenue, Rock Island). Thursday through

Saturday 8 p.m., Sunday 2 p.m. $20. For


or visit DistrictTheatre.com.

Monday, April 4 – Joseph & the

Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat . Andrew

Lloyd Webber’s and Tim Rice’s Tony-

nominated biblical musical, in a Broadway

at the Adler presentation. Adler Theatre

(136 East Third Street, Davenport). 7:30 p.m.

$37-57. For tickets, call (800)745-3000 or

visit AdlerTheatre.com.

Thursday, April 7, through Sunday,

April 17 – Amy’s Wish. Romantic-comedyfantasy by Tom Sharkey, directed by

Dana Skiles. Richmond Hill Barn Theatre

(600 Robinson Drive, Geneseo). Thursday

through Saturday 7:30 p.m., Sunday 3

p.m. $12. For tickets and i nformation, call

(309)944-2244 or visit RHPlayers.com.

MOVIETuesday, April 12 – Rediscovering

Ancient America. Documentary screenings

in the museum’s World AdventureSeries presented by Gray Warriner.

Putnam Museum (1717 West 12th Street,

Davenport). 1 and 7 p.m. $6.50-10. For


or visit Putnam.org.

EXHIBITSFriday, April 1, through Saturday,

May 7 – Pas de Deux/A Dance for Two.

A collection of new David R. Anderson

artwork inspired by Ballet Quad Cities.

Bereskin Fine Art Galler y (225 East

Second Street, Davenport). Wednesday

through Saturday 11 a.m.-6 p.m. Opening

reception April 1 from 6-9 p.m. Free. For


BereskinArtGallery.com.

Saturday, April 2, through Sunday,

April 10 – Young Artists at the Figge:

Muscatine Schools. Annual exhibition of

works by elementary art students. 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 Fi ggeArtMuseum.

org.

EVENTSFriday, April 8 – Chippendales.

Touring striptease artistry with male exotic

dancers including Magic Mike XXL’s Jerry

Pope. Golden Leaf Banquet & Convention

Center (2902 East Kimberly Road, Suite 1,Davenport). 8 p.m. $25-35. For information,

call (563)359-7226; for tickets, visit

EventBrite.com.

Saturday, April 9 – Big Bacon

Extravaganza . Third-annual event hosted

by Churches United of the Quad City Area

featuring 22 food vendors, tastings, live

music, and more. Davenport RiverCenter

(136 East Third Street, Davenport). 4 p.m.

$25. For tickets and information, call

(563)676-9472 or visit CUQCA.org.

What Else Is Happenin’


TobyMac @ iWireless Center - April 10


13/20


Mahler and Brahms and Sebastian the Crab

community who played an orchestralinstrument would have an opportu-nity to perorm with the Quad CitySymphony.” Tat notion led to therecent schedule addition o Apri l 10’sCommunity-Wide Side-by-Side, a 6 p.m.collaboration in which amateurs and

proessionals will tackle Pyotr Illyichchaikovsky’s legendar y 1812 Overture.(For those amiliar with the piece, Loebinsists that, yes, “I think we’re gonnahave lots o cannon sounds.”)

“We’ve already got about 100 com-munity members signed up,” says Loebduring our March 23 conversation, “andwe’re expecting to get more in the nextcouple weeks, and there are about 50members o the symphony playing. Ourgoal is to have the biggest orchestra inQuad City history. I don’t know howwe’re gonna prove it,” he adds with alaugh, “but we’ll see.”

Regardless, says Loeb, “Other orches-tras have tried this in Baltimore and inRichmond [Virginia], and it eels like agreat way or us to engage our commu-nity and also have a lot o un. And we’rehoping that afer people sit down andplay next to a symphony musician, they’llwant to come back or a concert.”

O course, this year, another hopeis that people who attend the QCSO’sApril 9 engagements will want to comeback or April 10’s side-by-sides. Becausebeore the latter are perormed, thesymphony will begin its amily-riendlyweekend on Saturday with both theAdler’s Te Magical Music of Disney con-cert and its sister event, the RiverCenter’sFamily Music Carnival.

From 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., carnival

patrons can enjoy such activities as amusical-instrument “petting zoo,” adrum circle, music trivia, laser-harpdemonstrations, and making percussioninstruments out o recycled materials,

along with perormances by members oBallet Quad Cities and R iverBend Hand-bell Ensemble.

“We had this idea o creating a estival,o sorts, where there would be music-related and cultural activities throughoutthe day,” says Loeb. “Where people could

participate in un, ree, amily-riendlyactivities, and then jump over to theAdler or this great ami ly concert.”

