Taking place as part of the venue's popular "Kaffee und Kuchen" series on April 26, the German American Heritage Center's The Holocaust by Bullets: The Twisted Path to Auschwitz will demonstrate how, on June 22, 1941, the German military invaded the Soviet Union in the largest military assault in history – code-named Operation Barbarossa – with four elite SS mobile killing units called Einsatzgruppen.
With the event co-presented by the World Affairs Council of the Quad Cities (WACQC) and the Bettendorf Public Library, the special lecture presentation Turkiye Beyond the Headlines: Culture, Food, and Everyday Life will be held at the library on April 28, this fascinating program offered by the married team of Yasemin and Seref Onder.
A celebration of the individuals and organizations that best represent the spirit of true river action in regard to our mighty Mississippi, River Action's Fish & Fire Fundraiser Dinner enters its 24th year with an April 30 event at Bettendorf's Quad-Cities Waterfront Convention Center, the evening's events including a social hour, silent auction, plated dinner and dessert, live auction, and the presentation of the annual Eddy Awards.
Appearing locally with familiar traveling companions such as Peanut, José Jalapeño, Bubba J., and Url, a youth forever preoccupied with his mobile device, comedian and ventriloquist Jeff Dunham brings his national "Artificial Intelligence" tour to Davenport's Rhythm City Casino Resort Event Center on May 7, the artist having performed live in front of more than 7.7 million people across 1,500-plus shows between June of 2007 and June of 2024.
In the latest exhibition at Davenport's German American Heritage Center, guests are invited to explore how German immigrant traditions transformed local musical life through Play On! German Immigrants & the Quad Cities' Musical Legacy, this showcase of ingenuity celebrating the enduring organizations, venues, and rich riverfront behind area-wide music culture.
In a mid-March poll, 68 percent of likely Illinois voters said they would support legislation to “regulate data centers to minimize their impact on our utility bills, climate, and water while still allowing them to be built.” But while 21 percent percemt opposed the legislation, more than half of those opponents (56 percent) said they did so because they “oppose allowing data centers to be built at all.” That means 80 percent either want guardrails or oppose any new construction.
State government revenues were up $1.571 billion at the end of the third quarter, according to the most recent report from the legislature’s bipartisan, bicameral Commission on Government Forecasting and Accountability. The almost $1.6 billion in new revenues is an increase of 4.2 percent. The state budget was crafted last year with an expectation that revenues would rise just 2.3% for the full fiscal year, so that’s pretty darned good news.
Massachusetts-based Federal U.S. District Judge Brian Murphy suspended Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.'s (RFK Jr.) reduction of the CDC's Childhood Schedule of Vaccines from 17 to 11, including both Hepatitis A and B; Influenza; Rotavirus; Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV); and Meningococcal vaccines – all absurd inoculations that have no more conclusive science behind them than most of the other vaccines populating the Childhood Schedule on behalf of Big Pharma.
As published back in March about one of the Reader's longest and most dedicated team members who passed in Februray, Jay Strickland's Celebration of Life was held April 4, 2026 at the Reader offices in downtown Davenport, Iowa. Below we publish Jay's younger brother Eric's eulogy he shared with us on Saturday.
A YouGov poll conducted last month shows registered voters in Illinois overwhelmingly believe that the cost of renting and buying a home is a problem, think that there aren’t enough affordable homes for average folks and want the state Legislature to take action.
It felt almost like kismet that The Charitable Sisterhood of the Second Trinity Victory Church unfolded during a wild storm that washed out a bridge and stranded its ladies at the church, because the chaos outside mirrored what was happening on stage.
With author Steve Yockey's work hailed by LA Weekly as a "series of haunted tales ... strung together with expert eeriness," the creepy vignettes of Very Still & Hard to See enjoy an April 23 through 26 staging at Bettendorf's Scott Community College, Stage Scene LA adding that Yockey's presentation is "the theatrical equivalent of Disneyland’s Space Mountain: i.e. equal parts excitement, terror, and glee."
Hailed by Newsweek as "a work of great resonance and integrity," Charles Fuller's Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award winning military drama A Soldier's Play will make its area debut at Moline's Playcrafters Barn Theatre April 24 through May 3, this thoughtful and nerve-racking drama also praised by the New York Times for its "authentic and exciting pulse."
Hailed by the New York Times as a family musical "that knows exactly what it's doing" and "works perfectly," the Tony-nominated A Year with Frog & Toad enjoys an April 24 through May 3 run in the Studio Theatre at Davenport's St. Ambrose University, this stage charmer by Reale brothers Robert (music) and Willie (book and lyrics) based on the beloved Frog and Toad children's stories written and illustrated by Arnold Lobel.
