With the show presented by RockTown Entertainment Group, its sounds provided by DJ Smiles, and MZ.Behaven serving as the night's host, noted standup Donnell Rawlings brings his “Urban Comedy Tour” to Davenport's Adler Theatre on November 13, his recent credits including joining Dave Chappelle for a historic run at Radio City Music Hall and performing with the multiple Emmy and Grammy winner on Saturday Night Live.
On November 18, a virtual evening of cooking insights, techniques, and foodie exploration will be delivered as Illinois Libraries Present and the Rock Island and Silvis Public Libraries host a presentation of J. Kenji López-Alt: A Journey Through Food & Science, a delightful how-to program with the award-winning cookbook author and New York Times food columnist.
The rain may not start to pour, but staffers at Great River Brewery will be there for you – like they've been there before! – on November 21, the evening of which will find the Davenport venue inviting patrons to share their best guesses on Central Perk factoids in the sitcom- and holiday-themed FriendsGiving Trivia Night.
In the latest program in the German American Heritage Center's popular "Kaffee und Kuchen" series, Honorary Consul Patrick Van Nevel will be discussing Belgium's role in the founding and expansion of the European Union, as well as Belgian immigration to the Quad Cities from 1850 to 1920, in The Belgian Connection: Belgium's Influence Abroad & in the Quad Cities, presented at the Davenport venue on November 23.
Amassed over four decades by a pair of noted printmakers and educators, the fascinating works found in German Expressionist Prints from the David & Sarojini Johnson Collection will be on display in Davenport's German American Heritage Center through December 14, this showcase of arresting pieces held in conjunction with the Figge Art Museum's companion exhibit Fever Dreams: German Expressionism.
House Democratic legislators received a stern lecture during the second week of veto session about leaks from their private party caucus meetings. During the first week of veto session in October, I posted a photo on my blog of a caucus PowerPoint presentation showing the range of revenue ideas under consideration in the House to fund mass transit ... while the caucus was still meeting. That apparently caused quite a stir.
And I'm always shocked when I get these invitations to come speak because my heart is all about making sure that we defeat the great slave master. And it's in an unaccountable black box that we use in every single state. So while we chuckle about 81 million votes going to Joe Biden, we rarely turn the scalpel towards our own backyards. And it's especially difficult to give these speeches in red states. Very difficult, right? It's easy to say those Democrats have problems. But it's we we get really, really cautious about talking about, especially at a Reagan dinner, that our elections have problems.
This means there is real hope for growing the GOP in Scott County into a pack of American Republic advocates for nonnegotiable election integrity as spelled out below, the restoration of adjudication using petit juries and public access to grand juries, and a force for the people's purse power. This was apparent with the recent annual Reagan Dinner, held at Bettendorf's Quad-Cities Waterfront Convention Center, where the service was exceptional, the food uncommonly good for a large catered event, and for our entertainment, enjoyment, and self-improvement, four remarkable gentlemen provided much-needed perspective as front-liners to subjects that otherwise lurk in the corners of establishment politics as third rails.
Last May, several Illinois House Democrats complained bitterly that their mass-transit negotiators were ignored and even shut out by the Senate Democratic mass-transit negotiators. The House members had a point. The Senate passed a bill, which was an almost purely Senate Democratic creation. They literally gave the House a “take it or leave it, but you have to decide right now” moment during the final minutes of the spring legislative session.
It was with great pleasure that I listened to David K. Clements give his keynote speech at the 17th-Annual Scott County Iowa GOP Reagan Dinner last month. Having Iowa's Secretary of State Paul Pate and Attorney General Brenna Bird at the head table overlooking all the attendees while Professor David K. Clements admonished the uniparty for not paying enough attention to election integrity in their own backyards was a moment that may not be repeated in Iowa again if the establishment Republicans have their way.
Hailed by the New York Times as "a clever, crowd-pleasing holiday comedy" and by DC Metro Arts as "an entertaining new play filled with thrills, chills, and laughs," author Mark Shanahan's mystery-comedy mash-up A Sherlock Carol makes its area debut at Geneseo's Richmond Hill Barn Theatre November 13 through 23, TheatreMania adding to the raves by calling the show "joyful, playful, and clever – and that joy transfers to the audience."
A legendary mystery thriller that stands as the longest-running West End show of all time, the play having reached its 30,000th performance this past March, Agatha Christie's timeless classic The Mousetrap opens Augustana College's 2025-26 mainstage theatre season with its November 13 through 16 run, The Times calling the show "elaborately skillful" and The Daily Express praising its "atmosphere of shuddering suspense."
One of the most venerable and beloved stage musicals of all time, The Sound of Music closes Quad City Music Guild's 2025 season with a November 14 through 23 run at Moline's Prospect Park Auditorium, the show adored by all generations for its rich characters, beautiful celebration of family, and unforgettable Rodgers & Hammerstein score boasting such iconic songs as “My Favorite Things,” “Sixteen Going on Seventeen,” “Climb Ev'ry Mountain,” “Edleweiss,” and the unforgettable title tune.
Delivering what the New York Times deemed "the subliminal potency of music, the head-scratching surprise of a modernist poem, and the cockeyed allure of a surrealist painting," Tony-nominated playwright Sarah Ruhl's Eurydice enjoys a November 14 through 23 staging in the Galvin Fine Arts Studio Theatre at St. Ambrose University, the Times adding that the genre-spanning show is a "devastatingly lovely – and just plain devastating – theatrical gloss on the Orpheus myth."
