An Augustana College graduate, former Moline teacher/coach, and Superintendent of Rock Island-Milan Public Schools takes part in a conversation about his recent memoir in From Dubuque to Selma & Beyond, an April 7 book talk with Dave Markward that finds the author, at the Rock Island Public Library Watts-Midtown Branch, sharing his personal journey of understanding racism in America.
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A wildly popular presence on TikTok and Instagram, and the 2022 winner of the inaugural James Beard Award for Best Social Media Account. Alexis Nikole Nelson serves as the latest virtual guest in the Illinois Libraries Present series, her April 10 program The Act of Foraging, co-presented by the Rock Island and Silvis Public Libraries, designed to celebrate all the edible plants hiding in plain sight.
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Even if you've previously seen Lyon's takes on The Firebird and La Création du monde, which will enjoy two stagings at Davenport's Adler Theatre on April 12, you won't have seen them quite the way you soon will.
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Having made Vulture’s 2023 list of “Comedians You Should and Will Know,” and having been identified by GQ as “at the front of a new wave of comedians," Stavros Halkias brings his tour to Davenport's Capitol Theatre on April 12, the funnyman also noted for being a founding member of the popular podcast Cum Town and appearing in Steven Soderbergh’s sci-fi series Command Z.
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With Kirkus calling her 2025 novel All the Water in the World "gripping, beautifully descriptive, and likely to stay with you," its author Eiren Caffall will be the featured guest in the Archway Reading and Lecture Series at the University of Dubuque, her April 14 reading and subsequent Q&A session taking place in the campus' Multicultural Student Center at the Peter and Susan Smith Welcome Center.
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You’ve probably read about the Republican Party implosion last week in suburban municipal and township campaigns, particularly in DuPage County.
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[The following is an update to the "Rock Island Addresses Concerns Over Development Plan Near Casino" article published March 21, 2025. In the above photo by Jonathan Turner, Jeff Hughbanks (right), who heads Rock Island-based Rymak Construction Group, talks about his $12-million plan to build a new cannabis dispensary and gas station in southwest Rock Island, at the March 21 press conference at city hall. Mike Thoms (left) will end his two terms as mayor having been defeated by 150 votes in the April 1st city wide election by Ashley Harris who won 51 to 49 percent.]
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The Civic Federation, the Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning, the Illinois Economic Policy Institute, and the Center for Tax and Budget Accountability recently released a report calling for the expansion of the sales tax to several services, claiming such a move could raise $2 billion for the state.
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On February 11, 2025, more than 75 concerned citizens gathered in room 102 at the Iowa state capital for the House Environmental Protection Sub-Committee hearing regarding House File 191 proposed legislation from Iowa District 87 (Van Buren County) State Representative Jeff Shipley.
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Two major proposals backed by Governor JB Pritzker did not advance out of legislative committees before last week’s passage deadline. Senator Suzy Glowiak Hilton confirmed that she won’t be advancing her legislation supported by the governor that would dissolve townships with populations below 5,000 (SB2217), and eventually abolish townships with populations below 50,000 and lower the petition threshold to five percent from ten percent to put a township abolition on the ballot.
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M: No one's here for the story, are they?
K: No, we’re in it for the escapism! And fortunately, that’s exactly what this show is all about.
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Titanic received five 1997 Tony Awards including Best Musical, Book, and Score, and Spotlight director Noah Hill and musical director Amy Trimble had a boatload of logistics, decisions, and inspirations to sort out. Their staging of this intricate, visually stunning spectacle is exemplary.
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Defined as a comedic work that employs buffoonery and horseplay, farce typically includes crude characterization and ludicrously improbable situations. And on opening night, director Elizabeth Shaffer hit the nail on the head, because her production isn’t trying to be anything else.
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Lauded by American Theatre Magazine as "raw and hilarious," the wickedly funny revenge comedy Exit, Pursued by a Bear enjoys an April 10 through 13 run at Augustana College's Honkamp Myhre Black Box Theatre, its playwright Lauren Gunderson also famed for multiple shows that have recently played on Quad Cities stages, among them Silent Sky, The Revolutionists, and Natural Shocks.
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Closing the University of Iowa School of Music's 2024-25 opera season with a trio of ravishing performances April 11 through 13, the Coralville Center for the Performing Arts will house a pair of obscure yet treasured pieces that have enjoyed a recent resurgence: Gaetano Donizetti’s Rita, a darkly comic look at power dynamics in relationships, and La Colombe, in which Charles Gounod’s sparkling score accompanies a farcical tale of seduction.