And i your kids are ans o Te LionKing, Beauty & the Beast , Te Little Mermaid , and numerous other studiohits, great is what April 9’s 2 p.m. Te Magical Music of Disney promises tobe. A two-act celebration o the MouseHouse’s musical repertoire, this Disney-licensed production finds classic moviemoments projected onto a large screenwhile the symphony perorms selectionsthat include “Disney Classics Overture,”“Pirates of the Caribbean,” and “ AladdinOrchestral Suite.”

“We’re really trying to expand our sea-sons in ways that make a new audiencewant to hear the Quad City Symphony,”says Loeb, “and make the communityreally eel that they’re a part o it. Forinstance, we’re encouraging everyone,especially kids, to come in costume or

the amily concert. I they want to dressas their avorite Disney character, it’sgonna make the event all the more un.”

So you can probably expect plenty oSnow Queen Elsas at the QCSO’s firstamily concert, especially consideringthat Miss Iowa aylor Wiebers – who wil lalso sign autographs at the Fami ly MusicCarnival – will be on hand to perormFrozen’s Oscar-winning “Let It Go.”

As Loeb states, “It’s like having a real-

live princess at our concert.”

For more on the Quad City SymphonyOrchestra and its springtime events, call(563)322-7276 or visit QCSO.org.

MUSIC By Mike Schulz [email protected]


Miss Iowa Taylor Wiebers

The Best Kind of Schizophrenic Sean Watkins, April 14 at the Redstone Room

Listening to Sean Watkins’ fifh solo

album, What to Fear , you might get whip-lash trying to ollow the wild swings in

lyrical tone in just its first hal. Te tit le track

opens things with an acidic attack on the

media told rom the perspective of the media,and it’s ollowed by the earnest, bite-sized

conessions o “Last ime or Everything.”

“I Am What You Want” has menace and

attraction in equal measure, as the narrator

gently threatens to bend its target to his will:“But I swear you’ll learn to love me. / Darling,

would I lie?”

“Keep Your Promises II” returns to a clever

lyrical rerain rom his previous album: “Just

keep your promises. / Don’t let them leave

your lips.” And that admonition to a serial ly

dishonest partner segues back into a heartelt

love song in “Everything.”

Watkins, one-third o the platinum-selling

Nickel Creek (with his fiddler sister Sara and

mandolinist Chris Tile), doesn’t apologizeor those abrupt shifs. In an interview last

week promoting his April 14 Redstone Room

show, he said: “I they like the songs, they

like the songs. ... It’s al l very me. It’s sincerely

coming rom me, and something that I eel is

part o my musicality, so that’s okay. ... I’m not

worried too much about the schizophrenic

aspect, because I’m being honest.”

And that honesty – paired with his precise,

simultaneously ull and lean arrangements

that serve the songs strikingly well – marks

growth, he said. “In the past I’ve tried to be

more cryptic or whatever reason. On this

one, I tried to make the songs as clear as

possible, whatever the lyrics are trying to say.

And that was really un. It’s nice to eel like

I’m making progress.”

While the album is disjointed in its themes

and messages, the gaps are smoothed by

the smartly decorated music and Watkins’

expressive voice – both o which provide

a warmth that disguises even his darkest

material. Te swells and energetic bass o“What to Fear” mimic the addictive allure o

the media’s manuactured crises, while the

sweetness o Watkins’ guitar and singing on

“I Am What You Want” makes it easy to all

or such a creepy manipulator. Te critique o

“Keep Your Promises II” is so bright and l ight

that it would be nearly impossible to take

offense at the receiving end.

Te singer/songwriter said he started the

album with our core tracks – including

“What to Fear” and “Last ime or Every-thing” – but he didn’t know i he wanted to

present them with guitar, bass, and drums or

an acoustic string band. “So I did the group

o our songs both ways, and then I also

overdubbed the string band onto the bass-and-drums version, which ended up being

the best. I went in that direction to finish

the record.”

Te album has a thoughtul balance o

intimacy and rich texture, and nary a note

or instrument eels out-o-place or superflu-

ous. Although Watkins is typically juggling

multiple projects – Nickel Creek, his solo

work, Fiction Family, and the Watkins

Family Hour, to name a ew – the record

clearly had his ull attention, careully crafed

and mature.

