With the event presented by QC Toy Show and boasting such special guests as WWE Hall of Famers Sgt. Slaughter, D-Von Dudley, and Ted DiBiase alongside Power Rangers actors Paul Schrier and Jason Navy, the 2026 Nerdtober Con will take place at the Davenport RiverCenter on October 10 and 11, the two-day pop-culture celebration also featuring comics, toys, trading cards, cosplay, games, collectibles, and much more.
On October 10 and 11, the lives of three remarkable woman – Mary Deere, Katherine Butterworth, and Pattie Wiman – will be explored when Moline's Butterworth Center and Deere-Wiman House offer The Ladies of the Houses Tours, the fascinating 90-minute events taking place on Saturday at 10 a.m. and Saturday and Sunday at 1 p.m.
Presented in conjunction with the venue's current exhibition Everyday Lives, Extraordinary Voices: Ruth Suckow's Iowa, the latest program in the German American Heritage Center's popular "Kaffee und Kuchen" series is Rev. William Suckow's Autobiography: Family Life in 10 Small Iowa Towns, an October 11 program whose presenter, Dr. Bill Roba, is a Scott Community College retiree currently writing a history of the Iowa-German Experience.
Appearing at Moline's Butterworth Center as part of the IHC Road Scholar Program, Kim Sigafus will present the special program We the Native People on October 12, the speaker an award-winning Ojibwa author who writes Native American fiction, non-fiction, and children’s and young-adult books.
Delivering a two-night mega-event that will also be broadcast on pay-per-view, the mixed-martial-arts spectacle Caged Aggression XLII: The Perfect Storm will take place at the Davenport RiverCenter on October 16 and 17, with more than two dozen supremely talented MMA greats facing off in the nightly battles.
More than a year ago, the Governor’s Office of Management and Budget was projecting a $3.2 billion deficit for what is now the current fiscal year.
Last month, House Speaker Emanuel “Chris” Welch told WGN Political Editor Tahman Bradley during an interview, “I’m going to apologize for making her feel uncomfortable.”
My associate Isabel Miller and I told subscribers earlier this month that Democrats for the Illinois House had been suddenly cut off from the Democratic Party of Illinois’ lucrative postage-discount program, which can save as much as one-third to half of campaign postage costs.
You may know that embattled Legislative Inspector General Michael McCuskey has agreed to resign his post by the end of September. But this sorry saga shouldn’t end there. The Legislative Ethics Commission should immediately launch an investigation into why so many women over the years have said they were mistreated, belittled, and dismissed by McCuskey. They could also ask McCuskey’s replacement to revisit the cases.
Take, for example, corn. You probably didn’t expect that. But however you might measure intelligence, it is probably only valid if corn’s is higher than ours. In the fauna realm, if a Martian landed in my community and reported back to their spaceship on who is in charge down here, they would almost certainly have to say “pigs.”
Mischa: The subtlety and quietness do mean that the tone is low-key throughout, possibly too low-key overall. Especially in certain scenes, I would have liked more overt tension and some louder raised voices.
Kitty: I actually thought the low-key quality was more of a strength than a drawback.
With its source material named "the best American children's book of the past two hundred years" by the Children's Literature Association, the stage version of E.B. White's beloved Charlotte's Web enjoys an October 10 through 18 run in St. Ambrose University's Galvin Fine Arts Center.
An eagerly awaited revival of the venue's first musical presentation in 2018, the stage version of The Hunchback of Notre Dame returns to Moline's Spotlight Theatre October 9 through 18, this lauded stage adaptation of Disney's Oscar-nominated hit again starring Adam Sanders in his memorable role as Quasimodo.
With Variety magazine calling the musical "smartly conceived" and boasting "catchy tunes and witty lyrics," the tune-filled romantic comedy I Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change makes its debut at Moline's Black Box Theatre October 9 through 24, Gannett Newspapers raving that the original production was "hilarious ... the most entertaining show on or off Broadway."
From October 9 through 18, Rock Island's youth-theatre venue The Center for Living Arts (CFLA) will present Spring Awakening one final time, closing a chapter with this Tony-winning musical drama that has become part of the organization’s history.
