Featuring more than 24 large-scale, immersive kaleidoscopes created by world-renowned artist and Davenport native Tom Chouteau, the traveling exhibition Kaleidoscope Odyssey will be housed at Davenport's Putnam Museum & Science Center through September 7, this fascinating walk-through event designed to celebrate the intersection of visual art, science, and optics.
Treating kids to an evening of video games, yummy food, and a bunch of maniacal (but somehow lovable) animatronics, the Rock Island Public Library's Watts-Midtown Branch will, on March 16, welcome guests to the Five Nights at Freddy's Pizza Party, in which youths can enjoy free pizza while playing video games on the big screen.
With the event's subject a Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award winner whose 2001 novel Erasure was adapted into Cord Jefferson's Oscar-winning 2023 comedy American Fiction, Beyond the Page with Percival Everett will enjoy a virtual March 19 presentation in an event hosted by Illinois Libraries Present, the author's prize-winning James from 2024 hailed by the New York Times as "Everett's most thrilling novel, but also his most soulful."
With two of his seven comedy albums hitting platinum status and children of all ages adoring him for voicing tow truck Mater in the Disney/Pizer franchise Cars, Blue Collar Comedian Larry the Cable Guy brings his national tour to Davenport's Rhythm City Casino Resort Event Center on March 21, the Billboard Award winner also a bestselling author and co-founder of the non-profit organization The Git-R-Done Foundation.
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.
President Trump’s February 19, 2026 Executive Order 14387, under the Defense Production Act of 1950, to ensure a stable and adequate supply of U.S.-produced Glyphosate also provides a liability shield for Bayer, a company that deliberately poisons human beings. It is unconscionable no matter the inconvenience in switching to safer, saner farming protocols, such as regenerative farming and crop rotation.
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.
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.
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.
Augustana College's production of Company is expansive, lively, and musically superb.
The recipient of the 2024 Pulitzer Prize for Drama that, according to Intermission magazine, "cuts to the heart with a simply constructed story, understated humor, and dialogue unburdened by purple prose," playwright Eboni Booth's Primary Trust makes its Iowa City debut at Riverside Theatre February 27 through March 15, the work also hailed by The Daily Beast as "beautifully written" and "a 95-minute, intermissionless, buffed-to-gleaming jewel.”
Praised by WhartonPlazaTheatre.com for its "rousing musical numbers, hilarious social commentary, and heavenly harmony," the feel-good, foot-stomping, country-music sensation Honky Tonk Angels enjoys a March 11 through April 25 run at Rock Island's Circa '21 Dinner Playhouse, RochesterMedia.com adding, "To paraphrase a well-known movie quote: Is this heaven? No. It’s Honky Tonk Angels. Welcome to heaven on earth.”
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 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.”
Delivering an intimate evening of expressive musical beauty, four gifted members of the Quad City Symphony Orchestra join forces on March 15 for Up Close with Blueprint, the Figge Art Museum event boasting the talents of violinists Naha Greenholtz and Emily Nash, viola player Bruno Vaz Da Silva, and cellist Hannah Holman.
An evening of hard rock, alt-metal, hip-hop, and even standup comedy is on the March 19 docket at East Moline venue the Rust Belt, with the venue's The One Time at Band Camp Bash featuring an exhilarating night with Scotty Austin (former lead singer of Saving Abel), Danny Boone (founding member and frontman of Rehab), and Tim King (founding member and bass player for Soil), the event hosted by comedian, singer, and frequent Adam Sandler collaborator Peter Dante.
Touring in support of their sophomore release Every Time I Feel Afraid that The Luna Collective called "an incredibly relatable album" that "covers topics of dream chasing, doubts, optimism, and pushing through," the indie rockers of Carriers headline a March 19 concert at Davenport's Raccoon Motel, Cincinnati City Beat adding that "Every Time I Feel Afraid can’t afford to have any lackluster tracks, and it doesn’t. Each song fits perfectly into place, despite their often varied sound."
Touring in support of his 2025 recording Country! Country! that Country Swag deemed "raw, reflective, rowdy, and rooted in his Mississippi upbringing," chart-topping singer/songwriter Michael Wilson Hardy – better known by his singular moniker HARDY – brings his national tour to Moline's Vibrant Arena at the MARK on March 20, Rolling Stone classifying the artist as "simultaneously the chest-thumping id of masculine country and a fun-house mirror poking fun at the whole enterprise."
A chart-topping American Country Award and Academy of Country Music Award winner currently touring in support of his 2025 album Dreams to Dream, singer/songwriter Jake Owen headlines a March 20 concert event at Davenport's Capitol Theatre, his most recent recording inspiring Saving Country Music to rave, "It’s like nothing you ever heard from Jake Owen, or really any current or former mainstream country music before."
How am I feeling about my Academy Awards predictions this year? Actually pretty good … except in, you know, most of the major categories.
If possible, Maggie Gyllenhaal's intensely watchable, intensely problematic revisionist salute is an even nuttier achievement than Young Frankenstein, if not always nutty in appreciable ways.
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 12: Discussion of The Bride!, Hoppers, and at least one of the Oscar-nominated shorts, previews of Reminders of Him and Undertone, and Mike's predictions for this Sunday's Academy Awards. Dave is predicting ... a return to glamour! For the 23rd year in a row.
As a slasher flick with comedic leanings, director/co-writer Kevin Williamson's Scream 7 is pretty weak. As a half-dozenth sequel so steeped in callbacks and meta-commentary that nostalgia is practically its plot, it's exhausting. And as a statement on big-studio moviegoing practices and habits with a quarter of the 21st century behind us, it's depressing as hell.
Now playing at area theaters.
With the works of both Iowa-based artists boasting vivid colors and expressive storytelling qualities, the dual exhibition Laber & Mullins will be on display in Rock Island's Quad City Arts Center through March 20, this showcase of local talent boasting evocative, thrilling paintings by Phillip Laber and Rachael Mullins.
Amethyst cathedrals, diamonds, Lake Superior agates, opals, geodes, and additionally beautiful objects will be on view at the University of Dubuque's Bisignano Art Gallery through March 20, with works in the fascinating exhibition Rocks, Minerals, & Gems: The Olsen Collection spanning five-plus decades of curiosity, craftsmanship, and global exploration.
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.
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.
For the Davenport's final new exhibition of 2025, the Figge Art Museum will be taking an up-close-and-personal look at some of its most arresting in-house works in A Surreal Lens: Photography from the Figge Collection, a celebration of the medium on display in the Lewis Gallery hrough June 21.
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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