FALL GUIDE 2010

Pick up the River Cities' Reader Fall Guide for a three-month calendar that covers the who, what, when, and where of more than 1,300 events in the Quad Cities. From festivals, live music, classes, and drama to lectures, sports, and children's activities, our readers use it to find out what's new and what to do.




Sean O’Harrow’s Exit Interview: Figge Executive Director Accepts University of Iowa Museum Position

By Jeff Ignatius - 8/18/2010
In Sean O'Harrow's telling, the Figge Art Museum is gaining an ally as much as it's losing an executive director.
It was announced last week that O'Harrow has accepted the directorship of the University of Iowa Museum of Art (UIMA), at which he'll start on November 15. A national search for O'Harrow's replacement is expected to take at least four months.
"It is my faith in this region that is keeping me here," O'Harrow said in an interview Friday. "I think there's a lot that eastern Iowa can achieve. There are a lot of great museums and great cultural offerings which I think need to be better promoted, to a certain extent organized, maybe coordinated."And he said that after three years as executive director, he' s leaving the Figge in good shape.
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What's Happenin': Fall, 2010

By Mike Schulz -  8/19/10
Featured events for the next two weeks and highlights including Floatzilla, Ozzie Smith: A Day at the Park with the Wizard, RIBCO's River City Beer Festiv-ale, events at the Adler Theatre, i wireless Center and Capitol Theatre, and more!  Click  here to read more.

Rethinking the Corporate-Income Tax

By Mark W. Hendrickson - 8/19/2010
It is hard to find anything positive to say about the corporate-income (i.e., profits) tax. Economists across the ideological spectrum agree that the corporate-profits tax is woefully inefficient:
1) It warps corporate decision-making, inducing expenditures made only to reduce a company's tax liability.
2) The compliance costs are astronomical, often exceeding 60 cents for every dollar of revenue that the government raises from taxing corporate profits. How would you like to spend $6,000 per year calculating that you owe Uncle Sam $10,000?
3) It fosters over-reliance on debt. Corporations often need to borrow money to replace funds that government taxed. In fact, the tax code encourages debt, making corporate debt tax-deductible.
The corporate-profits tax is also ethically problematic.
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Doing It Again: Nick Curran & the Lowlifes, August 30 at RIBCO

By Jeff Ignatius - 8/13/2010
Nick Curran's Reform School Girl starts with Etta James' "Tough Lover," in which the Austin, Texas-based singer, songwriter, and guitarist breaks out his best Little Richard impression while staying true to James' performance, from the opening growl forward. The album ends with AC/DC's "Rocker." In between are 12 Curran originals that make the compelling case that the essence of rock and roll didn't change much from 1956 (when "Tough Lover" was released) to 1975 ("Rocker") to 2010 (Reform School Girl). Curran, who will perform with his band the Lowlifes at RIBCO on August 30, brings punk ferocity and grit to decidedly old-school rock, rockabilly, and blues. His music is undoubtedly retro, but his treatment of classic styles is so earnest, dirty, and fiery that it's impossible to fault him. Click here to read more.


E-X-C-E-L-L-E-N-T: "The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee," at the Harrison Hilltop Theatre through August 28

By Thom White - 8/16/10
The Harrison Hilltop Theatre's The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee is both outrageously hilarious and poignantly touching. I laughed harder than I've laughed in a long time during Thursday's opening-night performance, and I wasn't alone in offering up hearty guffaws, with the capacity crowd cackling with delight throughout the evening's entertainment.Directors Jason Platt and Tristan Tapscott keep the musical story of a fictional spelling bee (and the oddball kids participating in it) flowing at a comfortable pace; it's never slow, but never so fast that the jokes fly by, forcing you to try to catch up with them. And there are wisecracking one-liners aplenty, most of them delivered by Pat Flaherty, who has a real gift for dry humor. 
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Dancing with Death: "Wit," at the Village Theatre through August 29

By Thom White - 8/16/10
It is with great apprehension that I write this review of the Curtainbox Theatre Company's production of Wit, fearing I will not do it justice. The script's themes are so distressing and touching, the show's direction so meticulously wrought, and the lead actress' portrayal so rivetingly intense that I don't have the words to convey the depth to which Friday's production pierced the theatre space... and my heart. I left humbled, and will likely re-evaluate my priorities in life for days to come, certain that the production will result in a permanent change in my perspectives. That's how profoundly moving Wit is.   Click here to read more.