Watkins said that he’s also recently

finished scoring an indie film and produc-

ing a new album by om Brosseau. For now,

though, he’s ocusing on touring behind

What to Fear , and he said Nickel Creek hasno plans at this point to ollow up on 2014’s

A Dotted Line – the trio’s first album innine years.

“We’re all sort o in it or a while,” he said,

beore noting that Sara has a couple projects

in the works, and Tile will in the all betaking over hosting duties o public radio’s

A Prairie Home Companion show. When Iasked whether Tile’s gig might making tour-

ing difficult or Nickel Creek, he laughed and

said, “Yeah. I imagine it will.”

Sean Watkins will perform on Tursday, April14, at the Redstone Room (129 Main Street,Davenport; RiverMusicExperience.org). Teshow starts at 7:30 p.m. and also includes

Anthony D’Amato. Advance tickets are $19.

For more information on Sean Watkins, visitSeanWatkins.com.

MUSIC By Je Ignatius [email protected]

Sean Watkins


14/20


WATCH IT

mediacomtoday.com

Charlie Kaufman's painfully

acute and trenchantstop-motion-animated comedy

keeps your brain hummingthroughout, and in the vocal

personages of David Thewlis, Jennifer Jason Leigh, and Tom

Noonan, it also does quite anumber on your heart.

(Same day as DVD.)

The confident, quick-witted

comedy partners Tina Fey and Amy

Poehler are alternately spiky andendearing in director JasonMoore’s slapstick, and their shared performance rhythm makes them

immediately believable astemperamentally opposite

best-friend sibs. (Same day asDVD.)

This action-franchise finale hastension and grandeur andoutstanding visual effects, yettucked amidst them are tiny,beautifully human touches thatmake its world of Panem one that,in the end, truly seems worthsaving. (Same day as DVD.)

Ask the

AdviceGoddessBY AMY ALKON

Got A Problem? Ask Amy Alkon.171 Pier Ave, #280, Santa Monica, CA 90405

or e-mail [email protected] (AdviceGoddess.com)©2016, Amy Alkon, all rights reserved.

We’ll Always Have ParasiteWhen I got remarried, I inherited a step-

daughter. At the time, I was happy about

this. Tough she and my husband had been

estranged for many years, I was instrumen-

tal in getting them to reconcile. I’ve come

to regret this. She is a rage-aholic, spend-

aholic party girl. She has three DUIs and

an extravagant lifestyle that’s financially

draining her dad and me. Tough I have no

problem cutting her off, my husband can’tsay no to his little girl – which has us on

opposing ends of a bitter battle.

– Stressed-Out Stepmother

I you had the traditional kind o parasite,

you could just put a lit match to its butt.

Welcome to the bottomless hole o

wrongheaded sympathy – the daddy guilt

version o that “bottomless cup o coffee”

that (i you ask politely) the Denny’s waitress

will keep refilling until you finally die in

the booth. Obviously, your husband meanswell. Unortunately, he’s engaging in what’s

called “pathological altruism.” Te primary

researcher on this, Dr. Barbara Oakley,

explains it as an intention to help that actu-

ally ends up doing harm (sometimes to both

the do-good-er and the do-good-ee).

Enabling can eel so right in the moment,

Oakley explains – in part because we get some-

thing out o it: activation o the same regions o

the brain that “light up” rom drugs and gam-

bling. (Say hello to the “helper’s high.”) Reusing

to “help,” on the other hand, is uncomortable

and tends to lead to ugly interactions, like

screaming matches i Daddy says no to putting

his retirement money into retiring last season’s

Versace or this season’s Vuitton.

Being judiciously helpul takes asking theeel-bad questions, such as “What’s the likely

result o consistently attaching a garden hose

to our bank account and washing away any

consequences rom Princess Partyhardy’s

actions?” Tat’s a question that should get

answered beore she gets her ourth DUI –possibly leading to a need or somebody to

pick up not only the cost o the ancy DUI

lawyer but the pieces o some cute five-year-

old rom along the side o the road.

You can keep telling your husband this

until your teeth all out, but because o his

emotional ensnarement – along with the ear

and anger that you’ll try to stop him – he’ll

probably just fight harder to go along with her

little-girl-voiced shakedowns. And though,

with your emotional distance, you have a

clearer eye on how your step-sponge is play-

ing her dad, there are surely a ew rationality-

eating emotions bubbling up in you. Tere’s

got to be anger (because your money’s getting

tossed down the drunken-spendy-princess

hole) and some ear (that you’ll end up on a

street corner, begging people to drop change

into your “World’s Greatest Stepmom” mug).

