A Labor Day-weekend tradition once again blasts into the District of Rock Island in this year's Xtream Rock Island Grand Prix, the August 31 and September 2 event in which hundreds will cheer as participants, from one inch off the ground, traverse city streets at speeds approaching 100MPH.
Delivering a blend of local history, environmental issues, education, entertainment, and fresh air, Davenport's River Action will present a series of outdoor presentations in the third and final month of the 2024 Channel Cat Talks and Riverine Walks: weekly programs that, from August 6 through 31, will address such topics as plastic pollution, commercial fishing, the Quad City National Weather Service, and the Rock Island predecessor Farnhamsburg.
There’s a new Carnegie Hall in downtown Moline.
An acclaimed national comedian with ties to the Quad Cities performs at Davenport's Rhythm City Casino Resort Rhythm Room on September 5, with TV and film talent Tammy Pescatelli treating attendees to the hilarious insights and sharp-witted observations beloved from numerous talk shows, Last Comic Standing, and her 2013 Netflix special Finding the Funny.
A beloved local tradition designed specifically for seniors continues into its 25th year when River Action, on September 5 and 6, hosts two days worth of self-guided Senior Citizen Golf Cart Tours, with his year’s event including a tour of the Arsenal Island taking place in the early evening, allowing for a normally unseen look at the Mississippi River and the historic island.
Since the 2022 election, far too many Illinoisans have been far too eager to pine for a repeat of the past.
Illinois House Speaker Chris Welch has said he thinks he can flip somewhere between four and six Republican-held House districts to Democratic control, upping his super-majority to between 82 and 84 seats, from his current 78. Which Republican districts are flippable? I talked with a high-level source close to Speaker Welch’s caucus who pointed to the following races.
A Facebook post last week by state Senator Willie Preston (D-Chicago) created a stir, caused one of his fellow Democratic Senators to bow out of a planned joint fundraiser, and, ultimately, the entire fundraiser was canceled. It's all a good illustration of the ill-informed, rapid-fire insanity of our social-media-fueled era.
One of the most successful ongoing progressive political operations has been to replace the founding ideology of America as a Constitutional Republic, with America as a direct Democracy. America is not a direct Democracy, even though it conducts itself as such with ever more distortions in law (substituting administrative procedural law for constitutional law), policies, and the shelving of Americans' constitutionally protected rights.
“I support Karina’s Law,” Governor JB Pritzker emphatically told me. It’s the strongest statement he’s made about the bill which stalled in the Senate last spring. The proposal would mandate that police remove firearms from a person who has been served with a domestic violence order of protection. But there still appear to be some Pritzker caveats.
If we don't see what happened, we must depend on what others say is the truth. But the truth isn't always visible. Does "the truth" depend on how many witnesses? Their reliability; their knowledge; their agenda?
With the stage hit lauded by Broadway World as "entirely entertaining and enjoyable," the spooky, kooky, ooky musical-comedy version of The Addams Family makes its debut at Rock Island's Circa '21 Dinner Playhouse, its September 4 through November 2 run treating audiences to a Tony Award-nominated delight inspired by the beloved TV comedy and the iconic cartoon strip by series originator Charles Addams.
An operatic comedy by composer/librettist Derrick Wang that was hailed as “a dream come true” by the iconic Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Scalia/Ginsburg opens the 2024-25 season at Iowa City's Riverside Theatre, its September 5 through 15 run telling the story of the friendship between the notorious RBG and her fierce judicial opponent Antonin Scalia through the lens of their shared love of opera. What better way to tell of this unlikely bond across political lines than through the art form they both adored?
A widely staged sequel to one of the most popular musical-comedy franchises of the 21st century, the feel-good hit Church Basement Ladies: A Second Helping enjoys a September 6 through 15 run at Mt. Carroll's Timber Lake Playhouse, this continuation also inspired by Janet Letnes' and Suzann Nelson's beloved comedy memoir Growing Up Lutheran.
A Grammy Award nominee whose chart-topping singles include "No Doubt About It" and "Wink" from his platinum-certified album No Doubt About It, country singer Neal McCoy brings his national tours to Davenport's Rhythm City Casino Resort Event Center on August 31, his repertoire also boasting such top-10 Billboard smashes as “The City Put the Country Back in Me,” “For a Change,” “The Shake,” and “Then You Can Tell Me Goodbye.”
