With the film having recently received Academy Awards for Best Animated Feature and Best Original Song (for the chart-topping smash "Golden"), kids are invited to the Moline Public Library for the KPop Demon Hunters Party on March 28 and a more sensitive version of the bash on March 31, where costumes are welcome and there will be games, crafts, and activities celebrating all things Huntrix.
With the scheduled lineup boasting the talents of David Lucas, Hans Kim, Timmy No Brakes, and Martin Philips, one of the world's most popular live podcasts becomes a live touring sensation in Killers of Kill Tony, its April 3 stop at Davenport's Adler Theatre treating audiences to a night with comedians who have graced the Kill Tony stage their with wit, humor, and unique comedic styles and characters.
With Jake Kroeger of The Comedy Bureau calling her album Pig Woman "especially mischievous and fun" with a "down-to-earth, Midwestern zeitgeist," touring comedian Mary Mack, on April 3, brings her signature standup set back to the Tomfoolery on Tremond series at Davenport's Renwick Mansion, the artist known for her work in television, on radio, and in comedy albums, including her most recent recording Perm Day.
His research having transformed the field of ornithology, leading to the evolution of bird-watching from a hobby to scientific discipline, noted "Bird Man' Robert Ridgway will be celebrated in an April 9 program at the Rock Island Public Library's Downtown Branch, with renowned storyteller and author Brian “Fox” Ellis presenting a first-person impression of the Illinois legend and the story of his lifelong work at the Smithsonian Institution.
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.
One of the biggest stories to come out of election day was that several candidates with the most money came up short.
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.
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.
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 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.”
Described by DC Metro Theatre Arts as a mystery comedy with “a dizzy, stimulating joy that makes it a whole lot of fun,” the movie and board-game adaptation Clue: Live On Stage! brings its national tour to Davenport's Adler Theatre on (fitting) April Fool's Day, the show a farcical riot that, according to Broadway World, “creates one laugh after another – and a series of 'Ah-hah!'s – as the audience is led on a merry chase.”
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."
Hailed by Broadway World as "an endearing and humanly sound story that we didn't realize we needed more than ever," playwright Jennifer Haley's Breadcrumbs enjoys an April 9 through 12 run at Augustana College's Honkamp Myhre Black Box Theatre.
Touring in support of their 2025 recording Slimephone Surveillance in which, according to Rebel Noise, "urgency bleeds into every track, giving the record a raw spark that feels both timely and timeless." the Des Moines-based Greg Wheeler & the Poly Mall Cops headline a March 29 concert at Davenport's Raccoon Motel, the group having previously shared stages with the likes of Viagra Boys, Death Valley Girls, and Bob Log III.
Touring in support of his most recent release Born (Free), multi-instrumentalist Derek Monypeny returns to Rock Island venue Rozz-Tox on April 1, joined on the night's bill by south Georgia native and Los Angeles-based banjo player Kelby Clark.
A full-throttle tribute to the music, madness, and legacy that defined heavy metal, Long Live Ozzy lands at East Moline venue The Rust Belt on April 3, with tribute band Sabbath delivering bone-crushing riffs and haunting as they lovingly re-create the sound, spirit, and stage presence that made Black Sabbath and Ozzy Osbourne legendary.
A beloved area native who plays keyboard with local band Fair Warning and sings with 10 of Soul, 24-year-old music phenomenon CJ Parker headlines an April 3 concert at Rock Island's RIBCO in support of his forthcoming album MOVE, the night also boasting a live recording session and performance by rising Illinois singer/songwriter Charlotte Blu.
Hailed by A Closer Listen as "an incredibly versatile performer whose music straddles the categories of ambient, electronic and modern composition," lauded pianist Kelly Moran of Warp Records headlines an April 4 concert at Rock Island's Rozz-Tox, this special event supported by the Illinois Arts Council and featuring an additional set by lauded guest musician Randall Hall.
Is anyone else exhausted, and continually upset, by this year's plethora of movies in which women get the crap viciously kicked out of them?
Having not read the Andy Weir novel on which their film is based, it's hard to tell if Phil Lord and Christopher Miller were the right directors for the science-fiction adventure Project Hail Mary, or – for the book's many admirers, and maybe a few of us newbies – the absolute wrong ones.
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!
With the Oscar-winning comedy hailed by USA Today as a "brilliant Nazi-mocking satire," writer/director Taiki Waititi's Jojo Rabbit enjoys a free screening at Davenport's Figge Art Museum on April 2, this season's Free Film at the Figge series presenting a selection of distinguished, award-winning films that represent the very best in provocative, suspenseful filmmaking set in the context of authoritarian fascism.
Nearly 200 works by gifted student artists will be on display at Rock Island's Quad City Arts Center 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.
Two gifted, thought-provoking Midwestern artists will showcase their most recent works in a pair of April 3 through May 30 exhibits at Dubuque's Voices Studios venue, with stunning examples of the power of photography on view in Randall Richmond's Palimpsest in the Voices Gallery and Amy May Laskye's The Edge of Light in the Joan Mulgrew Gallery.
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."
An eclectic display of artwork created by students in the University of Dubuque’s Department of Digital Art and Design is on display at the University of Dubuque's Bisignano Art Gallery, with works by numerous student talents in The 2026 EDGE Show showcased through April 15.
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."
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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