Art History Minor: "Sunday in the Park with George," through August 22 at the Clinton Area Showboat Theatre

By Thom White - 8/17/10
There's one thing that appears missing from Clinton Area Showboat Theatre's Sunday in the Park with George: adequate rehearsal time. Actually, there are a number of things partially absent in this offering - polished performances, accurate notes, emotion - but they all stem from what seems to have been not enough time to adequately prepare the piece. To quote lyrics from the show, "art isn't easy," but it's certainly easier than prepping a Stephen Sondheim production in two weeks.  Click here to read more.


Ex Men (and a Woman) United: "Scott Pilgrim Vs. the World" and "The Expendables"

By Mike Schulz 8/15/2010

SCOTT PILGRIM VS. THE WORLD

Is there any working film director who adores actors more than Edgar Wright? I ask this after recently viewing (for maybe the sixth time) the British helmer's action spoof Hot Fuzz and (for maybe the millionth) the untouchable zombie satire Shaun of the Dead, comedies with the rare distinction of being populated entirely with sharp, funny performers; even the walk-ons - or, in Shaun's case, the lurch- and stumble-ons - are charismatic. And after seeing the director's latest, Scott Pilgrim Vs. the World, I think a wholly reasonable case can be made for Wright being the best friend that anyone with a SAG card and a dream could ever hope for. You could fill 110 movies with the joyous onslaught of personality on display in this movie's 110 minutes.  Click here to read more.

THE EXPENDABLES

Sylvester Stallone is where irony goes to die, and it dies many small deaths in The Expendables, director/co-writer/monolith Stallone's homage to every steroid-enhanced action flick from the 1980s that you likely never want to see, or even think about, again. Yet even as someone who scrupulously avoided such titles as Cobra, Red Scorpion, and Raw Deal 20-plus years ago, I still had enough of a guilty fondness for the trashy, period oeuvres of Stallone, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Bruce Willis, and Dolph Lundgren to be mildly psyched about this bloody blow-'em-up for AARP members, one in which all the genre staples appear to be accounted for: rescue missions, drug runners, frenzied marketplace chases with carts of fruits and vegetables toppling over. And I was prepared to forgive The Expendables a lot of its inevitable failings. But there's one failing I simply can't forgive the movie for: It's dull as hell.  Click here to read more.

By Lynn Campbell - 8/16/10
Standing on the steps in front of the Iowa Judicial Building, former Republican gubernatorial candidate Bob Vander Plaats of Sioux City on Wednesday announced the launch of Iowa for Freedom, a campaign aimed at unseating three Iowa Supreme Court justices who were part of the unanimous Varnum V. Brien decision that legalized same-sex marriage in Iowa.   Click here to read more.


Could Quinn Sink the Entire Democratic Party?

By Rich Miller - 8/19/2010
There is no doubt whatsoever that Republicans in this state have every reason to cheer, and Democrats have all the reasons in the world to grumble.
Republicans have a fired-up, angry base that can't wait to vote. The Democratic base is morose, embarrassed at its party's failures, and in no mood to even think about voting.
Numerous pollsters and prognosticators have pointed to the eerie similarities between the public's mood now and at the same point in the huge Republican year of 1994 -- the last time we had a Democratic president facing his first midterm election.
The latest national CNN/Opinion Research poll found that the "generic" congressional ballot was pretty much the same as it was in August of 1994. Voters favor unnamed Republican candidates over Democrats 48-45, compared to 46-44 in 1994. Public Policy Polling's latest survey had the national generic ballot favoring Republicans at 45-42.
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