A botanist, artist, author, and ex-railroader who travels the world documenting plant life, Joey Santore is the host and producer of the YouTube channel Crime Pays But Botany Doesn't, and on September 25, he'll be at Rock Island venue Rozz-Tox with his live presentation Kill Your Lawn, exploring the inadequacies of lawn culture for anything other than the purposes of picnics, sports fields, and dog feces.
A beloved touring artist who has twice appeared on Jerry Seinfeld's Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee and has released three Netflix comedy specials including 2021's On the Rocks, acclaimed funnyman Brian Regan brings his quick-witted talents to Davenport's Rhythm City Casino Resort Event Center on September 26, demonstrating why Vanity Fair called him “the funniest standup alive,” and Entertainment Weekly deemed him “your favorite comedian's favorite comedian.”
An eagerly awaited autumnal tradition will get the blood pumping on September 27 and 28, as the weekend brings with it the Vibrant Arena at the MARK's Active Endeavors Health & Fitness Expo on Saturday followed by the 28th Quad Cities Marathon, presented by TBK Bank, on Sunday, the latter a Boston Marathon qualifier and the only such event in the country to incorporate six races, four cities, three bridges, two states, and one island.
A rising touring comedian who can boast acclaimed America's Got Talent performances, late-night TV appearances, and a massive TikTok fan base of 3.2 million followers, Preacher Lawson brings his national standup act to Davenport's Adler Theatre on September 27 and the University of Dubuque on September 30, the 34-year-old recently lauded by Range for "captivating crowds with his boundless energy."
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.
I’m coming a bit late to this (national current events having overtaken everything), but a lawsuit filed by House and Senate Republicans was recently tossed out by Sangamon County Circuit Court Judge Jack Davis II. The suit sought to strike down a new law — Senate Bill 328 — backed by trial lawyers. The Republicans say they will appeal. The Republican lawsuit claimed that the majority Democrats had violated the Illinois Constitution’s “three readings rule.”
Two GOP lawmakers at the state and federal level are calling on public university leaders to fire anyone found to have violated laws banning diversity, equity, and inclusion in college classrooms and beyond.
The FBI never listed 9/11 on Osama Bin Laden's crime sheet due to “lack of hard evidence.” Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, is the fifth-largest issuer of visas in the Middle East, run by the future CIA Director John Brennan from 1982-84, who issued covert visas to unqualified applicants during this period, according to J. Michael Springmann, Chief of the Visa department in Jeddah.
On May 22, 2025, this case came before the Court on the Defendant's pre-answer Motion to Dismiss. For the following reasons, the Court DENIES the Defendant’s Motion to Dismiss.
The Iowa Utilities Commission, on August 20, held its first monthly publ
Hailed by Time Out New York as a "frisky, feminist crowd-pleaser" that's "enlightening and entertaining," the two-woman historical drama The Half-Life of Marie Curie enjoys its Quad Cities debut at Moline's Black Box Theare September 19 through 28, its playwright Lauren Gunderson the author of previously acclaimed Black Box productions including Silent Sky, I & You and The Revolutionists.
A legendary theatrical work that won both the 1963 Tony Award for Best Play and the 1962–1963 New York Drama Critics' Circle Award for Best Play, Edward Albee's Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? opens the 2025-26 season at Iowa City's Riverside Theatre, this savagely funny and painfully emotional drama helmed by Riverside's artistic director Adam Knight and featuring venue favorites Tim Budd and Kristy Hartsgrove Mooers.
Reviews by Rochelle Arnold, Jeff Ashcraft, Patricia Baugh-Riechers, Audra Beals, Pamela Briggs, Dee Canfield, Madeline Dudziak, Kim Eastland, Emily Heninger, Heather Herkelman, Kitty (née Israel) Hooker, Mischa Hooker, Paula Jolly, Victoria Navarro, Roger Pavey Jr., Alexander Richardson, Mark Ruebling, Mike Schulz, Joy Thompson, Oz Torres, Brent Tubbs, Jill Pearson Walsh, and Thom White.
Lauded by the New York Times as a "big bearhug of a musical" in which "even the most stalwart cynics may have trouble staying dry-eyed," the Tony Award-winning Come from Away makes its debut at Rock Island's Circa '21 Dinner Playhouse with its September 10 through November 1 run, this deeply moving 2017 entertainment also hailed by Broadway World as "inspiring, funny, and kick-ass beautiful.”
Two lauded indie-rock ensembles with 2025 albums share one night at Davenport's Raccoon Motel on September, with the venue hosting The Band Feel in support of their recently released sophomore EP Into the Sun, and the return of The Thing with Feathers, whose So Electirc album will debut next month.