Inspired by Johann Wyss' classic adventure tale and boasting a cast of exciting student actors, a brand-new take on The Swiss Family Robinson enjoys an April 25 through May 3 run courtesy of the talents at Davenport Junior Theatre, this high-energy production written specifically for the Quad Cities company by Junior Theatre alum and St. Ambrose University graduate Brooke Galván.
Wrapping up their 40th season by combining with the Galesburg Community Chorus, the professional vocal ensemble Nova Singers will perform the Duruflé Requiem, this extraordinary major work with organ and professional orchestra enjoying performances at Galesburg's First Lutheran Church On April 25 and Davenport's St. Paul Lutheran Church on April 26.
A lauded German musician noted for his performances with bands KMFDM, Pigface, Slick Idiot, and <PIG>, Nicklaus Schandelmaier – better known by his stage moniker En Esch – headlines an April 27 concert at Davenport's Raccoon Motel, his 2024 solo recording Dance Hall Putsch, according to Chaos Control Digizine, proving that the artist "continues to create hard, highly danceable electronic music that incorporates a variety of different styles."
Touring in support of their fall release Don't Go in the Forest that MetalTalk raved "will blow your socks off," the heavy-metal rockers and Swedish Billboard charters of Avatar return to East Moline venue The Rust Belt on April 29, their latest album imspiring SputnikMusic to state, "These guys are tireless creative workers of heavy metal, and I sincerely hope they’re living the dream in full, because they deserve it."
Hailed by AllMusic as "shoegaze revivalists from Texas who play it pretty straight, but aren't afraid to add extra noise to the mix," the Texas-based noise-pop and alternative-rock artists of Ringo Deathstarr bring their current tour to Davenport's Raccoon Motel on April 30, their most recent, self-titled album lauded by Post-Trash as a work that "condenses everything special about the shoegaze purveyors into one complete package."
Touring in support of their most recent studio album Servitude, which TheRazorsEdge.rocks deemed "a conveyor belt of unbridled badassery," the death-metal artists of The Black Dahlia Murder headline a May 1 concert event at Davenport's Capitol Theatre, Yardbarker's Jeff Mezyido having included the band in 2025's list of "the greatest metal acts that formed in the 2000s."
Probably like a lot of you, upon hearing the title of the latest horror flick to hit cineplexes, my immediate question was “Who the hell is Lee Cronin?!”
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, April 23: Previews of Michael, Mother Mary, Over Your Dead Body, and I Swear, and discussion of Lee Cronin's The Mummy, Normal, Lorne, and Busboys, the latter easily Mike's least-favorite movie of the decade. If "movie" is even the right word for it.
It's the absolute right time for director/co-writer Daniel Goldhaber's new Faces of Death, a tight, scary, unexpectedly crafty meta-commentary built on the notion that we can no longer instinctively believe anything we're shown on-screen. On any screen.
Prior to writer/director Kristoffer Borgli's transfixing, deeply uncomfortable A24 romance The Drama, I think you'd have to go back to 1992's The Crying Game to find a film that made you – by which I mean me – quite so antsy to learn its heavily promoted Big Secret.
Now playing at area theaters.
A wide range of disparate mediums and gorgeous artworks will be on display at the Quad City Arts International Airport Gallery through April 27, with art lovers area-wide invited to view new metal and fiber sculpture by Amanda Langer, encaustics by Cindy Lesperance, and Japanese tiles by Nick Schroeder in the exhibit Langer, Lesperance, & Schroeder.
Colorful, playful, and delightfully goofy works will be on display at the Quad City Arts International Airport Gallery from April 29 through June 29, with the shared exhibition Butcher, Hymes, & Murtha showcasing new illustrations on shaped wood by Aaron Butcher and examples of fiber art by MaryKay Hymes and Diane Murtha.
With the event inviting visitors to reflect on themes central to the artist's practice – including the joyful celebration of LGBTQ identity, acknowledgment of ongoing challenges to the community’s rights, and the enduring impact of the AIDS epidemic – a special Art History Talk on the works of Felix Gonzalez-Torres will be held at Davenport's Figge Art Museum on April 30, the program held in conjunction with the venue's current housing of the exhibit "Untitled" (L.A.).
Nearly 200 works by gifted student artists will be on display at Rock Island's Quad City Arts Center through April 30 in the expansive 49th-Annual High School Art Invitational, a glorious celebration of local talent featuring the Quad Cities’ most promising artists expressing themselves through paintings, drawings, sculpture, paper, recycled materials, and film.
Always an eagerly awaited series at the Figge Art Museum, the latest incarnation of Young Artists at the Figge will be on display from through May 24, with the Davenport venue celebrating the accomplishments of budding creative talents whose works will be showcased in a continuing series of individual exhibitions.
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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