This spring, Iowa will host one of the world’s most recognized Holocaust-era cultural exhibitions as Violins of Hope launches a rare, two-month residency spanning multiple Iowa communities, an opening event for the program taking place at Davenport's Putnam Museum & Science Center on February 17.
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On February 18, patrons of Galesburg's Orpheum Theatre are invited to discover a prehistoric world of astonishing and remarkably lifelike creatures of the past in the touring sensation Dinosaur World Live, with the astonishing sights on display including a Triceratops, Giraffatitan, Microraptor, Segnosaurus, and every child's favorite flesh-eating giant, the Tyrannosaurus Rex,
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As Valentine's Month options go, Shakespeare's tale of thwarted love between a teenage Montague and Capulet is certainly devastatingly romantic. Those aware of its ending know it's also devastating, full stop. Yet as choreographer and Ballet Quad Cities Artistic Director Courtney Lyon understands, feeling bad about doomed love can, in this context, feel awfully darned good.
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Presented by the Scottish-American Society of the Quad Cities, an eagerly anticipated evening of traditional pageantry and heritage returns to the Quad Cities in the 48th Robert Burns Night, the February 21 event at Bettendorf's Isle Casino Hotel boasting live music, delicious food, and a celebration of the 225-year-old Scottish tradition honoring Celtic legend Robert Burns.
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A hybrid program presented by Suzanne Ondrus, Ph.D in the venue's popular “Kaffee und Kuchen” series, the fascinating true-crime presentation Murder & Mayhem in an 1881 Ohio German Immigrant Family will be delivered at Davenport's German American Heritage Center on February 22, the session's themes of domestic violence that may include emotional, physical, and psychological abuse making discretion advised for patrons.
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As I write this, Governor JB Pritzker is preparing to give his annual budget address. It’s an unenviable task. Earlier this month, the Governor’s Office of Management and Budget released a report showing federal tax cuts caused a $587 million reduction in state revenues this fiscal year.
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Governor JB Pritzker announced a plan last week to “manage Illinois pension commitments through a set of proposals designed to build on the state’s recent fiscal progress and further reduce long-term risk for taxpayers and retirees.” The price tag, however, is already giving one legislative leader pause. And “fiscal progress” is not the reality when factoring in federal funds.
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On January 22, 2026, the Scott and Muscatine GOP county parties co-hosted a 2026 Gubernatorial Primary Candidate Forum live in Eldridge, Iowa. The event was the first of its kind in Iowa's history and the first time any substantive questions were presented to Republican want to be governor candidates in a primary race in more than 20 years.
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The ACLU's 63-page report released last month is a very valuable and exhaustive work product that every elected official who has an oath of office to uphold the state and federal constitution, and protect the governed who consented to have their rights protected, should read.
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The top three Democratic U.S. Senate candidates faced off twice last week. The first debate wasn’t televised, so the live audience was quite small. The second debate was televised, so the audience was bigger. However, these debates don’t attract even a smidgen of the audience of presidential debates, when half the country often tunes in.
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With Barely There Theatre's latest presentation landing, as its company originator and playwright says, "just in time to be late for Valentine's Day," busy area-theatre participant (and Reader theatre reviewer) Alexander Richardson brings the world premiere of his first-ever script, word play, to Moline's Black Box Theatre February 19 through 28.
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A Tony Award winner hailed by Variety magazine as “elegant, acerbic, and entertainingly fueled on pure bile,” Yasmina Reza's God of Carnage opens the 2026 season at Moline's Playcrafters Barn Theatre, the comedy's February 27 through March 8 run treating audiences to a Broadway hit that, according to the New York Times, “delivers the cathartic release of watching other people's marriages go boom."
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The recipient of the 2024 Pulitzer Prize for Drama that, according to Intermission magazine, "cuts to the heart with a simply constructed story, understated humor, and dialogue unburdened by purple prose," playwright Eboni Booth's Primary Trust makes its Iowa City debut at Riverside Theatre February 27 through March 15, the work also hailed by The Daily Beast as "beautifully written" and "a 95-minute, intermissionless, buffed-to-gleaming jewel.”
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Director/choreographer Ashley Becher and musical director Ethan Hayward, alongside their wonderful crew and energetic, talented crème de la crème cast, elevate the solid script and score into the realm of delight.