Fear and anger make or the worst argu-

ment partners. Tey trigger the amygdala, a

central player in the brain’s threat-detectioncircuit. It, in turn, sounds the alarm, trigger-

ing the release o fight-or-flight hormones

and shutting down unctions not needed

to battle or bolt, such as – whoops! – higher

reasoning. And more bad news: When you

keep repeating a behavior, your brain cells

go, “Wait – we do this all the time. Let’s put

that on auto.” And this is what has happened

here – which is to say, you two could be doing

permanent damage to your relationship.

Advice columnists tend to squawk likeparrots, “Terapy! Terapy!” (Like that

option wouldn’t otherwise occur to anybody.)

However, in your situation – because you two

can’t seem to dial down the “bitter battle” –

there is an intermediary you should consider

engaging: a mediator. (Look or a marital one

at Mediate.com) Mediation is dispute resolu-

tion. It’s issue-ocused, so it’s worlds aster

than therapy. (Te mediator won’t take a

month to figure out how you really elt when

you were six and you didn’t get that cookie.)Te mediator’s job is to dial down the

emotional temperature and get you two

listening to each other – to the point where

you understand each other’s eelings. (Tis

is how you come to empathize with people –

which motivates you to act in their interests

and not just in your own.) Te mediator

then guides you to come to a decision as a

couple and can help you set up a ramework

or discussing emotionally charged issues so

date night doesn’t devolve into hate night.

Still, it’s important to recognize that every

problem isn’t perectly solvable. What’s

essential, however, is the C word – compro-

mise: understanding that you ultimately win

by being willing to lose a little. Tis means

accepting that you won’t always get the exact

outcome you want – which, in this case,

would probably involve picking up a time

machine at Best Buy so you could go per-

suade your stepdaughter’s mother to have a

purse dog instead o a child.


15/20


Movie Reviews By Mike Schulz • [email protected] and Grimmer

BATMAN V SUPERMAN:DAWN OF JUSTICE

B

atman v Superman: Dawn of Justice never

gets better than its wittily imagined, nar-

ratively essential scene o mass destruc-tion five minutes into the movie. It never gets

worse than the thunderously oppressive, soul-

draining two hours and 20 minutes that ollow.Director Zack Snyder does, however, give

those 140 minutes a run or their money with

one o his signature slow-motion preludes

– a dream sequence, no less – that instantly

establishes his typically clunky handling o

plot signifiers and porn-y etishization o vio-

lence. (I couldn’t tell i it was intentionally or

unconsciously symbolic that this opener liter-

ally climaxes with a pearl necklace.) But once

Snyder wraps up his shorthanded account o

Batman’s origin – Hey, did you know Bruce

Wayne’s parents were gunned down when

he was a kid?! Did you know he ell into a

cave filled with bats?! – DC’s comic-book

sequel-slash-ranchise-starter actually does

something rather revolutionary: It apologizes

or the movie that preceded it.

Tat movie, o course, is 2013’s Man of Steel ,

Snyder’s thuddingly portentous and dull Super-

man reboot that earned widespread derision

or its closing scenes o destructive mayhem. I

you haven’t blocked the whole, ugly experience

rom memory, you’ll recall that Man of Steelended with an aerial battle above Metropolis

that resulted in buildings collapsing and the

unquestionable loss o hundreds o lives, none

o which the villainous General Zod (under-

standably) or our hero (ar less understandably)

appeared to give two hoots about. Batman v

Superman, cleverly and importantly, addresses

that issue immediately, because it turns out that

one o those collapsed buildings was a Metro-

politan skyscraper owned by Bruce Wayne –

who, as we’re shown, watches impotently rom

aar as his business partners and employees die,

with Superman seemingly responsible.

Despite its discomorting 9/11 implica-

tions, there are so many things right with this

sequence that it’s nearly bracing. Naturally,

the film’s very title poses a quandary: What

confluence o events could possibly lead to the

DC universe’s two most iconic figures finding

themselves separated by a v ? And the assump-

tion that one directly caused the deaths o the

other’s riends proves an excellent starting point

– uel or Batman’s growing distrust and rage

and Superman’s guilt-ridden melancholy. Yet

there are other perks. Viewed mostly as araway

spectacle rom the perspectives o Metropolis’

terrified citizenry, the CGI and sound effects

that elt so bludgeoning in Man of Steel ’s finale

have a queasy, evocative power in this context.

