Its namesake lauded as "a smiling, exuberant performer with an open upper torso and fast-flying feet straight out of Irish step dancing," the touring talents of Darrah Carr Dance enjoy a residency as the latest guests in Quad City Arts' Visiting Artist series, their public performances including an intimate, abbreviated performance and artist talk at the LeClaire Community Library on March 12, and a riveting, full-length engagement at Davenport's Capitol Theatre on March 13.
On March 15 and 16, the Vibrant Arena at the MARK will host feats of staggering skill when the touring Professional Championship Bull Riders & Barrel Racers show returns to Moline, its national success based on a simple concept: Place one determined cowboy on the back of a cranky 2,000-pound bull and see whether he can stay on the gigantic, bucking beast for eight long seconds – and do it with only one hand gripping the animal’s backside.
With the event co-presented by the Midwest Writing Center, the Quad Cities' longest-running reading series SPECTRA returns to Rock Island's Rozz-Tox on March 15 in celebration of the release of two new MWC Press chapbooks: Amie Whittemore's Hesitation Waltz and Joshua Bohnsack's Atonality. Both books were selected for the 2023 Foster-Stahl Chapbook Series, with Whittemore's work the Series Selection and Bohnsack's the Editors’ Choice.
An Augustana College graduate, former Moline teacher/coach, and Superintendent of Rock Island-Milan Public Schools takes part in a conversation about his recent memoir in From Dubuque to Selma & Beyond, a March 19 book talk with Dave Markward that finds the author, at the Rock Island Public Library Watts-Midtown Branch, sharing his personal journey of understanding racism in America.
On display through April 6 at Davenport's German American Heritage Center, the sensitive and touching exhibit With You I Am Myself / Mit Dir bin ich ich finds Israeli artist and photographer Oranit Ben Zimra portraying 12 pairs of friends from Norderstedt, Germany, in words and pictures, the collection forming a beautiful mosaic of German-Israeli friendships.
The Iowa Supreme Court has reversed a lower court decision and ruled that the public should have access to county-supervisor applications maintained by Scott County. (Full ruling available at IowaCourts.gov/courtcases/21492/embed/SupremeCourtOpinion.) The case involves the Scott County Board of Supervisors, which experienced a midterm vacancy in December 2022 when one member resigned.
In 2023, Dr Allen Diercks and former Scott County Supervisor Diane Holst enlisted Attorney Mike Meloy's expertise in a lawsuit to force transparency on the part of of our elected public officials with respect to the people's representation. I can't encourage and urge people enough to read the case documents for a great lesson in how government service is supposed to work according to law, but how said service often goes awry.
The latest report from the Center for Tax and Budget Accountability shows that spending on four “core” state services in the governor’s proposed Fiscal Year 2026 budget will be 9.1 percent less in real dollars than it was way back in Fiscal Year 2000. Those four core services are education, health-care, human services, and public safety.
Illinois House Speaker Chris Welch didn’t sound all that enthused about passing any new ethics reforms during an interview last week.
Can gold and silver, reinstated as circulating money, work, again? Would the answer differ if currency is or is not issued by private entities or central banks? Can economic booms and busts be avoided? What about financial or banking crises? Got the answer? As the Scottish say, “Haud yer wheesht!” (Meaning: to hold your tongue or shush.) History may beg to differ.
Hailed by Show Biz Chicago as "an absolute gem of a show" and by Chicago on Stage as "destined to be a runaway hit," the Elvis Presley salute Heartbreak Hotel makes its Quad Cities debut with a March 12 through May 3 run at Rock Island's Circa '21 Dinner Playhouse, this tune-filled smash also lauded by Chicago Stage and Screen as a show that "gives fascinating insight to the music industry."
Lauded by New York magazine as a show that "delivers with immense energy, a wicked sense of humor, and joyful inside-jokery," the Tony-nominated Broadway musical Mean Girls brings its national tour to Davenport's Adler Theatre on March 13, New York adding that this critically lauded smash based on the 2004 hit comedy is "hilarious, splashy, and unmistakably by Tina Fey."
Nominated for seven 2019 Tony Awards including Best Musical, to leading to a popular 2020 Netflix film starring Meryl Streep and Nicole Kidman, the Broadway hit The Prom makes its area debut with a March 13 through 16 run at Augustana College's Brunner Theatre Center, the show inspiring the New York Times to rave, "With its kinetic dancing, broad mugging, and belty anthems, it makes you believe in musical comedy again."
One of legendary mystery writer Agatha Christie's most spine-tingling yet infrequently produced tales will be given delightfully creepy stage life in the area debut of The Stranger, a radio-play version of Christie's chiller running at Moline's Black Box Theatre March 14 through 23.
Presented by student actors in grades six through 12 and delivered with a cool steampunk twist, a stage version of Lewis Carroll's classic Alice in Wonderland serves as the latest 2024-25 season production by the talents of Young Footliters Youth Theatre, the one-act show's March 14 through 16 run at the Coralville Center for the Performing Arts treating audiences to a brand-new take on Carroll's timeless storybook adventure.
