At 6:30 a.m. on Saturday, the top of Brady Street was silent. Faint bird chirps and air conditioning hums were the soundtrack.
An hour later, a murmur of excitement started to build. Chatter between neighbors in lawn chairs built the crescendo. Just after 8 a.m., there was the national anthem. Then a starting gun.
And finally, a tidal wave of noise that followed the more than 16,000 runners for the 50th Quad-City Times Bix 7. The road race named after a musician was musical on Saturday. The patter of footsteps was percussive, and the clamor of cowbells was its accent.
But even when the pack thinned and the asphalt drum beat quieted, the music kept going, thanks to the roughly 30 musical performers set up along the 7-mile course, according to the list shared by the race's entertainment co-chair Chris Nelson.
These bands are the unsung heroes of the course, helping to turn the environment from a walk party to block party.
People are also reading…
"It brings a rhythm, it brings a hype," Nelson said. "I think there's motivation behind it, but it just helps add to that party atmosphere that we create."
Nelson said that the number of total performers is up this year, compared to last. The Bix 7 organizers got in touch with so many local musicians thanks to help from local nonprofit Common Chord.
Alongside co-chair PJ Scott, Nelson said they were strategic about where bands were placed. He was also proud of the range of genres.
"We've got polka bands, we've got a ukulele band, we've got country, we've got karaoke," he said. "We run the gamut."
Ukes back on Kirkwood once again
Those ukuleles could be heard at the corner of Kirkwood Blvd. and Iowa St., in front of the First Presbyterian Church. That's the Quad City Ukulele Club (QCUC), who have been playing at the Bix 7 for over 10 years.
Phil Vernon, the group's leader, said the band plays what he calls “jam tunes”, consisting of upbeat, rock and roll music from the '50s to '80s.
Runners, walkers, and fans of the QC Times Bix 7 enjoyed the range on Saturday. They played covers of popular tracks like "Sea of Love" and "Wagon Wheel," along with some classic favorites.
“A lot of people, when they hear that it’s a ukulele club, think of Tiny Tim or Tiny Bubbles,” Vernon said. “But that’s not what we do.”
The 70-year-old Davenport man said the QCUC musicians play classic hits from The Beatles, Elvis, Chuck Berry, and The Rolling Stones, as well as dance with the runners passing by.
“The main thing I’m interested in is having fun,” Vernon said with a chuckle.
This year, a total of 15 ukulele players played at the QC Times Bix 7. Vernon said the race is a “very popular” event for his performers.
“We have several (ukulele) bass players too,” he said. “It’s called a U bass, so it’s a short scale bass. Ukuleles are very high pitched, so the U basses kind of round out the bottom end.”
Vernon said the QCUC first started playing for the race at the Quick Bix course, along Perry Street.
“When everybody passed by on the Quick Bix, we just walked over the hill and started playing on the corner,” he said. “And we started developing a following.”
Vernon said many music groups tend to go to the same spot every year, and this was how the QCUC established its acclaim and current spot.
Big Brass on Brady
Around the corner on Brady St., the Big River Brass Band (BRBB) set up at their usual location: outside the Center CommUnity Indoor Skatepark, who donates to the nonprofit band each year they perform.
As Bix-ers passed by on Saturday, they played everything from the "Rocky" theme to "Happy birthday," at the request of one runner.
Phyllis Miller, general manager of the BRBB, said the band has been playing at the QC Times Bix 7 for almost a decade. Miller wore her light blue BRBB shirt, bedazzled with gold and silver pins of — of course — brass instruments.
“The cornet, the French horn and the alto horn,” she said with a smile. “All the instruments I play.”
Miller said she and her husband started the band in late 2004, with only six members. Today, she said the band has a total of 45 musicians.
This year, 10 musicians played with the BRBB at the QC Times Bix 7.
A few solo regulars were speckled throughout the course, too. Derek Grant played the bagpipes at the corner of Perry St. and Kirkwood Blvd.
Grant got some coincidental harmonies from Pete Drahozal, a regular Bix participant who walks the course with a tuba in hand.
He took one break from the instrument, to issue a loud proclamation to his fans on front porches: "Tuba players get all the chicks!"
Rock and roll first-timers
At the turn from Brady St. to Kirkwood, you could find local rock cover band True Day in the yard of the Hilltop Inn. The band named themselves after the frequent and frustrating text typo of "true dat."
And the truth is they're “not your typical acoustic band”, according to lead vocalist Bret “Boot” Butenschoen. They play some Garth Brooks and Johnny Cash, but they also play Shinedown, Alice in Chains and Judas Priest, he said. On Saturday, they gave the fans some blink-182, too.
The three-man-band consists of Butenschoen and brothers Sam Pement and Joe Pement. They cleared up the kneejerk confusion.
"We're brothers, but that's not our dad," Sam said.
Butenschoen said True Day has been together for about two years, and Joe and Sam have been playing together in metal bands for 15 years. But this is their first QC Times Bix 7 performance. For those who sat in lawn chairs in front of the band, the sounds were probably familiar.
"We play the Quad-Cities cover band set," Joe joked. "It's the same 100 songs everyone plays — we play those 100 songs."
True Day has played at local spots like Bootleg Hill Meadery in Davenport and Crawford Brew Works in Bettendorf. They double-booked on Saturday, with a night show in Milan, too.
The band was talked into playing at Hilltop Inn by the building's new owner Chris Kretz.
"My wife begged," he interjected from the vacation rental's rustic doorstep.
The booking was a win-win situation. It's good publicity for True Day, too.
“I’m hoping they run by and say ‘Damn, I like that song,’ ” Joe said.
Kitty-corner from the classic rockers, on Kirkwood Blvd. in front of the Salvation Army, a different sort of rock cover band boogied for their first ever QC Times Bix 7, too: the house band from Emmaus Road Church.
The sizable crew traveled from DeWitt, bringing members aged between 10 and 70.
JT Vanderbilt, drummer for the band, said it was the music group’s “first time outside of the four church walls.” They hoped to show folks that praise music can transcend beyond organs and keyboards. They covered songs by contemporary Christian artists like Brandon Lake and Phil Wickham.
“It's not just keys and singers,” Vanderbilt said. "We've got electric guitars, a full drum set, loudspeakers."
The church band's setlist totaled almost 40 songs. Like True Day, family runs deep with the church crew. Lorylai Tallman, a 14-year-old vocalist, said she talked her dad and 10-year-old brother into joining the band.
Her friend, 15-year-old guitarist-vocalist Grace Hendrickson, has been performing for three years. She'd never been to the race, but was excited.
Before the race began, Vanderbilt said he hoped the band would "rock the block." And that's just about what happened.
By 8:30 a.m., Tallman was serenading the crowd, unable to contain her dance moves. She bobbed and pointed fingers to the sky. Hendrickson strummed with a smile. Cheers and melodies were the soundtrack.
Correction: The name of the bagpipe player in this story has been corrected.
