Held in conjunction with the October 5 through 11 Banned Books Week – a celebration of our collective freedom to read – the Midwest Writing Center's and Rock Island Public Library's annual Banned Books Read-In will take place on October 6, with more than a dozen participants gathering at the library's Watts-Midtown Branch to read from frequently challenged works and unite in the fight against censorship.
Joshua Freedman, co-founder and chief executive officer of Six Seconds – the global non-profit dedicated to teaching people how to use emotional intelligence (EQ) – will deliver the Fall 2025 Michael Lester Wendt Character Lecture at the University of Dubuque's Heritage Center, his presentation "From Me to We: Developing Character for the Common Good" being presented free to the public on October 6.
“Lauded by the San Diego Reader for its “heightened sense of reality, folk tales, and folk dances transmogrified into sinuous spectacle,” the World Ballet Company's touring production of The Great Gatsby lands at Davenport's Adler Theatre on October 7, this thrilling adaptation of F. Scott Fitzgerald's literary masterpiece also hailed by the Times-Advocate's critic as “one of the most transcendent cultural experiences I have had in a long time.”
Touring the haunted halls and dark crevices of Skellington Manor is scary enough, with its depraved permanent displays and figures. But add the colorful, creepy live performers during the haunted-house season of October 3 through November 2, and the fear factor is super-charged.
Founded in 2015 by the Quad Cities Cybersecurity Alliance and presented by the Docent Institute, the 11th-annual CornCon – an event designed to raise community awareness and provide business solutions for dealing with cybersecurity threats – will boast breakout sessions, expert speakers, panels, tutorials, vendors, a tech expo, children's activities, awards presentations, and more on October 10 and 11, this year's Davenport RiverCenter event titled Manifest Your Inner Cyber Superhero.
Overhead, Iowa's landscape is a quilt of green patches of cornfields stitched together by highways that connect its 934 cities. It’s a picturesque Grant Wood painting of rural America. But from the ground, these fields feel very different.
While most voters have turned a blind eye to election irregularities that revealed themselves both in 2020 and 2024, there are still courageous, thoughtful, and measured Americans who continue to research and compile irrefutable hard evidence with the expectation that one day, the culprits will be exposed, prosecuted, and punished and fair, secure, honest elections restored to the people.
One of the reasons a giant energy-related bill failed to pass the Illinois General Assembly last spring was because organized labor remained neutral. At least one union opposed the bill, but overall, the unions weren’t helping to move the ball forward – and they have a whole lot of much-needed legislative muscle.
Jim Edgar ran a brilliant campaign for governor in 1990. He set the template for every winning statewide race since then by focusing on the importance of independent suburban women. The Republican Edgar defeated a Catholic Democrat – Neil Hartigan – in that race, with a boost from the National Abortion Rights Action League’s endorsement. That endorsement most definitely helped him with suburban women, who were just starting to lean Democratic.
Having lived through and closely covered the Bruce Rauner gubernatorial administration, I’ve been getting a strong sense of déjà vu lately as several famous “wise old men” have publicly advised Governor JB Pritzker to call President Donald Trump and make some sort of deal that settles their disagreements. This effort by political consultant David Axelrod and others was highlighted earlier this month when a Chicago TV reporter asked Governor Pritzker: “Don’t you think if you maybe called [Trump], you can lower the temperature?”
Jenni Colbert, a 2002 Davenport Central alum, was born to play her part in the new October 10 through 12 production by Muscatine's New Era Dinner Theater.
Praised by DC Theater Arts as "a genuine joy to watch," the family entertainment Junie B. Jones: The Musical enjoys an October 10 through 12 run at the Coralville Center for the Performing Arts, the DC Theater Arts adding that the characters in this Barbara Park adaptation "say the silliest things and die on the hills of the most meaningless opinions, and in doing so, bring genuine belly laughs to the adults in the room."