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An exhilarating concert event powered by Las Vegas Walk of Fame recipient Jalles Franca, the touring sensation MJ Live: Michael Jackson Tribute Concert moon-walks its way to Davenport's Adler Theatre on April 7, taking audiences on an unforgettable journey through the timeless music and legendary performances of one of music history's most successful artists.
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Appearing locally in his “Rough and Rowdy Ways” World Wide Tour, a genuine legend takes the stage at Davenport's Adler Theatre in its April 8 hosting of the one and only Bob Dylan, the iconic musician and Nobel Prize winner recently chronicled in the Oscar-nominated bio-musical smash A Complete Unknown.
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Chart-topping Scottish musicians whom Broadway Baby praised for producing “music that upholds heritage while still sounding unmistakably current,” the Celtic rockers of Skerryvore headline an April 9 concert event at Galesburg's Orpheum Theatre, their performance delivering an eclectic fusion of rock, pop, and folk music with an emphatic thundering of drums and bagpipes.
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Hailing by the Tongue on the Post Festival as "a peach with pistol attitude," 20-year-old country singer/songwriter Noeline Hofmann headlines an April 10 engagement at Davenport's Raccoon Motel, the young artist's laurels to date including scoring a feature on Zach Bryan’s The Great American Bar Scene and more than 37 million streams on Spotify.
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Performing in a special concert co-presented by Common Chord and the Mississippi Valley Blues Society, Chris O'Leary and his opener Kevin Burt bring a night of exhilarating blues to Davenport's Redstone Room on April 11, the former lauded as the lead singer and front man for Grammy winner Levon Helm’s band The Barnburners, and the latter a Midwestern talent praised by Blues Matters as "vocally exquisite and "musically phenomenal."
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Yes, a horned, magical creature does perish – at least twice. But forget its demise(s): Nothing that happens to the apparently not-mythical beast is quite as grisly as what happens to most of the movie's humans, our collection of potential victims including a Big Pharma titan and a grown man who seemingly doesn't own a pair of long pants. So, you know … it's okay to laugh if they die.
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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, April 3: Discussion of Death of a Unicorn, The Woman in the Yard, and A Working Man, and previews of A Minecraft Movie, Hell of a Summer, and The Friend, the latter starring Naomi Watts, Bill Murray, and a Great Dane. It's a drama. About grief. The odds on the pup's survival do not appear good.
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Garsh … so many thoughts on a live-action Disney reboot that, in all honesty, is barely worth a single thought. In honor of the support staff whose collective moniker has been dumped from the original Snow White & the Seven Dwarfs title, here are a septet of paragraphs on director Marc Webb's and screenwriter Erin Cressida Wilson's Snow White, accordingly themed to each individual Dwarf.
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For roughly two-thirds of its length, director David Yarovesky's largely stationary thriller Locked is like 127 Hours if the boulder were played by Anthony Hopkins.
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Now playing at area theaters.
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An engaging, animated PowerPoint presentation boasting archival photographs and video segments, Randy Lengeling's Grant Wood: Artistic Rags to Riches – an American Success Story will be presented at the LeClaire Community Library on April 9, the event allowing participants to enjoy an evening of art history and state pride in Iowan accomplishments.
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An annual fine-art showcase involving students in the Department of Digital Art and Design at the University of Dubuque, The Edge Show is the latest exhibition at the institution's Bisignano Art Gallery, this celebration of dazzling young talent on display through April 9.
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Held in conjunction with the current exhibit showcasing 18 thought-provoking pottery pieces and lithographs, 20 evocative photographs, and a new collaborative piece created exclusively for this exhibition, a special presentation celebrating Cara & Diego Romero: Tales of Futures Past will take place at Davenport's Figge Art Museum on April 10, the evening's program based on themes found throughout the married artists' works.
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Featuring paintings both from the museum's collection and on loan, the Figge Art Museum's current exhibition Marvin Cone: Painter celebrates this exceptional artist and teacher who pursued artmaking for more than 50 years, and in an April 17 Curator Talk, the Davenport venue's senior co-curator Vanessa Sage will speak about the artist, his long career, and the evolution of his style.
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Notable and engaging works by 10 artists from Iowa and Illinois will be housed in the Quad City Arts International Airport Gallery through April 29, with Moline's airport showcasing floral paintings by Kathleen Rietz, landscape paintings by Evan Ventris, and 19 works by eight of the region’s finest woodturners.
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