On a mild and sunny Sunday afternoon a dozen widely recognizable local musicians gathered in a nondescript Bettendorf church perched just below the peak of a hill I spent my childhood winters sledding down. Despite spending the majority of my childhood a meager two blocks from this building, this was my first time stepping beyond the doorway. Once inside I was led to a room commonly used for daycare and was quickly informed that about 60 children would be running around here in less than 24 hours. However, the stage where the music came calling from, book-ended by matching Christmas trees, was now occupied by a collective of certified local All-Stars rehearsing songs we could all sing along to if only we had the confidence of those currently holding down the stage. These songs, Christmas classics from the likes of Nat King Cole, Bing Crosby, as well as more modern artists like Taylor Swift, will be filling the expanses of Moline’s Spotlight Theatre for 4 shows the weekend of December 16th/17th. There’s an interesting crossover that a show held in an old Cathedral is being preceded by rehearsal within a space with its own connection to organized faith.
However, it’s the music that is the focus here, and the reason such a representation of the local scene was congregated in these hallowed halls. Including artists from The Dawn, Wontu Trees, Rude Punch, Heads In Motion, and more, including an entire horn section that unfortunately was not in attendance for this run-through. Given the mix of artists from local acts that play so frequently it’s nearly impossible to not have seen at least one of them in recent months, it’s no surprise the level of performance we’ve come to expect from these All Sweat events. Though the process it takes to reach that polished finish is not a simple task, even when it comes to such recognizable classics as featured in this show.
There’s a feeling here somewhere between band practice and preparing for a grade-school holiday pageant with a much more exalted level of skill. While the process of going from discussing beats per minute, and where solos will eventually fill songs, to having a completed piece could seem tedious and tense to some, between the welcoming hugs and laughter bouncing off the walls the tension was far from noticeable. The joy permeated the room and went far beyond the lyrical content of the songs being studied.
While most people are familiar with seeing a band’s final product, the prep needed to bring together this level of collaboration is likely foreign to many. It takes being willing to teach where needed, but an even greater ability to learn and be malleable to what each composition calls for. Musicians are switching in and out as songs shift, and like each song, every artist has their own personality that plays into the performance, and there must be balance between it all. What may seem like overly dictated direction to some is simply composed guidance from fellow musicians, as this is a collective, a chain that knows how little it can hold if those with stronger connections to the songs don’t find a path to help the “weaker” links to find their strength as well. I use this only as a means of showcasing what it takes to keep a machine like this moving in the right direction because there’s no genuine weakness here, and the final shows will exhibit that. Every musician in this room is more than deserving of their role in this performance and there’s a tangible respect shared between all.
The difference between hearing a song and running over it on your own to it being conducted as a full piece is a major step, and then having the ability to take that from a room of friends to a theatre of strangers takes something more entirely. This is a learning experience for everyone in the room, an inactive classroom teaching patience and persistence within expression. Often, with any art form, we approach the final product without placing too much thought into the process that brought it to life, and I feel that to be a faulty way of perceiving any type of art. Try to change that perspective a bit, because what seemingly boils down to 4 shows over a single weekend during the busiest hours of the year took far more time, care, and passion than 4 shows could ever give due credit. Art can easily be restricted to a temporary moment, and that’s a flawed view because be it a canvas or a stage, expression extends far behind and beyond what we experience in a singular space.