A collection of 10 death-affirming plays, sketches, and monologues that includes Silence, which the Miami Herald called “deeply moving,” author Henry Meyerson's Proceed to Checkout serves as the 2025-26 season-opening production at Bettendorf's Scott Community College's, the show's November 20 through 23 run also treating attendees to the short work Pop Goes the Weasel, which NYTheatre hailed as “a sharp, very original piece."
With the Orange Country Register calling the production “electrifying” and the Los Angeles Times labeling it “the most unique tribute show in decades,” the touring sensation Beatles vs. Stones: A Musical Showdown makes a stop at Davenport's Capitol Theatre on November 13, filling the Davenport venue with some of the most electrifying and beloved songs made famous by two of history's most iconic bands.
Acclaimed by the Sarasota Herald-Tribune for their "rich voices and exhilarating rhythms," the Zimbabwe-based female a cappella group Nobunto performs two intimate public concerts during their tenure as Quad City Arts Visiting Artists, the ensemble's November 13 appearances finding the talents at the Geneseo Public Library at 2 p.m. and Moline's Butterworth Center 6:30 p.m.
Dylan Carlson has been the sole constant in Earth since 1989. His tragic friendship with Nirvana's Kurt Cobain is here mentioned only as a historical footnote. His true legacy is the introduction of drone into heavy music, using heavily downtuned and distorted electric guitars to harness feedback and low frequencies, creating extended monolithic soundscapes that combined the minimalism of LaMonte Young or Indian raga with heavy metal sonics.
Touring in support of his 2024 album If It Takes Forever and lauded by Paste magazine for delivering "nimble grooves, creamy choruses, and vocal performances of immediacy and genuine feeling," folk singer/songwriter Brett Dennen headlines a November 15 concert event at Davenport's Redstone Room, the show an interactive art, storytelling, and acoustic-music concert with the artist Glide praised for his "bouncy rhythms, upbeat acoustic strumming, and sunny choruses."
A Kansas Music Hall of Fame member who was awarded the “Songwriter of the Year” citation at the 2024 International Bluegrass Music Association Awards, Grammy-nominated bluegrass musician Rick Faris and the band headline a November 15 concert at the Aledo Opera House, their July recording Life's a Parade inspiring Americana Highways to rave, "The playing is exquisite throughout, airy, breezy, and tastefully projected."
I had an utterly spectacular time at director Dan Trachtenberg's sci-fi thriller that's also, brace yourselves, a thoroughly winning buddy comedy.
Lauded by Rotten Tomatoes' critical consensus as "a lively feel-good movie that genuinely charms," the sleeper hit Bend It Like Beckham enjoys a November 13 screening in the Figge Art Museum's Free Film at the Figge series, this breakout for star Keira Knightley also praised by the Los Angele Times for its "impeccable sense of milieu that is the result of knowing the culture intimately enough to poke fun at it while understanding its underlying integrity."
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, November 6: Discussion of Bugonia, If I Had Legs I'd Kick You, Hedda, Ballad of a Small Player, and KPop Demon Hunters, and previews of Predator: Badlands, Christy, Die My Love, Nuremberg, Sarah's Oil, It Was Just an Accident, Frankenstein, Train Dreams, Kren Kingsbury's The Christmas Ring ... . And those aren't even the only films opening this weekend!
Eventually, the bubble will no doubt burst, as one does quite memorably toward the end of his latest film. But barring the unrelieved misery wallow that is 2017's The Killing of a Sacred Deer, no one's movies over the past 10 years have tickled and astonished me quite like Yorgos Lanthimos', with the director's new, wickedly entertaining oddity Bugonia much like his others, and also not at all.
Now playing at area theaters.
A traditional Mexican holiday is again being celebrated in high style at Davenport's Figge Art Museum through the exhibit Day of the Dead, with museum patrons, through November 30, invited to reflect on why this Mexican tradition endures, and how it is gaining new resonance across the United States.
Quad City Arts has curated a new exhibit that celebrates the decades long burgeoning Hispanic culture here in the Quad Cities. A colorful and pulsating exhibit of 30-plus pieces – Voces y Visiones: A Celebration of Hispanic Art – is on view at Quad City Arts’ Rock Island Gallery (1715 Second Avenue, Rock Island IL) through December 5. This juried exhibition is presented in partnership with Mercado on Fifth, and Hispanic/Latin/Latinx artists were especially encouraged to apply.
With the Davenport venue partnering alongside the German American Heritage Center and Museum for programming during the exhibit's run, the Figge Art Museum will house Fever Dreams: German Expressionism in the Lewis Gallery through December 7, this arresting exhibition featuring loans from the David and Sarojini Johnson Print Collection, and showcased in conjunction with the GAHC's companion exhibit German Expressionist Prints from the Johnson Collection.
With the project supported by Quad City Arts' re-granting program Arts Dollars, the Illinois Arts Council Agency, the Hubbell-Waterman Foundation, and the Quad Cities Community Foundation - Isabel Bloom Art Education Endowment, Lucas Berns' exhibition Artificial and Still: Woven Works on Paper is on display at St. Ambrose University's Morrissey Gallery through December 12, a Q&A and reception scheduled for November 6.
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 through December 12.
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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