Live performances, games, tournaments, cosplay competitions, and loads of special guests will be on hand when the Davenport RiverCenter hosts the June 28 through 30 convention Planet Funk Con 2024, a weekend event housing entertainment, presentations, panel discussions, and more for connoisseurs and collectors of all ages.
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Those who love dinosaurs and all things Mesozoic will be in Putnam Museum & Science Center paradise when the venue welcomes families to the June 29 and 30 celebration Dino Days – a family-friendly, specialty-ticketed weekend event boasting crafts, activities, a scavenger hunt, and screening of dinosaur-themed movies including the Putnam premiere T. rex.
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Designed to bring some serious swing into the summer, the John Deere Classic returns to Silvis' TPC at Deere Run from July 3 through 7, with this professional golf tournament on the PGA Tour, in its 53rd year, enjoying coverage on the Golf Channel and CBS Sports, and featuring youth activities, clinics, and a climactic awards presentation.
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One of the most-watched comedians on YouTube with more than a billion views and in excess of 25 million fans across social media, Gabriel Iglesias brings his signature comic stylings to Davenport's Rhythm City Casino Resort Event Center for two July 7 performances, the comedian having the distinct honor of being one of few to headline and sell-out Madison Square Garden in New York, Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles, and the Sydney Opera House in Australia.
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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 second month-plus of the annual Channel Cat Talks and Riverine Walks: weekly programs that, from July 9 through August 3, will address such topics as the music of jazz artists Bix Beiderbecke and Louie Bellson, Nahant Marsh, local lock-and-dam systems, and the majestic Quad City pelican.
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As you’ve probably heard by now, Illinois Republican Party Chair Don Tracy announced his resignation last week, apparently effective the day after the Republican National Convention concludes on July 18.
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“What was supposed to be a simple storage warehouse for the Metra transit agency has now buried the nation's fourth-busiest commuter rail system in a sinking money pit, the ABC7 I-Team has learned.” The Chicago broadcast station’s scoop last week is an almost perfect encapsulation of why northeastern Illinois’ mass-transit fiefdoms need to be busted and reformed.
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A state law essentially designed to prevent Republicans from appointing legislative candidates to the ballot after the March primary was ruled unconstitutional by a Sangamon County judge last week, but her ruling only applied to the fourteen Republican plaintiffs in the case who are running for the Illinois House and Senate.
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Illinois House Speaker Chris Welch gave added meaning to the phrase “winning ugly” during last Wednesday’s early-morning hours. I’ve never seen anything like it, so let’s take a look. House members were told to be in their seats by noon on Tuesday after the Senate had easily passed the entire budget package on Sunday.
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The World Health Organization's (WHO's) attempted global coup is mere days away. If you ever thought of calling your legislators, now would be an ideal time to express your objection to assigning emergency management to a foreign entity. For everyone's sake, leave politics out of it.
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Keeping an eye on forecasts for days in advance, I was sure that severe thunderstorms were going to wash out Genesius Guild's opening-night performance of William Shakespeare's Julius Caesar. But they didn't, and with my umbrella, I went, I watched, I liked it.
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At the Coralville Center for the Performing Arts from June 28 through 30, family audiences are invited to follow the yellow brick road toward a magical stage treat when the student talents of Young Footliters Youth Theatre present The Wizard of Oz: Youth Edition, a delightful, one-act stage adaptation of L. Frank Baum’s beloved tale in which our plucky heroine must make friends, face her fears, and discover how good it is to go home.
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Presenting its latest season of free summertime Shakespeare in Iowa City's Lower City Park, Riverside Theatre will thrill audiences with a stunning outdoor production of the Bard's historical tragedy Julius Caesar from June 14 through 30, this classic from 1599 having been performed over the years by such thunderous worldwide talents as Marlon Brando, Orson Welles, John Gielgud, and Denzel Washington.
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A 13-time Tony Award nominee that received four trophies including Best Musical, Lin-Manuel Miranda's exhilarating stage musical In the Heights serves as the season-opener for Eldridge's Countryside Community Theatre, the show's June 28 through July 7 run sure to demonstrate why the New York Times raved that "the energy it gives off could light up the George Washington Bridge for a year or two."
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One of the most popular and beloved musicals in theatre history is scheduled to set sail at Mt. Carroll's Timber Lake Playhouse, with the romantic and hilarious Cole Porter sensation Anything Goes enjoying a June 27 through July 7 run, and treating audiences to such iconic show tunes as "You're the Top," "All Through the Night," "I Get a Kick Out of You," and the unforgettable title number.
