A lauded comedian, actor, and producer revered for her frequent standup sets at iconic New York City venues including the Gotham Comedy Club, Laugh Factory, Caroline's, and the Improv, Jessica Kirson brings her national tour to Davenport's Capitol Theatre on March 22, her varied list of credits including appearances on TV's Kevin Can Wait and Ramy, as well as Pete Davidson's critically acclaimed film The King of Staten Island.
An engaging and fascinating exhibit developed by the Davenport venue's curatorial staff, the Putnam Museum & Science Center's Indigenous Roots of Mexican Americans will, through March 22, treat guests to artifacts and textiles from areas in Mexico that are housed together alongside some 250,000 objects from the Putnam’s collections.
Lauded for hosting and creating Tosh.0 , a showcase for Internet clips and his sardonic commentary that was one of the longest-running comedy series on Comedy Central, standup comedian Daniel Tosh brings "My First Farewell Tour" to Davenport's Adler Theatre on March 26, the wildly popular funnyman also the host of the video podcast Tosh Show.
Hosted by Davenport's River Action and named in honor of Henry W. Farnam, the chief builder of the Chicago & Rock Island Railroad, the Quad Cities' Farnam Evenings are annual tributes to historically significant citizens and events. This year's 18th-annual celebration – taking place at St. Ambrose University's Rogalski Center on March 26 – will will celebrate regional history, innovation, and the legacy of influential figures who shaped the Quad Cities and American agriculture.
A member of the Turtle Mountain Band Anishinaabe and a Distinguished-Writer-In-Residence in the English department of Chicago's DePaul University, Illinois Poet Laureate Mark Turcotte will participate in a special March 26 program at the Rock Island Public Library's Watts-Midtown Branch, this poetry presentation hosted jointly with Augustana College and the ideal launch into April's National Poetry Month.
Independent-campaign expenditures have skyrocketed this year in state legislative races. All of these numbers were current as of Friday, at 4:20 p.m., when I finished writing this column.
The Senate and House bills for the use of eminent domain for the Co2 pipeline, now called hazardous liquid pipeline, have become the same as they move into discussion by our legislators. We must review SF2067 and HF2104 to understand how to argue against this legislation.
Jay R. Strickland, 73, of Rock Island, passed away Sunday, February 22, 2026, at Unity Point Health, Rock Island. A Celebration of Life will be held Saturday April 4, 2026 from 2-4pm at the Reader offices located at 532 W 3rd Street, in downtown Davenport, Iowa. Memorials can be made to the Figge Art Museum, Davenport.
Keith E. Meyer, 84, formerly a longtime resident of Davenport, died Tuesday, February 17, 2026, with family at his side. Keith was known for many things in his life including a peaceful protester and activist city watchdog who eventually was elected a Davenport City Alderman. Keith’s passions in life were easily identifiable when visiting his old house at 1012 Marquette Street. Visitors would be greeted by big black labs, or huskies, and offered a sample of his wine or homemade biscotti.
Relief and Opportunity Lessons During UncertaintyI’m standing on a sidewalk at the sideways bend of our great river – a perfect place to reflect on the legacy of my father, former YMCA CEO and Davenport mayor Frank Klipsch III.
With Time Out NY calling the show “Broadway's funniest, splashiest, slap-happiest musical comedy in at least 400 years,” the University of Dubuque’s Department of Fine and Performing Arts presents a March 20 through 22 production of Something Rotten!, the zany, Tony-winning farce that the Hollywood Reporter called “a big, brash, meta-musical studiously fashioned in the mold of Monty Python's Spamalot.”
One of the most beloved and iconic rock operas of all time enjoys a spectacular new staging at the Coralville Center for the Performing Arts when City Circle Theatre Company presents hosts its July 20 through 29 run of Jesus Christ Superstar, the Andrew Lloyd Webber/Tim Rice classic boasting such unforgettable numbers as “Everything's Alright,” “Hosanna,” “King Herod's Song,” and the timeless ballad “I Don't Know How to Love Him.”
With its source material named "the best American children's book of the past two hundred years" by the Children's Literature Association, the stage version of E.B. White's beloved Charlotte's Web enjoys a March 24 through April 11 run at Rock Island's Circa '21 Dinner Playhouse, this adaptation by playwright Joseph Robinette praised by the Chicago Tribune as a theatre piece that "manages to hit the emotional and humorous high points of the original."
