Quadsville

What a night. I headed out to Daytrotter's Barnstorming Tour, which featured a Tuesday night show at the Secrest 1883 Octagonal Barn near Downey, Iowa.

I forgot my camera, so you'll have to forgive the quality of my cell phone photos, but the barn was hands down the coolest setting for any show I've ever been to.

The 126-year-old barn was massive. I have no idea how something so large could be built, practically in the middle of nowhere, during the 1800s. The walls are lined with old tools and farm equipment, all of which looks like it could easily be used as a torture device in a horror movie.

There was an odd juxtaposition of original wood and very old electrical work with the crowd of about 75 people taking photos with iPhones and video with flip cameras, but it was a great location for a show.

The show started about two hours late, which ended up being a good thing because it took that long for a tow truck to come and unlock my car when I set my purse in the trunk to grab a chair and a friend shut it, not realizing my keys were inside. Thank goodness for roadside assistance.

All of the bands put on stellar sets, but Local Natives, which is playing again at tonight's Barnstorming show, stole the show. The five-piece band sings in perfect harmony and has a vocal tone similar to Iron and Wine, but gets much more intense during their rhythmic songs. They were a real treat to listen to.

Mac Lethal, who joined the tour yesterday, also gave a noteworthy performance. The white rapper does not fit into the indie rock mold and his lyrics are not for the faint of heart or easily offended, but his social commentary is worth a listen.

Daytrotter has one last stop on its Barnstorming Tour tonight in Coon Rapids, Iowa.

Quad-City Times and other news media photographers were not allowed in the Col Ballroom to photograph the Kevin Costner concert last night, so we didn't get any shots of him or the other celebrities in attendance. But in this world of cell phone cameras, we're wondering whether any of you have photos of the concert (including Hugh Jackman and Richard Marx among the audience) that you took with your phone?

You can e-mail them to me at sdepasquale@qctimes.com or send them in a twit pic to me @S_DePasquale on Twitter.

Also, we know Costner was seen in a restaurant and on the streets of downtown Davenport yesterday, so e-mail me if you made a celebrity sighting before, during or after the concert.

I braved the thunderstorms Friday night to catch William Elliott Whitmore at RIBCO. I didn't see his show the last time he was in town, and there was no way I was going to miss the Iowa native again.

Although I cursed my decision to wear a dress as I stood under the hand dryer in the ladies room, the concert more than made up for dealing with the rough weather.

A happily intoxicated Whitmore entertained the crowd with not just his deep voice, guitar and banjo, but also with his storytelling.

The crowd heard about his distrust of the government because he says it plans to bomb the moon.

"Can we have some health care? No, but we can blow some s--- up on the moon," he said.

Whitmore assured everyone that he was really speaking the truth and to go home and Google it for themselves. A Google search reveals that NASA has launched a program to send a missile to the moon to determine whether ice exists under its surface, which would be helpful in terms of supporting a manned base there. The missile launch is scheduled Oct. 8.

In other shenanigans that only seem to happen when alcohol is involved, Whitmore recalled that during his last show at RIBCO, a woman threw a drink and the glass it was in at her boyfriend, resulting in her arrest. However, the same woman was at Friday night's show as well, and Whitmore appropriately played "Johnny Law" and later "Take It on the Chin" in her honor.

"She went to jail last time, so I'm going to play the song she requested," said Whitmore, who performed several crowd shoutouts during the evening.

But perhaps the best moment of the night was Whitmore's performance of "Black Iowa Dirt." He closed the show with the the track, but in an effort to make the song as long as possible, he told the story behind the song between verses. That involved blowing up a bowling ball on his farm in Lee County while intoxicated.

It was one heck of a show.

Mija, formerly known as Humans, has tightened up it rhythm section, creating a pop sound with '70s transitions.

At the Go&Do Live Sessions, Mija performed two untitled songs, "Tail of the Two-Headed Serpent," "Ahmira" and "Squids."

Daytrotter.com operator Sean Moeller is attempting something he has never tried before. He's booked Daytrotter shows across the state of Iowa and in Madison, Wis., and the indie rock acts on the bill will be playing in barns and attics.

While Twitter feeds indicate that fans from as far away as Nashville, Tenn., and New York are planning to come along and camp out, the tour is really meant to show Iowa that Daytrotter shows are just a short drive away.

"The idea really is to get the state of Iowa understanding that Daytrotter is here and that it exists and it's basically in their backyard," Moeller said from the Daytrotter studio in downtown Rock Island. While the Web site has gained a loyal following of indie rock fans waiting for their free daily music download, statistics show the site doesn't get much traffic from Quad-City and Iowa residents.

"It's disheartening a little bit. We have this thing that we're hoping can branch into something that people can touch and feel with these live shows," Moeller said.

The kickoff show will be at Moeller's home, which is located at the turnaround point for the Quad-City Times Bix 7 road race, at 11 a.m. Saturday, July 25. Moeller has already heard from some local fans who are planning to tag along for the entire tour.

The ultimate goal is to increase attendance at Daytrotter Presents shows at Huckleberry's Pizza Parlor and RIBCO in The District of Rock Island because, Moeller said, with a larger crowd, he could get bigger acts to add a show onto their schedule when they come in to record a Daytrotter session.

"For the last few months, it really has just felt sort of stagnant around here. We've been putting on what I consider to be top-level shows and bringing some really great talent around, and I just haven't been seeing the kind of turnouts that would get anybody excited," he said. "The bands still have have a good time. They're basically here to do a Daytrotter session, that's the reason they're in town. But I feel really bad that we can't give them a packed house."

Check out the Barnstorming schedule here.

I should preface this blog with the full disclosure that I came of age when boy bands and Britney Spears reigned supreme. And when Britney was still going strong with "Toxic," I was going nuts on makeshift dance floors in the unfinished basements of college rental houses.

But a few years ago, I was introduced to Daytrotter.com, the Web site based in Rock Island that offers free downloads of exclusive sessions with up-and-coming indie artists.

The Web site forever changed my music listening habits. No longer would I be satisfied with just any top-40 hit featuring a decent beat that was played on mainstream radio. I found myself craving indie rock, and the only place I could hear it was on my iPod, where I store all my free downloads from Daytrotter.

That is until I discovered XMU on Sirius Satellite Radio. My fiance has several satellite radio channels as part of his TV package, and as I've been spending more time at his place getting it ready for me to move in after our wedding, I stumbled across XMU.

The channel plays all indie rock all the time without commercials, which is seriously the best aspect of it. Some of my new favorites, The Decemberists, Spoon, Sonic Youth, and Iron and Wine all are played regularly on the station.

Since several of the artists on XMU also have recorded sessions at Daytrotter, there is a good chance the artists you hear on the channel will be in the Quad-Cities for a live show. Tiny Vipers is the latest example of an artist featured on the channel who has played the Quad-Cities - just last month, in fact.

If you have satellite radio, check out XMU. But beware. Once you go indie rock, you never go back ... unless it's to preorder Britney Spears' "Circus," which I totally admit to and have no regrets about.