On October 21, Wicked fans can expect a magical virtual evening as Illinois Libraries Present and the Rock Island and Silvis Public Libraries host the film's breakout sensation in Beyond the Screen – A "Wicked" Conversation with Marissa Bode, an evening with the actor who made her feature-film debut as Nessarose in director Jon M. Chu's Academy Award-winning blockbuster.
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Quick-witted improvisation, audience participation, new games featuring musical direction by Bob Derkach, and loads of laughs will be enjoyed when Davenport's Adler Theatre hosts an October 22 evening with the nationally touring comedians of Whose Live Anyway? – the hilarious stage show inspired by TV's Whose Line Is It Anyway?, and a touring sensation boasting famed standup and improv comedians Ryan Stiles, Greg Proops, Joel Murray, and Jeff B. Davis.
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With the virtual event taking place in the Bettendorf Public Library's Malmros Room on October 22, Quad Citians are invited to be among the first to hear from Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Malala Yousafzai about her astonishing new memoir, Finding My Way.
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A journey to the back lot of an inventive theme park, where audiences will dwell in the shadow of the roller coaster and under the lights of the Ferris wheel, Cirque Mechanics' stage spectacular Tilt comes to Galesburg's Orpheum Theatre on October 23, inviting guests to meet the gifted, acrobatic carnies, characters, and operators that keep the thrills coming and the rides running.
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A wildly popular comedy show filled with stage shenanigans, songs, contests, and prizes designed to lift the spirits, the touring hit Randy's Cheeseburger Picnic lands at Davenport's Raccoon Motel on October 26, treating patrons to a night with Canadian actor Patrick Roach and his alter ego: lovable Randy of Trailer Park Boys fame.
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The Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights held a statehouse lobby day last week to push its far-reaching veto-session agenda. Included in the coalition’s agenda are things like putting strict limits on executing civil-immigration warrants in state courthouses. That would likely be challenged in court, but there is some common-law precedent going back to the English court system, so we’ll see.
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Citizen's Case Reveals Incurious Davenport Mayor and Council Gave Away $1.6MM to Spiegel Without Requesting or Reviewing Demand Letter Addressed to Themselves
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Any citizen of Davenport can tell you that our town was named after Colonel George Davenport. They might not know much else of the city's history, but that they are pretty sure of. Unfortunately, much of what they think they know is wrong.
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The problem? Corporate tax cuts passed by Congress in July “may offset much of the anticipated corporate tax revenue growth” from state-level reforms. The Governor’s Office of Management and Budget projected last week the current fiscal year’s budget will run a $267 million deficit. The budget office recommended taking “immediate” action to plug the hole.
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The announcement last week that the Illinois AFL-CIO was withdrawing from the “agreed-bill process” at least forty years after its inception took almost everyone by surprise, but nobody was really shocked. For years, whenever the group engaged in carefully-constructed negotiations with business interests on workers’ compensation and unemployment insurance, labor leaders would grumble privately that most other states don’t have a similar process.
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The Black Box Theatre's The Thanksgiving Play isn’t really about Thanksgiving at all. It's not a story of stuffed birds, mashed potatoes, and raucous family dinners. Instead, it focuses on the people who are trying to make sense of how to tell the first-Thanksgiving story, and in doing so, revealing just how tangled and hilarious the process of “getting it right” can be.
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A Noël Coward masterpiece boasting period elegance, touching romance, loads of laughs, and more than a hint of the supernatural graces the stage at Moline's Playcrafters Barn Theatre October 24 through November 2, the British classic Blithe Spirit treating audiences to one of the most popular comedies of 20th Century world theatre, as well as the show whose most recent Broadway version won co-star Angela Lansbury her fifth Tony Award.
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If Halloween is approaching, it must be time for that theatrical command: “Let's do the 'Time Warp' again!” Consequently, the Circa '21 Speakeasy will stage its 10th-anniversary presentation of the cult-musical smash The Rocky Horror Show October 24 through 31, treating audiences to live performances of classic songs in this nutty, interactive experience that has been delighting show regulars and virgins alike for more than half a century.
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A 2025 Tony Award winner hailed by the New York Times as "the perfect play for our age of disagreement," Jonathan Specter's hilarious, biting comedy Eureka Day enjoys an October 24 through November 9 run at Iowa City's Riverside Theatre, the work also lauded by The New Yorker as "so brilliantly yoked to the current American moment – its flighty politics, its deadly folly – that it makes you want to jump out of your skin."
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Boasting what will doubtless be the most heavily populated cast that area audiences have seen all year and will see for the remainder of 2025, Dare to Dream Jr.: A Disney Musical Revue runs at the Coralville Center for the Performing Arts October 24 through 26, this presentation by Young Footliters Youth Theatre featuring many of your favorite Disney songs and an ensemble of 98 young talents.