With the world-premiere production created by writer, director, and star Jeff Adamson of ComedySportz and GiT Improv fame, The Adventures of Sam Steele: A Radio Play enjoys a March 27 through April 4 run at Moline's Black Box Theatre, its titular detective up against mobsters, con men, and femmes fatales as he attempts to solve his toughest case, "A Murder in McClellan Heights.”
With his one-man show inspired by Robert Louis Stevenson's 1886 novella The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, St. Ambrose University professor and theatre-department chair Dan Hale presents a one-night-only performance of Strange Case on March 28.
Thrilling soundscapes and evocative listening experiences will be on hand at Rozz-Tox on March 22, the Rock Island venue hosting a headlining set by TAKAAT, the musicians beging joined in concert by special guests Glurge and Friendless.
New York City-based soprano Lily Arbisser always loves coming back to her childhood home of the Quad Cities at least annually, and an upcoming, week-long visit will be especially meaningful, capped by a special 6 p.m. concert on Thursday, March 26.
Ever since the 2018 musical bio-pic Bohemian Rhapsody won four Academy Awards and grossed more than $215 million domestic and $875 million worldwide, Freddie Mercury and Queen have been hotter than ever – which is sure to be proven by the raucous crowd response on March 27 when Moline's Vibrant Arena at the MARK pays tribute to the iconic British rockers in the stage spectacle One Night of Queen performed by Gary Mullen & the Works.
Noted for being the Midwest's only act expressly dedicated to recreating the music of Frankie Valli & the Four Seasons, the, Chicago-based tribute artists of The Four C Notes play a May 18 concert event at the University of Dubuque's Heritage Center. performing from a vast pop, rock, and ballad repertoire boasting such iconic smashes as “Sherry," “Big Girls Don’t Cry," “Walk Like A Man," "Let's Hang On," and “Can’t Take My Eyes Off of You."
Closing Chamber Music Quad Cities' 2025-26 season at Davenport's Trinity Episcopal Cathedral Parish Hall with a rare Saturday-evening concert event, the ensemble's musical co-directors Gregory Sauer and Thomas Sauer lend their respective cello and piano talents to the March 28 program Americana/Austriana, the lauded brothers joined by violinist Salley Ko and violist Elizabeth Oakes for works by Joseph Haydn, Ludwig van Beethoven, Charles Ives, and Shawn Okpebholo.
An Illinois-born pioneer, independent filmmaker, and former Iowa resident’s story will be revealed when the Truth First Film Alliance hosts the feature-length documentary Oscar Micheaux: The Superhero of Black Filmmaking, this March 22 showing at Davenport venue The Last Picture House boasting a post-film discussion with guest historian Jordan Bell, and followed by a screening of Micheaux's 1920 silent movie Within Our Gates.
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 19: Discussion of Reminders of Him and Undertone, previews of Project Hail Mary, Ready or Not 2: Here I Come, and The Pout-Pout Fish, and a recap of Sunday's Academy Awards, a pretty-great telecast with major highs (Conan! The In Memoriam!) and lows (were Downey and Evans forced into that bit at gunpoint?). No segment next week ... we'll catch y'all again in April!
If, after three of the author's films over 20 months, my up-and-down reactions continue on this trajectory, I'm already looking forward to the Colleen Hoover adaptation after the next one.
All awards-season long, One Battle After Another v. Sinners felt like the friendliest of rivalries, an unusual happenstance no doubt augmented by both films coming from the same studio. Why pitch the titles against each other when Warner Bros. was gonna win either way?
Now playing at area theaters.
Culling through artists Lisa Lofgren's and Matt Erickson's archive or shared studios, shared conversations, and shared life over the last years, the exhibition Tongue + Groove will be on display in St. Ambrose University's Catich Gallery March 23 through April 24.
Nearly 200 works by gifted student artists will be on display at Rock Island's Quad City Arts Center from March 27 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.
An artist whose three-dimensional compositions often incorporate found objects such as rusted metal, dried botanical specimens, and aged frames, Wayne Bertola showcases his exhibit Imperfect Objects at Black Hawk College's ArtSpace Gallery through April 3, Bertola quoted as saying, "I believe that 'style' is instinctual and is an organic process which gives form to an inner state or sensibility."
With the works in the artist's current exhibition reflecting a busy life filled with art and visual experience, Living Collection: Works on Paper by Jason Eisner will be on display in St. Ambrose University's Morrissey Gallery through April 24, his latest pieces, as Eisner says, "found out of the corner of the eye and drawn while on break, sitting in the grass."
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.
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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