Quadsville

I'm turning 25 later this month, and I thought it would be many more years before I wrote a "times have changed since I was young" blog. But here goes.

I covered the opening of Energy, a club for 14- to 19-year-olds that reopened Saturday night in the former Quad-City Suzuki location. I saw teenagers undulating against each other in ways I didn't witness until I went to college, and many girls were wearing much more makeup and significantly less clothing than I ever would have been allowed to leave the house in. Perhaps the worst moment was when I overheard one teenage guy say to his buddies, "Let's go find some hos."

Now there also were plenty of teens having good clean fun in age-appropriate clothing and makeup. And most of the teens seemed to be enjoying themselves, save one group of nice young men who, despite their best efforts and an hour of talking with the ladies, couldn't find anyone to dance with them.

I think Energy has the potential to be a very fun and safe nightspot for teens to spend their Saturday nights at, and I wish I would have had a place like it to go to when I was growing up in the Chicago suburbs.

In a way, I had it much easier because my television role model was "Buffy the Vampire Slayer," who didn't really have a sex life until the character was in college. Now, some girls are given sultry Bratz dolls as children, and less-than-innocent shows such as "Gossip Girl" are their examples of teenage life. It's no wonder some of the ladies showed up looking more like women than the teenagers they are and that some of the guys clearly lacked respect for them.

But I'm going to risk sounding much older than someone who was in high school seven short years ago and say that we, as a society, need to provide better role models for young people so they don't think they have to grow up so fast.

Show to see - Raised in Rockford, Ill., Ernie Hendrickson, an Americana folk singer/songwriter will have a CD release party at 10 p.m. tonight, Thursday, Oct. 29, at RIBCO, 1815 2nd Ave., Rock Island.

"Walking with Angels" is Hendrickson's second full-length solo album. Cover for the album release show is $4. For more information, visit www.ribco.com or www.erniehendrickson.com.

For teens - The "Twilight" events have already begun as fans gear up for next month's release of "New Moon," the second movie based on the popular series of vampire romance books. The Moline Public Library, 3210 41st St., will have a showing of "Twilight" at 2 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 31.

The event is free and open to all ages. For more information, visit www.molinelibrary.com.

For the family - Families can take advantage of pleasant fall weather and work off the calories from their Halloween candy during a bicycle tour of Arsenal Island at 2 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 1. The tour will include the Colonel Davenport Home, the old Moline Lock, Arsenal Quarters One and the Confederate Cemetery.

Helmets are mandatory, and adults must accompany children younger than 12 years. Register for the free ride by calling (309) 794-5338.

He said what? - Kyle Peters, the owner of the Daiquiri Factory in The District of Rock Island, on Michael Jackson's "Thriller":

"I don't think you can have Halloween without 'Thriller.' It's one of those things. I grew up with it. At Halloween, you always heard the 'Thriller' song. You just naturally associated it with Halloween."

Show to see
Tigercity, Rolling Stone's inaugural Artist to Watch, is coming to Huckleberry's Pizza Parlor, 223 18th St., Rock Island, for a Daytrotter Presents show.
The Massachusetts band, influenced by The Police, Daft Punk and Prince, has shared the stage with M.I.A., Jamie Lidell and Dr. Dog.
The show begins at 7 p.m., Sunday, March 29, with Birth Rites performing as the opener. Cover is $7.

For the family
Kids will get to see giant gas bags, burning money, a hovercraft and rockets during "Rockin' Science" today at the Family Museum, 2900 Learning Campus Drive, Bettendorf.
The program has two time slots, 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. "Rockin' Science" is free with museum admission, which is $6 for those 2 to 59 years old, $4 for senior citizens and free for members and children younger than 2 years.
For more information, visit www.familymuseum.org.

For teens
The second annual Teen Film Fest and Red Carpet Screening will be held tonight at the Putnam Museum and IMAX Theatre, 1717 W. 12th St., Davenport.
The screening will feature short films produced by area teens with the themes of: outtakes, book trailer and missing/unwritten scene.
The screening and red carpet event is free and will begin at 7 p.m. For more information, call (563) 326-7893 or click here to read the story in this week's Go&Do.

He said what?
Joe Larot, a founding member of JabbaWockeeZ, the first group to win the TV series "America's Best Dance Crew," on how its members come up with their dance routines:
"We usually goof around a lot. A lot of our concepts and a lot of our ideas come from us goofing around, just trying different movements, or we'll do something and laugh about it and then really use it."
To read more about the JabbaWockeeZ, read our online exclusive about the group by clicking here.

Sometimes there just isn’t room to get all the good bits of an interview into a story, so here are the extras from my conversation with JabbaWockeeZ founder Joe Larot.