Hailed by Nashville Scene as an artist who "sings and plays like nobody's business," country and honkytonk singer/songwriter and fiddler Greg Garing returns to the Quad Cities on October 11 for an engagement at Davenport's Deanery School of Music, this veteran of the Nashville and New York City music scenes inspiring the legendary Johnny Cash to call him “the best country singer I’ve heard in 30 years."
Opening their 41st season of professional engagements, the thrilling vocal ensemble Nova Singers will perform Music of South Africa at Galesburg's First Lutheran Church on October 10 and Davenport's St. Paul Lutheran Church on October 11, the company's founder and director Dr. Laura Lane stating, "This might be the most exciting program we have ever done!"
Touring in support of their most recent album, 2025's Billboard-charting The Screaming of the Valkyries, the English extreme-metal artists of Cradle of Filth bring their latest tour to Davenport's Capitol Theatre on October 12, their hit songs including "Libertina Grimm," "Tonight In Flames," "Cemetery & Sundown," "I Am the Thorn," "The Byronic Man," and a cover of Heaven 17's '80s pop gem "Temptation,"
Touring in support of his summer release Barnstorm and lauded by Rolling Stone as an artist whose “high guileless voice comes in swirls and artful smears,” New York-based folk singer/songwriter Paul Spring headlines an October 12 concert at Davenport's Raccoon Motel, the gifted musician also praised by the Irish Times for his “richly realized songs with deft lyrics and considered sensibility.”
Covering more than 20 years of the artist's musical career and recognized by Graceland as one of the top Presley tribute acts in the world, Joseph Hall brings his touring sensation Elvis: Reflections of the King to Maquoketa's Ohnward Fine Arts Center on October 17, this salute to the King of Rock 'n' Roll led by the nationally lauded artist and a former competitor on America's Got Talent.
In director Michael Showalter's adaptation of Colleen Hoover's Verity, the title figure is a fabulously wealthy celebrity who appears willing to go to psychotic extremes to get a little peace and quiet. Having now appeared in five films over the past six months, and with a new baby on the way, it's no wonder Anne Hathaway is so good in the role. She must relate to Verity Crawford like crazy.
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 8: Discussion of Digger (spoiler-free!) and Verity, previews of Angel & the Badman, The Social Reckoning, Other Mommy, and April X, and a big huzzah to Coyote vs. Acme, which initially looked like it wasn't going to recoup its $50-million purchase price and just surpassed $60 million. A true Hollywood Happy Ending.
With Robert Pattinson supplying a demented stare, wicked grin, and one of his signature affected accents, this big-screen Chris Hansen is magisterially icky: sweaty, scary, pathetic, and wholly deserving of the downfall you know is coming.
Among Zach Cregger's three features to date, Resident Evil is my favorite.
Now playing at area theaters.
With the acclaimed artist creating a site-specific installment for the Davenport venue, Amanda Burnham: Everything to Everyone will be on display in the Figge Art Museum's Gildehaus Gallery from October 10 through February 14, the Baltimore-based artist a draftsman who uses drawing as the foundation for large-scale pieces that transform her observations into immersive environments.
With each piece chosen by the institutions’ art professors to showcase campus talent and creativity, the Figge Art Museum's latest installment of the College Invitational will be on display in the Davenport venue from october 10 through January 17, the artwork from gifted students attending nine area colleges and universities on view in the museum's Mary Waterman Gildehaus Community Gallery.
An arresting and thought-provoking group show featuring 38 pieces of art made by 27 Midwestern artists whose work explores the many forms our “monsters” can take, The Monster Under My Bed will be on display at Rock Island's Quad City Arts Center from October 9 through December 4, this exhibition designed to demonstrate ways in which creativity can help us give shape to experiences that are difficult to put into words.
With the showcased photographs captured by class-of-2025 alumna Hannah Bauch, patrons of the University of Dubuque's Bisignano Aet Gallery are invited to explore the multifaceted identities of student athletes, and the many layers that exist beyond their roles in competition, in the exhibition Beyond the Game: A UD Athletic Homecoming, on display through October 30.
With the artists encouraging their audience to pause and find hidden details in their work., two Midwestern talents are showcasing pieces at the Quad City Arts International Airport Gallery through November 2, the Bowden & Shultz-Hetrick exhibit hosting abstract paintings by Peotone, Illinois' James Bowden and fused-glass art by Cedar Rapids' Barbara Shultz-Hetrick.
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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