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Updated: Monday, February 9
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Touring in support of their forthcoming album Change of Plans set for release on May 15, the alternative-country musicians of 49 Winchester headline a February 17 concert event at Davenport's Capitol Theatre, the group dedicated to channel the heart, humor, and hard-earned wisdom of Appalachia into every one of their recordings.
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Nearly 49 years after first forming, the pop-rock band Toto is still going strong, and brings its national tour to Davenport’s Capitol Theatre on February 19.
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Performing, in its entirety, an album that was selected for preservation in the United States National Recording Registry by the Library of Congress for being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant," the touring artists of The Black Jacket Symphony brings their stage rendition of Pink Floyd's The Dark Side of the Moon to Davenport's Capitol Theatre on February 20, this legendary rock recording also inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1999.
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Lauded by WIRE as a tribute band that "has it all: the songs, the performances, the visuals, and the energy," the touring artists of In the Flesh: Echoes of Pink Floyd headline a February 20 concert at East Moline venue The Rust Belt, the seven-piece outfit delivering a mind-blowing laser show, costuming, and projections while performing from classics such as Dark Side of the Moon and The Wall.
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Faithfully recreating the groundbreaking music, minimalist staging, and infectious rhythms that made the original performance iconic, the Quad Cities' 10-piece Talking Heads tribute act Heads in Motion performs the groundbreaking Stop Making Sense at Davenport's Capitol Theatre on February 21, delivering the hypnotic pulse of “Psycho Killer,” the explosive joy of “Once in a Lifetime,” and other classics in a full-throttle celebration of one of the most influential live shows in music history.
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Because the experience felt so unusual, I actually checked my archives to make sure, and it was true: This past Thursday-through-Saturday marked the first time since pre-COVID that I viewed six new big-screen releases over the course of three days.
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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, February 12: Discussion of Dracula, The Strangers: Chapter 3, The Alabama Solution, and The Wrecking Crew, and previews of "Wuthering Heights," GOAT, Crime 101, Good Luck Have Fun Don't Die, The Moment, and the 2016 Emilia Clarke rom-com Me Before You, playing this weekend at the Voy 61 Drive In Theatre. Yes: The drive-in is open. In February. Blame global warming.
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I had so much fun at Luc Besson's garish vampire yarn that I can easily imagine watching it again, this time with more than the one friend who joined me, and with all of us preferably looped out of our minds. That way, we'd at least come close to approximating Besson's vibe.
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Presented in celebration of Black History Month, director Bill Duke's acclaimed 2003 drama Deacons for Defense enjoys a special February 18 screening in the Community Room of the Rock Island Public Library's downtown branch, the film's stars including Oscar winner Forest Whitaker and legendary actor and Civil Rights activist Ossie Davis.
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Now playing at area theaters.
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Works by a gifted area artist and educator will, through February 20, be on display in the Morrisey Gallery of Davenport's St. Ambrose University, the exhibition 50 Years and Counting: Paintings by Brad Bisbey showcasing the talents of the 1976 St. Ambrose graduate who is a signature member of the National Society of Painters and teaches acrylic painting at Davenport's Figge Art Museum.
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Taking as its inspiration a beloved television series starring Lynda Carter, visual artist Dara Birnbaum's Technology/Transformation: Wonder Woman will be on view in Davenport's Figge Art Museum from February 21 through August 16, the video one of the best-known creations from the talent who borrowed imagery and sound to compose powerful, politically charged video works.
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With the artist exploring art's role as a record of his own humanity and his fascination with how discarded material can tell the story of one’s life, John Hunting Hansen's exhibition Toil is on display through February 27 at St. Ambrose University's Catich Gallery.
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With the exhibition's trio of artists three hoping that viewers will take some time to look for joy in their work and enjoy a diversion from the tension happening around us, Mutschler, Quick, & Westphal will be on display at the Quad City Arts International Airport Gallery through March 2, the showcase of Midwestern talent featuring photos by Pete Mutschler, folded paper by Rebecca Quick, and serigraphs by Keosha Westphal.
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In celebration of National Quilt Day on March 16, Davenport's Figge Art Museum will again showcase a number of colorful and hand-crafted functional artworks in the March 3 through 8 Mississippi Valley Quilters Guild Display, with a special reception for the exhibit's gifted artisans scheduled for March 5.
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