Celebrating a quintet of years as one of the Quad Cities' most popular FM radio stations with a free Labor Day weekend bash, East Moline venue the Rust Belt will present the I-Rock Fifth-Anniversary Show on August 31, this evening of exhilarating live music featuring sets by three national rock outfits: the Massachusetts-based All That Remains, northern Illinois' Alborn, and the Alabama talents of Shallow Side.
With the Mississippi Valley Blues Society presenting the concert in partnership with the 2024 Xtream Rock Island Grand Prix, a pair of thrilling, Chicago-based blues acts take the outdoor stage of Rock Island's Schwiebert Park in the final presentations of the MVBS's summer season: an afternoon set with the high-energy talents of the Sean McKee Band, and an evening set with the equally gifted artists of the Kilborn Alley Blues Band.
A pair of rising indie-music talents will separately headline a pair of August 31 concert events at Davenport's Raccoon Motel, with the afternoon treating venue guests to the alternative pop of YouTube sensation Carter Vail, and the evening bringing audiences an intimate experience with acclaimed guitarist/vocalist Cole Chaney.
Headlining a two-day music festival at the Codfish Hollow Barn, the South Carolina-based ensemble SUSTO brings its Americana and alt-country stylings to Maquoketa on August 31 and September 1, the 2024 Fine Two-Day Fest demonstrating the skills that led Americana UK to call their 2023 release My Entire Life " a fantastic album" with "each song memorable and joyous "
Director/co-writer Greg Kwedar's Sing Sing allows Colman Domingo's soul to spill for roughly 100 solid minutes. Thrillingly, however, his isn't the only soul on display. Not by a long shot.
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, August 29: Discussion of Sing Sing, Blink Twice, and Strange Darling, previews of Slingshot, AfrAId, Reagan, and You Gotta Believe, and an excuse for Dave to trot out his Tony Danza impression, though maybe only accidentally.
Fede Álvarez's franchise extender is a punchy, routinely exciting entertainment, and coming after the twinned bores of Ridley Scott's Prometheus and Alien: Covenant, it's also a considerable relief.
A revolutionary work that Roger Ebert said was arguably "the first true horror film," director Robert Wiene's 1920 landmark The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari serves as the first presentation in the German American Heritage Center's German Expressionist Film Series, its September 4 screening at Davenport venue The Last Picture House treating audiences to the silent classic that helped draw worldwide attention to the artistic merit of German cinema.
Now playing at area theaters.
Representing a survey of the magnificent art and artists within the vast collection of the Do Good Fund, a public charity based in Columbus, Georgia, the traveling exhibition Reckonings & Reconstructions: Southern Photography from The Do Good Fund will be on display at Davenport's Figge Art Museum through September 8, its local display also thanks to supporting sponsor The Brian Pasierb Family Foundation, contributing sponsor Carolyn Levine & Leonard Kallio Trust, and media sponsor KLJB FOX 18.
In the latest Musser House Galleries exhibit at the Muscatine Art Center, rides, contests, animals, refreshments, delighted patrons, and more will be showcased in Iowa artist Kurt Ullrich's The Iowa State Fair, a collection of gorgeous and evocative black-and-white images, on display through September 8, that truly evince the wonder of this annually awaited outdoor tradition.
Work of couture by Vincent van Gogh, Henri Matisse, Edgar Degas, Auguste Rodin, and other artists recognized around the world will be on vivid display in the Muscatine Art Center through September 22, with the venue's Fashionably Dressed exhibition pairing drawings, paintings, and prints of women, men, and children with historic clothing from the Muscatine Art Center’s permanent collection.
From now through September 28, patrons of Dubuque's Voices Studio can witness a spectacular confluence of talent and vision as renowned artists Leslie Bell and Lee White join forces for an extraordinary exhibition Under the Same Sun, the display showcasing a diverse array of artworks that reflect the profound journeys and creative mastery of both artists.
An evocative and inspiring exhibit by esteemed artist Andrew Raeside, A Life Lived in Bright Light, on display at Dubuque's Voices Studio through September 28, will showcase a series of abstract paintings that celebrate the shared emotional experiences and connections between individuals, as well as reflect Raeside's lifelong journey of capturing the vibrancy and intensity of human emotions through art.
You'll get both the current official narrative challenge and What's Happenin' in the Quad Cities.
(Did you know we publish a new Amy Alkon Advice Goddess, Real Astrology, Red Meat cartoon and RCR Crossword every week?)
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