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For its concert event at Davenport's Unitarian Universalist Congregation of the Quad Cities on June 30, Polyrhythms' Third Sunday Jazz Series will deliver (on the fifth Sunday of the month) a rich Andalusian-jazz feel in a concert with the acclaimed Yogev Shetrit Trio, an ensemble boasting the collective talents of Moshe Elmakias on piano, Noam Tanzer on bass, and the bandleader/composer himself on drums.
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Their most recent recording Lightlessness Is Nothing New praised by Pitchfork as a work that "captures how absence can become a radiating presence that infiltrates and upends every aspect of life," the alternative rockers of Maps & Atlases headline a July 5 concert at Davenport's Raccoon Motel, with AllMusic adding that the record finds its artists "remaining faithful to their past while eyeing their future."
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With its 2024 lineup composed of touring headliners, Iowa City icons, Quad Cities favorites, and more, the Iowa City Jazz Festival (presented by GreenState Credit Union) returns from July 5 through 7, with three-time Grammy Award nominee Lakecia Benjamin headlining the nationally renowned Iowa City Jazz Festival that boasts music on two stages, culinary delights, artists, and activity booths, with free admission adjacent to the University of Iowa Pentacrest on Clinton Street and Iowa Avenue.
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With the band's collection of top-five Billboard smashes including such albums as August & Everything After, Hard Candy, Saturday Nights & Sunday Mornings, and the chart-topping Recovering the Satellites, the Grammy-nominated alternative rockers of Counting Crows perform a July 6 engagement in the John Deere Classic's "Concerts on the Course" series, the artists also famed for such number-one hits as "Come Around," "Accidentally in Love," and "Mr. Jones."
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Her 2024 singles including the hits "Country's Cool Again and "Go Home W U" (with Keith Urban), chart-topping country singer/songwriter Lainey Wilson performs a July 7 engagement in the John Deere Classic's "Concerts on the Course" series, the artist's number-one Billboard smashes including "Things a Man Oughta Know," "Heart Like a Truck," and "Wildflowers & Wild Horses."
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Hailed by New York Observer reviewer Rex Reed as “one of the most powerful films about the Arab-Israeli conflict that has ever been attempted on the screen” the award-winning dramatic romance Out in the Dark will be presented as the fourth and final Pride Month event in the Figge Art Museum's 2024 Free Film at the Figge series, its June 30 screening treating audiences to what the Los Angeles Times deemed "an edgy tale fueled by do-or-die sociopolitical intrigue."
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How disappointing to find the Manhattan populace in this Quiet Place prequel adhering to a silence-is-golden policy within what seems like minutes of the first alien assault, and to find Day One subsequently adhering, essentially, to the same narrative blueprint as before.
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If you're still coming down from the sexy, full-throttle charisma assault of Luca Guadagnino's Challengers, you'll likely be lifted right back up with writer/director Jeff Nichols' The Bikeriders, which equals that tennis-throuple melodrama in allure and watchability – and co-stars Mike Faist, to boot.
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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, June 27: Discussion of The Bikeriders, The Exorcism, and Thelma, and previews of A Quiet Place: Day One, Horizon: An American Saga - Chapter 1, and a few Netflix titles. The guys are taking next Thursday off, as well as the Thursday after that, so plan on there being muuuuuuch to chat about on July 18th.
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Now playing at area theaters.
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Providing insight into our country’s past through the work of revered American artists including Thomas Cole, Severin Roesen, Albert Bierstadt, and John Frederick Kensett, the touring exhibition The Warner Foundation Collection: History in the Painting will be on display in Gallery 206 of Davenport's Figge Art Museum through June 30, the engrossing exhibit's foundation dedicated to promoting an understanding of American history through American art.
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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 from June 29 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.
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New works by a pair of gifted Iowa artisans will be decorating the Quad City Arts International Airport Gallery through July 1, with thoughtful and arresting pieces in the Schafer & Rocca exhibit showcasing the talents of oil painter John Paul Schafer of Cedar Rapids and wall-sculpture artist Kimberlee Rocca of Solon.
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Arresting shapes, bold designs, and beautiful photographs in both color and black-or-white will be showcased at the Quad City Arts International Airport Gallery from July 3 through August 26, this latest exhibition featuring works of photography by Brad Perkins and Mark Weller alongside ceramic sculpture by Laura Vincent-Arnold.
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The whimsical world of Walter Wick has fascinated people of all ages since 1992, when his first children's book series I Spy found its way onto the bookshelves of millions of American households. And from July 6 through November 17, admirers of the artist can delight to his elaborate images in Walter Wick: Hidden Wonders!, a dazzling collection of dozens of colorful wonders on display at Davenport's Figge Art Museum,