With the stage hit lauded by Broadway World as "entirely entertaining and enjoyable," the spooky, kooky, ooky musical-comedy version of The Addams Family brings its national tour to Davenport's Adler Theatre on October 16, this opener to the 2025-26 Broadway at the Adler series treating audiences to a Tony Award-nominated delight inspired by the beloved TV comedy and the iconic cartoon strip by series originator Charles Addams.
Remembering the devastating losses and world-changing terror of 9/11 doesn't usually inspire joy, or instill hope. But there's a musical about it that does both, focusing on how the destruction in New York City and Washington D.C. affected a little island roughly 1,500 miles northeast.
Armed with iconic hits such as “Hold On Loosely,” “Rockin' into the Night,” “Caught Up in You,” "Fantasy Girl," and "Back Where You Belong," the touring musicians of 38 Special bring their singular brand of exhilarating Southern rock back to Davenport in an October 5 concert at the Capitol Theatre, continuing the legacy of the band's long history in the company of vocalist/guitarist Don Barnes, who began with the group in 1975.
These work products are considered a parody inspired by the original songs. And, given Lydia Electrum's focus on restoring the republic via sound money, namely using gold and silver, we have coined (pun intended) these series of songs "Parody Gold."
October is Void Church season. The Quad Cities collective books shows in all seasons. But when the shadows fall and the light fades, when the veil draws thin and the wind whispers dark and suggestive secrets on the chilling air, Void Church falls into their element. The term “goth” is thrown around like a can of black lacquer, but it fits them like a pair of fishnets. They invite you to come revel in the dying of the light, with one caveat: “Are you ready to meet your shadow?”
Lauded by Pitchfork as an artist that "cleverly illuminates Latin America's rich musical heritage," Tall Juan, the indie project of Buenos Aires-born singer/songwriter Juan Zaballa, headlines an October 7 concert at Davenport's Raccoon Motel, Heatwave magazine adding that "Juan's laid-back sound is really easy to get into."
Hailed by AllMusic as musicians who "combine neck-snapping breakdowns, caustic yet catchy riffs, and unhinged vocals to forge their particularly punitive style of deathcore," the rockers of Signs of the Swam bring their tour to Davenport's Capitol Theatre on October 8, the group's 2025 album To Rid Myself of Truth lauded by Distorted Sound as "an all-out ride through the depths of hell and the high heavens."
In recent years, it was starting to look as though Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson was no longer capable of genuine screen rapport with anyone. Turns out he very much is. Maybe he just needed a true kindred spirit to share some with.
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 2: Before Mike takes next week off, discussion of One Battle After Another, The Strangers: Chapter 2, Dead of Winter, and Eleanor the Great, and previews of The Smashing Machine, Good Boy, Anemone, and the new Taylor Swift experience. Mike won't be seeing that one. A handful of others probably will.
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.
Director Kogonada's and screenwriter Seth Reiss' self-help session in the guise of cinema gives you no reason to believe in it, and despite their geniality, we consequently can't believe in Margot Robbie and Colin Farrell, either.
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, from October 11 through November 30, invited to reflect on why this Mexican tradition endures, and how it is gaining new resonance across the United States.
An art project spanning more than 20 years and including some 150 photographs, he photography exhibit Huang Qingjun: Family Stuff opens the 2025-26 art-show season at Galesburg's Carl Sandburg College, this showcase through October 11 a series of deeply personal works by the artist who has been featured by the New York Times and the BBC.
On October 16, guests of Davenport's Figge Art Museum are invited to watch a recorded fashion program in the second-floor John Deere Auditorium, with historical costumier Ninya Mikhaila's fascinating program Stitching up History - Clothing in NGA Portraiture being held in conjunction with the current exhibition The Golden Age: Featuring Northern European Works from the National Gallery of Art.
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.
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 October 3 through 31, the exhibit and its opening reception aptly timed for the 2025 Homecoming celebration.
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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