River Music Experience — with other local businesses and nonprofits that make their home in the historic Redstone building in downtown Davenport – has a lot to celebrate, including the planned opening of a new Zeke’s Island Café and re-starting of the free weekly Live@Five concert series. They all will celebrate the start of the summer on Friday, June 4 with their first outdoor concert of the year, and a building-wide Open House. The 1892 Redstone (129 Main St.) is welcoming its newest tenants, Underground Economy and Zeke’s Island Café. The building now houses two restaurants —... Read More

When live, in-person music was wiped out last year, Davenport-based River Music Experience provided a priceless lifeline – they brought music out to private residences in the Quad-Cities with Curbside Concerts. Now they’re back for a second year. With all the outdoor shows (in private yards, curbs, driveways and cul-de-sacs), events sponsored by Russell Construction for essential workers, and curbside caroling, RME hosted 350 concerts and reached 7,260 people from April to December 2020, RME director of entertainment Kate Dale said Monday. They contracted with about a dozen local artists, plus... Read More

The month-old Jambrella movement is quickly gaining steam, as Jambrella Productions is having a big jam event Friday night to raise money for local musicians. There are also plans to have a second major festival outdoors on Saturday, June 12 to coincide with the 17th anniversary of River Music Experience. The first massive Jambrella music festival – aimed to give back to local musicians and bars – was a major success Feb. 26 at The Mound in the Village of East Davenport, raising $7,006. Artists who performed that night included Molly Durnin, Far Out 283, Angela Meyer, Fair Warning, 3 On... Read More

Wednesday was a day not only for national celebration, with the inauguration, but for the Quad Cities Cultural Trust. The organization gathered its six funded partners in person for the first time since the pandemic started, to mark exceeding its 2021 fundraising goal; record-breaking allocations in 2020 for the partners, and a new Quad City Arts mural that bursts with color and purpose on the west side of the River Music Experience building at 2nd and Main streets, Davenport. Over the last 13 years, QCCT has provided annual unrestricted funds (over $11 million total) to the Figge Art Museum, Putnam... Read More

Saturday In The Arts is a comprehensive weekly feature looking at a trend, personality, or major subject involving the Quad-Cities arts and entertainment scene. This past week was an historic one for the nation, as well as for Davenport-based River Music Experience. Five Americans died as a result of the massive Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, as pro-Trump insurrectionists disrupted the certification of the Electoral College presidential results. That same Wednesday, RME postponed the planned celebration of the online Music Lab’s 200th episode that afternoon. The half-hour weekday... Read More

While the live-music industry has been decimated by coronavirus, including Davenport’s River Music Experience, it was the massive insurrection 843 miles away in Washington, D.C. on Wednesday that postponed the planned online 200th episode of RME’s Music Lab. Wednesday, RME posted on Facebook they were postponing the episode until Thursday due to the chaos in Washington, D.C., at the Capitol building. “This is a historic moment in our nation’s history. As we witness a violent assault on our capitol and attempted coup on our democracy, we believe every American should be following these... Read More

Saturday In The Arts is a comprehensive weekly feature looking at a trend, personality, or major subject involving the Quad-Cities arts and entertainment scene. Making it through nearly five months of a paralyzing pandemic was bad enough, but for those of us in Iowa and the Quad-Cities, Aug. 10, 2020 and the days that followed seemed especially cruel. I’ll never forget that Monday afternoon, working on my laptop in the basement, a prisoner in my home trying not to go insane during a crazy year. The power suddenly went out, as a freak inland hurricane (or “derecho” – duh-RAY-cho – as everyone... Read More

Eleven cultural organizations and three artists in the Quad-Cities were among those to receive a share of $7 million in new grants announced Tuesday by the Iowa Department of Cultural Affairs. A total of 267 cultural organizations and 152 artists serving 118 Iowa communities will get funding, made possible by the Coronavirus, Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act, on Dec. 2. The department launched the Iowa Arts & Culture Recovery Program the same day and received more than 550 requests totaling more than $36 million by the Dec. 11 deadline. The list of recipients includes some of Iowa’s... Read More

As the weather has turned colder, the River Music Experience is working to warm some hearts, building on the success of its 2020 Curbside Concerts by launching holiday Curbside Carols for December. Executive director Tyson Danner said Friday there have been nearly 200 curbside concerts since the spring, where local musicians went out to private homes and neighborhoods in the area (within a 10-mile radius of RME in downtown Davenport) and played for about a half hour, for a suggested donation of $60. That will return next spring, because they don’t want to do any indoor performances yet, he said.... Read More

Joy Avenue Media and the River Music Experience present J.A.M. SESSIONS – local bands, live in real time from the JAM studio. J.A.M. Session, featuring Winterland, will take place this Saturday Oct 24 at 7 p.m. on the Joy Avenue Media Facebook Page. River Music Experience is partnering with Joy Avenue Media to present high-quality, free livestreams of the best QC bands, providing safe live music to our community. Tips and donations to the band help cover production costs. Tune in on the Joy Avenue Media Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/joyavenuemedia To view past streams, like and... Read More