Saturday In The Arts is a weekly look at intriguing personalities and trends on the local arts scene, presented every Saturday morning, on your site for fun, free, local entertainment and features, QuadCities.com.   October 1978 was a heavenly time to be a Billy Joel fan. Just days before I got to see “The Piano Man” live for the first time (in Milwaukee), I bought his new record, “52nd Street” at the mall, and nearly floated all the way my walk home, devouring the lyrics on the back cover. Despite the technological advances of CDs, MP3s, YouTube, and digital streaming services, many... Read More

Remember the “cornchip” days? Recall those halcyon times of the ’80s when goth, new wave, synth pop, indie pop and other outlier music mixed with outsider status, skinny ties, funky haircuts, long coats and lots and lots of black? You wore black on the outside because black is how you felt on the inside, and life was as heavy as your thoughts you scrawled in your specially designed journal. And, if you lived in and around the Quad-Cities, you hung out at a little spot called Stage 2. If you still recall those days, you’re going to want to check out DJ Shane Brown’s... Read More

Yeah, yeah, we know, it’s Saturday night and, well, this sucks. You want to be out having a great time, listening to loud music, enjoying your friends and some cold beverages, and instead you’re boarded up in your house like it’s the zombie apocalypse. Well, consider DJ Shane Brown your sonic Negan, slaying the beats like they’re the undead with his mixing board Lucille. Yes, I really did write that. You’re damn right I did. Hey, I’ve been stuck inside the last three days just like you. I’m just trying to get through it without envying the squirrels too... Read More

For one night only, DJ Shane Brown was back at the club he helped to make famous, 2nd Ave in downtown Rock Island, spinning new dance tracks and a few classics mixed in. Shane is normally at the McClellan Stockade in the Village of East Davenport, but he couldn’t resist the invitation to come back to the Ave to spin, and the packed dance floor was likewise happy to see the veteran DJ back on the tables!    Read More