A revered supergroup composed of Peter Buck, Mike Mills, Scott McCaughey (all of R.E.M.), Steve Wynn (The Dream Syndicate), and Linda Pitmon (The Minus Five), the Baseball Project brings their latest tour to Maquoketa's Codfish Hollow Barn on September 16, their most recent album Grand Salami Time boasting such guest artists as Stephen McCarthy of the Long Ryders and Steve Berlin of Los Lobos.
Having sold almost 10 million copies worldwide of their 11 studio albums including their 2003 double-platinum breakthrough The Beautiful Letdown and 2009's Grammy Award-winning Hello Hurricane, the alt-rock musicians of Switchfoot bring their national tour to Davenport's Capitol Theatre on July 15, the band revered for their exhilarating live performances resulting in more than 5 million concert tickets sold in more than 40 countries worldwide.
Delivering a blend of comedy, music, and improv that's both familiar and like nothing seen before, entertainer Michael Leahy's alter ego Clownvis Presley returns to Davenport's Raccoon Motel on September 17, this singular figure having toured with Insane Clown Posse, Neil Hamburger, and Mac Sabbath, and boasting a stage act lauded by L.A. Weekly as "better than the real Elvis."
Lauded by The Guardian as "mercilessly catchy and meticulously camp," the Chicago-based garage-rock/pop trio of Dehd headlines a September 17 concert event at Rock Island venue Rozz-Tox, their 2024 album Poetry inspiring Pitchfork to rave, "With more ambitious melodies, bolder harmonies, and compositional complexity, the Chicago trio’s new album hypercharges their already electric sound."
Little of actual import happens in either Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale or Spinal Tap II: The End Continues, two sequels – and theoretically climactic ones – to culturally beloved properties that happened to debut on the same day. (Had they arrived one week earlier, the films could've shared an opening weekend, and made an unofficial three-fer, with The Conjuring: Last Rites.) It's doubtful, though, that their fan bases will complain much.
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, September 11: Discussion of The Conjuring: Last Rites, Highest 2 Lowest, and Twinless, previews of Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale, The Long Walk, and Spinal Tap II: The End Continues, and Dave's unadulterated rave about the 1966 kaiju classic The War of the Gargantuans, which sounds like far more fun than anything Mike has seen recently.
Now that the series' third, purportedly final sequel is upon us, am I going to miss Ed and Lorraine Warren, the blissfully married paranormal investigators who've been shepherding the Conjuring movies – and who've been warmly played by Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga – since the horror franchise debuted in 2013? Yes and no, I guess.
Revered for its Oscar-winning black-and-white chiaroscuro cinematography, and currently boasting a 96-percent "freshness" rating on review aggregate Rotten Tomatoes, director Josef von Sternberg's 1932 classic Shanghai Express continues the “From Hitler to Hollywood” film series hosted by the German American Heritage Center, its September 17 screening at Davenport venue The Last Picture House treating audiences to a work that made New York magazine's 2020 list of "The Best Movies That Lost Best Picture at the Oscars."
Now playing at area theaters.
Original works by nearly 100 juried regional and national artists will be on hand at the September 20 and 21 Riverssance Festival of Fine Art, with the 37th Lindsay Park event, hosted by Quad City Arts, boasting a children’s art-activity tent, food and beverage vendors, live music, and the presenting of Carolyn Krueger with the prestigious Harley Award, an honor given to an individual who has affected the arts and artists in the Quad Cities during their lifetime.
On September 25, art lovers are invited to Davenport's Figge Art Museum to hear artist Kristin Quinn reflect on the works in her exhibit Luminous Flux Paintings from the Watershed, with Figge Co-Senior Curator Joshua Johnson leading the conversation on this arresting collection designed to capture the sensation of the memory of a place – its mood, its texture, its atmosphere – through imagery and abstraction.
A series of beautiful and expressive serigraph prints by Black Hawk College alum Jae Florence Corales are on display in the college's ArtSpace Gallery through 26, with Pearl of the Orient Seas showcasing new works by the Filipino visual artist, graphic designer, and filmmaker currently based in Augusta, Georgia.
Patrons of the University of Dubuque's Bisignano Art Gallery are invited to explore a bold interplay of hue and texture as the venue opens its first exhibit of the 2025-26 season, the arresting exhibition In Search of Color: Tom Yunt on display through September 26.
With the exhibition made possible through generous funding from Art Bridges Foundation, and with KLJB FOX 18 serving as media sponsor, the fascinating collaborative exhibit CHAIN RE·AC·TION will be on view in the Figge Art Museum's Mary Waterman Gildehaus Community Gallery through September 28, visitors to the Davenport venue invited to witness the art experience's continuous cycle of inspiration, reflection, and response.
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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