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With his music, as described by Westword, "soothing respite from the chaotic day-to-day realities that cloud our minds," Joel Van Horne brings his project Covenhoven to Davenport's Raccoon Motel on October 22 in support of 2025's The Color of the Dark, which Americana Highways said "continues Van Horne’s recent trend toward gradually opening his music to a bigger sonic palette while keeping all of the lyrical intimacy he’s had since day one."
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Returning to Moline with two spectacular, all-new touring presentations, the live, multi-sensory musical experience known as the Candlelight Concerts series enjoys its latest Quad Cities engagement at the city's First Congregational Church with a pair of eagerly awaited October 24 events: Candlelight: Coldplay vs. Imagine Dragons and Candlelight: A Haunted Evening of Halloween Classics.
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Currently touring in support of his 2025 album Mvd Luv, praised by AllMusic as a recording that's "genuinely inspired" in its "inherent sweetness," Uruguayan indie-rock singer/songwriter Juan Wauters returns to Davenport venue The Raccoon Motel on October 24, the artist also hailed by Clash magazine as one who is "able to blend surrealistic aspects with melodies dappled in light,"
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Combining a hugely popular scary movie with a frighteningly fierce collection of musicians, the Quad City Symphony Orchestra's latest QCSO at the Movies event, Jurassic Park in Concert, enjoys an October 25 performance at Davenport's Adler Theatre, with John Williams' iconic score performed live during an HD screening of the Steven Spielberg blockbuster.
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With his career accomplishments including acting as frontman for the hard-rock outfit Skid Row and a successful turn on TV's The Masked Singer, Canadian musician Sebastian Bach co-headlines an October 25 concert at Davenport's Rhythm City Casino Resort Event Center alongside the rockers of Slaughter, American Music Award winners whose hit singles include "Fly to the Angels," "Up All Night," and "Spend My Life."
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Because the presentation is so confident and the film's look so distinctive, it might take a while to realize just how bad Black Phone 2 actually is.
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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, October 16: Before the previews of Black Phone 2, After the Fall, Good Fortune, Truth & Treason, and Pets on a Train, discussion of The Smashing Machine, Anemone, Good Dog, Tron: Ares, Roofman, Kiss of the Spider Woman, and John Candy: I Like Me. After a week off, it's Lightning Round time again -- this time with Lightning Round sound effects.
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A sci-fi excursion that's neither as scientific as you may need nor as fictional as you may want, Tron: Ares finds the fate of humanity resting in the hands of either a global-weaponry mogul or a video-game mastermind. So, you know, we're pretty much effed any way you slice it.
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What do you get when you give $130-175 million to a filmmaker who, after nearly 30 years in the business, has never helmed a blockbuster, or even a movie that grossed more than $41 million domestic? If you're Warner Bros., which granted a nine-figure budget to Paul Thomas Anderson, you probably get all sorts of happy, because the writer/director's new screwball epic One Battle After Another is going through the roof in every imaginable way. Better still, it deserves to.
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Now playing at area theaters.
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An eclectic mix of practical lettering and expressive pieces that involve letters, historical recreations, and three-dimensional collages, Cheryl Jacobsen's Lettering and Assemblage: (things I love, my art so far) is on display at St. Ambrose University's Catich Gallery from October 20 through December 12, with the artist and her work showcased in a Q&A and reception on October 23.
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A dazzling, visually rich celebration of fascinating felines and the artists who love them, the Figge Art Museum exhibition Cats! can currently be viewed in the Davenport venue's third-floor gallery, and on October 23, a Scholar Talk on both the exhibit and the animal will be presented by Dr. Amy Freund and Dr. Michael Yonan, co-authors of the Journal18 article “Cats: The Soft Underbelly of the Enlightenment."
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A trio of gifted artists, and a quartet of disparate artistic mediums, will be showcased in the latest exhibition at the Quad City Arts International Airport Gallery, the gallery's display cases, through October 29, housing new furniture and sculpture by John Schwartzkopf, fabric collages by Heather Steckler and paper collage by Lauren Pesta.
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With both artists hoping that viewers will take some time to look for meaning in their works and enjoy a diversion from the tensions of the day, talents from Iowa and Wisconsin will be showcased at the Quad City Arts International Airport Gallery, the Niebuhr & Ryan exhibit, from October 31 through January 5, boasting arresting oil paintings by Michael S. Ryan and mixed-media works by Gary Warren Niebuhr.
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Featuring presidential portraits and an array of images showcasing the University of Dubuque's evolving campus, all reminders of the rich tradition and enduring mission that continue to shape UD today, Stewards of Our Story: A Legacy of Leadership at the University of Dubuque will be on display in the university's Bisignano Art Gallery through October 31, the exhibit and its opening reception aptly timed for the 2025 Homecoming celebration.
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