Plus, with its ground-level take on the melee

above, Snyder’s usually irritating shaky-cam

shots finally serve an actual purpose beyondsel-conscious stylization; the presentation, or

once, matches the on-screen panic.

Everything about this early, beautiully

paced sequence, including itsde facto apology

or Man of Steel ’s casual cruelty, suggests

that – miracle o miracles! – Snyder actu-

ally learned a ew lessons rom his previous

superhero outing. But i he did, they were

lessons quickly orgotten, because the rest o

his latest is just as overbearing and humorless

and hellish to sit through as Man of Steel , withthe added detriment o eeling less like a movie

than an endlessly extended teaser or uture

movies. At one point near the finale, just when

colliding events are reaching their boiling

points, the narrative actually stops or a wholly

needless detour introducing characters that

will figure prominently in the orthcoming

Justice League film. I was hal-surprised that

our Batman v Superman screening itsel didn’t

stop, with ushers brought out to sell advance

tickets or the summer o 2017.I’ve gone this ar without remotely detailing

the plot, and there doesn’t seem much point; in a

nutshell, Lex Luther contrives or our heroes to

fight, and then they do fight, and then they team

up to fight some sort o Kryptonian-human

hybrid that looks like an oversize, pissed-off

Ninja urtle without his shell. But Snyder, as

he’s proven innumerable times, doesn’t much

care about his stories, either. Tey’re basically

just excuses or mindless brutality, awkward

posturing, desaturated colors, and pushy

religious symbolism, all o which is deeply in

evidence in Batman v Superman – as is his care-

lessness in the handling o actors, nearly all o

whom, it appears, needed more guidance than

Snyder was willing or able to provide. Blessedly,

Holly Hunter, who’s sensational as a righteous

senator with a grade-A bullshit detector, exudes

a natural spark that elevates her rom the torpor.

But Ben Affleck’s Batman/Bruce Wayne and

Henry Cavill’s Superman/Clark Kent seem to becompeting or “Mopiest Hero/Alter Ego Alive”

honors while other major players (Amy Adams,

Laurence Fishburne, Jeremy Irons, Diane Lane,

Scoot McNairy, Gal Gadot) just seem distracted

or bored. As or Jesse Eisenberg, heaven knows

his Lex Luthor doesn’t appear to be either, but

the actor’s coke-addict-afer-our-Red-Bulls

routine is so intensely, obnoxiously tic-y that I

was praying or Batman’s utility belt to come

equipped with an elephant tranquilizer.

It should go without saying that the applausegreeting my screening’s conclusion depressed

me to no end. But I was less depressed by the

response than by its coming so soon afer simi-

lar applause or Deadpool , a comic-book movie

that cheerully mocks everything Snyder and

company treat as holy writ, and that actually

has the audacity to be fun. Batman v Super-

man: Dawn of Justice is no un at all. And

God help us, with umpteen Justice League

installments and offshoots already scheduled,

it’s just the beginning. Lamenting the decay o

Gotham City here, Affleck’s Caped Crusader

rhetorically asks, “How many good guys are

lef?” oo many, Batman. Way too many.

For reviews of My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2, Allegiant, Miracles rom Heaven,and othercurrent releases, visit RiverCitiesReader.com.

Follow Mike on witter at witter.com/ MikeSchulzNow.

Henry Cavill in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice


16/20


FREE WILL ASTROLOGY By Rob Brezsny

Go to RealAstrology.com to check out Rob Brezsny’sEXPANDED WEEKLY AUDIO HOROSCOPES

& DAILY TEXT MESSAGE HOROSCOPESThe audio horoscopes are also available by phone at

1-877-873-4888 or 1-900-950-7700

ARIES (March 21-April 19):

According to my astrological analysis,

you would benefit prooundly rom

taking a ride in a jet fighter plane 70,000 eetabove the earth. In act, I think you really need

to experience weightlessness as you soar aster

than the speed o sound. Luckily, there’s an

organization, MiGFlug (MiGFlug.com), that can

provide you with this healing thril l. (I just hope

you can afford the $18,000 price tag.) APRIL

FOOL! I do in act think you should treat

yoursel to unprecedented thrills and transcen-

dent adventures. But I bet you can accomplish

that without being quite so extravagant.

AURUS (April 20-May 20): “Peopleonly get really interesting when they

start to rattle the bars o their cages,”

says philosopher Alain de Botton. I that’s true,

aurus, you must be on the verge o becoming

very interesting. Metaphorically speaking,

you’re not just rattling the bars o your c

River Cities' Reader - Issue 905 - March 31, 2016

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