Published in the Quad-City Times on Dec. 17. 2023

Kicking back on a couch in his Rock Island recording studio, Pat Stolley had reasons to be mournful. But he wasn’t. 

Stolley is a veteran of the Quad-Cities music scene and former Daytrotter Studios engineer. He’s the bassist in Running Man, a local rock supergroup of sorts (though the band jokingly rejects the pretention of that moniker).

Alongside influential and abrasive punk band The Queers, Running Man is playing the final show at Rock Island Brewing Company on Sunday. 

Earlier this month, RIBCO owner Terry Tilka announced that he’d be retiring and RIBCO would be closing Dec. 18. Tilka has been a bar tycoon in the Quad-Cities for more than 40 years and an advocate for The District in Rock Island. 

For local musicians, RIBCO has been a mainstay. 

“Pretty much every local band I can think of owes a portion of their career to Terry and the RIBCO stage,” wrote Quad-City Times columnist Shane Brown, who DJed at RIBCO for over a decade. 

Stolley met his wife in a RIBCO booth in the early nineties, and he estimates that he’s played around 20 shows there over the years. Running Man guitarist Chad Gooch ballparks about the same.

As the pair recalled memories from RIBCO’s past, “Say It Again,” the latest album from dreamy Rock Island band Subatlantic spun on vinyl in the corner of the studio. 

Neither musician can remember all the bands they’ve seen on the RIBCO stage, which has hosted now-massive touring acts like Jason Isbell, Dr. Dog, Neon Trees, The Wallflowers and Barenaked Ladies. 

Still, neither Stolley or Gooch are mourning. They know, with nonchalant confidence, that the show will go on. Because when it comes to music here in the Quad-Cities, it always has. 

“I go through Rock Island down there by RIBCO and I just see potential,” Stolley said. 

“Ten years from now, The District will probably be hopping again,” Gooch agreed, chiming in from his perch in the corner of the studio.

“Five years, hopefully,” Stolley corrected.

When Stolley and Gooch asserted their faith in the future of the music scene, it seems obvious to them because this is nothing new. Stolley said the local scene has always ebbed and flowed, but never faltered completely. 

“RIBCO holds a special place to me, but if a place closes, I’m not really that bummed because I know another one will pop up,” he said. “If we’re in a valley, there’s a peak coming.”

The city of Rock Island is hoping to see the same.

After Tilka announced his retirement at the end of November, Miles Brainard, Rock Island’s community economic development director, said via email that the future of The District is “promising.” 

“As (Tilka) transitions to a well-deserved retirement, the city hopes a new generation will pick up the mantle of RIBCO and the downtown as a whole,” Brainard said. 

When Running Man booked Sunday night’s show, they didn’t know it would be the final show at RIBCO.

The concert was orchestrated by the band’s lead vocalist Skip Greer, a Quad-Cities transplant who also fronts the nationally influential punk band The Dead Kennedys. 

Greer came up as a musician in the bustling San Francisco rock scene, and most recently lived in Brooklyn before moving to the Quad-Cities. Greer, who also performs in local theater productions, said he finds the sheer power of the Quad-Cities’ arts community impressive. 

“There is a very strong creative scene here. It is always hard to tell from these guys,” he said, gesturing to his bandmates, “How self aware it is of itself, how oblivious it is to its strength.” 

The Queers and Running Man all-ages show on Sunday will start at 8 p.m., with an $18 entry price.

For RIBCO, it’s going to be a busy weekend tying a bow on decades of Quad-Cities music history. On Saturday, local power pop band Einstein’s Sister, fresh off the release of their new EP, “Exit Strategies,” will play the venue. 

While Sunday night’s punk show was booked before Tilka’s retirement and the venue’s closure were made public, the Einstein’s Sister show was orchestrated as a conclusive send-off. 

Einstein’s Sister is a band led by tight-knit duo Kerry Tucker and Bill Douglas, both of whom have played in and around the Quad-Cities for more than 30 years. Douglas says they owe their career to Tilka.

In fact, his first-ever live show came at RIBCO.

Douglas’ songwriting partner, Tucker, had been playing with a band called The Vouchers at the time, who were booked to play the first RIBCO show after Tilka took the reins in 1992.

Before the gig, Tucker asked for permission to play a few acoustic songs with Douglas. It went well, and a long partnership between the duo and the venue began. 

“We started opening for national acts,” Douglas said, mentioning Leon Russell, Duke Robillard and Bad Examples.

“If it weren’t for Terry, we wouldn’t have gotten anywhere near as far as what we were able to accomplish.”

The show on Saturday night will be Einstein’s Sister’s chance to return the favor. Douglas said it will be an opportunity to celebrate RIBCO’s legacy and the music it has helped to thrive in the Quad-Cities. 

“There’s gonna be some guest musicians that are gonna show up that play in different bands,” Douglas said. “I don’t know that it’s going to be a free-for-all, but we’re gonna play some of our stuff and we’re gonna play a whole bunch of things that hopefully everyone’s gonna dig.”

Saturday night’s Einstein’s Sister show starts at 8 p.m., with a $10 cover at the door. It is 21-and-up. 

In Stolley’s recording studio, he and Running Man were still confident in what’s to come. 

With Subatlantic still humming on the turntable in the corner, Stolley listed off some of his favorite businesses in Rock Island outside of The District: Of course, there’s Ragged Records, owned by Running Man drummer Dennis Hockaday.

There’s also Rooster’s Sports Bar. And a canoe-maker, and the Hungry Hobo bakery, and a kiln manufacturer, and a wood turner … 

He trailed off. 

As the “Say it Again” A-side wound down, Stolley got up to flip the vinyl over.