Lauded for his work as lead guitarist and co-lead vocalist in alternative rock band Taking Back Sunday, and currently active with outfits The Color Fred and Say Anything, Fred Mascherino headlines a March 10 concert event at Davenport's Raccoon Motel, The Color Fred's 2022 recording A Year & Change praised by I Am Tuned Up as a work that "sounds fresh and driven, and the stories here are sincere and slightly unnerving."
We correct when it gets egregious and we scold when they nettle and pinch too hard, but for some reason, this moronic thought that the Quad Cities music scene is crippled or lesser prevails through the times.
With their national tour landing locally just five days ahead of St. Patrick's Day, the internationally beloved Shamrock Tenors play Davenport's Adler Theatre on March 12, this acclaimed quintet hailed by The Irish News for delivering "songs we all know ... gilded with beautiful harmonies and a typically Irish sense of fun!”
Current winners of the solo/duo category for the Iowa Blues Challenge who placed as semi-finalists at the 2025 International Blues Festival in Memphis, Cedar County Cobras headline a March 13 concert at Davenport's Raccoon Motel, the popular duo of Tom Spielbauer and April Dirks arriving with an upright bass, foot drum, and several guitars to play American roots and blues music from the last century.
With the country artist lauded by Entertainment Focus for his "stellar vocal quality and the complete conviction with which he delivers every song," chart-topping singer/songwriter and guitarist Brett Young headlines a March 14 concert event at Davenport's Capitol Theatre, treating fans to such platinum-selling singles as "In Case You Didn't Know," "Mercy," "Like I Loved You," plus songs from his most recent recording Across the Sheets.
So. Who won Best Actress?
I'm kidding … although the answer to that question did come later than I would've preferred.
I may not have understood all the machinations involved in bringing our aquatic hero back safely, but I believed that Last Breath's helmer and cast knew what they were doing, and in the end, that was far more important.
Going to the cineplex or staying in and streaming this weekend? Every Thursday morning at 8:15 a.m. you can listen to Mike Schulz dish on recent movie releases & talk smack about Hollywood celebs on Planet 93.9 FM with the fabulous Dave & Darren in the Morning team of Dave Levora and Darren Pitra. The morning crew previews upcoming releases, too.
Or you can check the Reader Web site and listen to their latest conversation by the warm glow of your electronic device. Never miss a pithy comment from these three scintillating pundits again.
Thursday, March 6: Discussion of Last Breath and Riff Raff, and previews of Mickey 17, In the Lost Lands, and Night of the Zoopocalypse. After the 20-plus minutes the guys did on the Oscars this past Monday, they're grateful for this morning's short-and-sweet .. as, no doubt, are their listeners.
No one could possibly argue that we need more horror movies these days. But I'd suggest that we could always stand to have more in which characters, at the moment of their passing, go splat.
With the event moderated by art therapist Dana Keeton, Figge Art Museum guests are invited, on March 13, to hear from a panel of healthcare professionals, family caretakers, and patients in the early stages of Alzheimer's as they discuss the impact of dementia on those who are directly impacted and their caretakers, the presentation held in conjunction with the Davenport venue's current exhibition Louise Kames: I Don't See Anything That's Not Beautiful.
The event taking place in conjunction with the venue's current Myrlande Constant: DRAPO, an opening celebration for the exhibition will be held at Davenport's Figge Art Museum on March 20, with artist and scholar Dr. Petrouchka Moïse – assistant professor at Grinnell College and cultural and community-based digital curator at Grinnell College Libraries – presenting a history of Haitian Drapo and its connection to Constant's art practice.
A wide and beautiful variety of artistic media will be showcased in the latest group exhibition at Rock Island's Quad City Arts Center gallery, with Davis-Salazar, Weiland, & Regional Woodturners, from February 7 through March 21, boasting new paintings by Katrina Davis-Salazar, sculptural ceramics by Brant Weiland, and 20 works by nine of the region’s best woodturners.
A fascinating and absorbing collection of abstract art is currently on view in the Black Hawk College ArtSpace Gallery, as gifted Midwestern artist Kent Broadbent showcases recent works in New & Improved, the fascinating pieces on display through April 4.
Boasting large woodcut prints and charcoal and pastel drawings of a dying willow tree from her yard in Dubuque, the arresting, fascinating exhibition Louise Kames: I Don’t See Anything That’s Not Beautiful – on display through April 6 – will be showcased in the Gildehaus Gallery of Davenport's Figge Art Museum, the artist focused on creating works that explore the beauty of natural decay, the line between life and death, and what remains after.
You'll get both the current official narrative challenge and What's Happenin' in the Quad Cities.
(Did you know we publish a new Real Astrology and RCR Crossword every week?)
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