Headlining a rare standup set in Davenport – so rare that, on his Web site, the comedian states “I don't tour so much anymore!” – New York-based funnyman Dave Ross performs at the Raccoon Motel on September 21, his evening show also featuring sets by standup comic Zach Peterson, Stu Cline, and Donny Townsend.
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A unique production that combines world-class human talent, circus artistry, theatrical performance, and a touch of the mysterious and unexpected, the touring sensation Paranormal Cirque: Inferno enjoys performances at Davenport's Mississippi Valley Fairgrounds September 18 through 21, this R-rated event combining the excitement of a high-flying circus with a Gothic, supernatural narrative.
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An eagerly awaited autumnal tradition will get the blood pumping on September 26 and 27, as the weekend brings with it the Vibrant Arena at the MARK's Active Endeavors Health & Fitness Expo on Saturday followed by the 29th 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 five races, four cities, three bridges, two states, and one island.
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A variety of traditional craft demonstrations, food options, vendors, hands-on children's activities, and much more will be enjoyed in Bishop Hill, Illinois, during the 2026 agriculture-days celebration Jordbruksdagarna (Swedish for “agricultural days” and pronounced "yord-brooks-DAH-ga-na"), the September 26 and 27 event that will also boast a petting zoo, a book signing, a bake sale, and Swedish music in the Village Park gazebo.
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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 the readers-theater presentation of A Great Mollie, Suckow's silly yet serious work that will be performed on September 27.
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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.
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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.
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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.”
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Last September in Washington D.C., the International Center For 9/11 Justice (IC911.org) hosted a multi-day conference that publicly documented new and prior 9/11 Truth research results. This year, on the 25th anniversary of 9/11, the Turn the Tide conference is back, now in New York City from September 10 to 13. Once again, the conference's speakers are the world's foremost 9/11 Truth experts within numerous expertise areas. This year, new speakers include Roger Waters of Pink Floyd, academic Bret Weinstein, and investigative journalist and author Nick Bryant.
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The tragic attacks on September 11, 2001 are 25 years old this month. This issue's cover story author Jason Bermas co-produced and edited Loose Change: The Final Cut, an exceptional, timeless documentary released in 2007. Jason and crew catalogue the overwhelming amount of evidence that defies the hopelessly uninspired official fairytales, scripted for public consumption by our government and mainlined into our emotionally susceptible brains via media devices using a relentless “rinse and repeat” strategy of high-strung propaganda designed to anchor the official fiction as the real story. If you have not watched Loose Change, you should and can at RCReader.com/y/loose-change.
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Rock of Ages was nominated for five Tony Awards, including Best Musical. “Wait – what?” I said when I read of these accomplishments after seeing the show. I eventually unearthed why.
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Lauded by The Theater Mirror as "a beautiful, moving, spirited show that examines the bonds of family, community, and sisterhood," author Josefina Lopez's exuberant stage dramedy Real Women Have Curves enjoys a September 24 through October 4 run at Moline's Playcrafters Barn Theatre, this heartwarming coming-of-age saga also a story of love, family, and empowerment that became a 2002 movie hit for breakout star America Ferrera.
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Opening its 2026-27 season with the theatre's 40th world premiere since its inception, Iowa City's Riverside Theatre debuts the period comedy I, Will: A Late Romance from September 10 through 27, its Emmy Award-winning author Scott Carter tackling a plague, a demanding king, an increasingly frustrated acting company, and a playwright wondering if his best work is behind him.
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Hailed by the Los Angeles Times as a work that "gives equal weight to the opposing viewpoints of two formidable characters," Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Donald Margulies' two-woman drama Collected Stories enjoys an October 1 through 11 run at Geneseo's Richmond Hill Barn Theatre, the Village Voice adding that "Margulies holds the rich ore of his material up to the light so that it sends beams in every direction."
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Updated: Tuesday, September 15
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Touring in support of their 2025 release The Consequence, an album that MetalSucks called "a fantastic encapsulation of what made this wave of metalcore so special," vocalist Jesse Leach, guitarists Joel Stroetzel and Adam Dutkiewicz, bassist Mike D'Antonio, and drummer Justin Foley bring their Grammy-nominated, chart-topping metalcore outfit Killswitch Engage to East Moline venue The Rust Belt on September 21.
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Boasting more than 3.5 million career streams and supporting performances alongside Houndmouth, Wilderado, Briscoe, and Penelope Road, the independent country and blues-rock musicians of The Takes headline a September 22 concert at Davenport's Raccoon Motel, the band's 2026 single "Uprooting Roses" hailed by Off the Record Press as "a beautifully soft declaration of love that leaves you breathlessly hopeful and dazed from affection."
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A founding member and periodic collaborator of KMFDM who has toured with Nine Inch Nails, Schaft, Schwein, and Einstürzende Neubauten, industrial rocker Raymond Watts brings his project PIG to Davenport's Raccoon Motel on September 23, the group's June release Hurt People Hurt praised by SIDE-LINE as "an outstanding album packed with consistently strong material."
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A pair of exciting, independent, Midwestern music projects, one of them based in the Quad Cities, shares the September 23 bill at Rozz-Tox, staffers at the Rock Island venue proud to present an evening with the trio of Barreleye and the quartet of Lazy Hex.
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Garnering national attention for their high-energy performances since 2017, the seven world-classic musicians of The Seven Wonders bring their Fleetwood Mac and Stevie Nicks tribute to Davenport's Redstone Room at Common Chord on September 24, authentically recreating such timeless hit singles as "Dreams," "Go Your Own Way," "Rhiannon," "Edge of Seventeen," "Landslide," and "Gypsy."
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I'm happy to report that director Susanne Bier's sequel is at least significantly stronger than its forebear, though it's a measure of just how drippy PM1 is that the new outing is still only not-bad, at best.
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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, September 17: Discussion of Practical Magic 2, The Uprising, Runner, and Hope, previews of Resident Evil, Shaun the Sheep: The Beast of Mossy Bottom, and The Weight, and a review of Oasis: Don't Look Back in Anger with a special guest critic: Mr. Darren Pitra!
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With the fourth offering in its series described by Time magazine as a "wonderfully funny exercise in nonstop nuttiness," the German American Heritage Center continues its “The Lost Years of German Cinema: 1948-1963" film screenings with Billy Wilder's 1961 comedy One, Two, Three, which enjoys a September 23 screening at Davenport venue The Last Picture House.
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Presented in celebration of one of the most influential and beloved entertainers in American history, the September 25 “Dolly Parton Day” at the Rock Island Public Library's Southwest Branch will boast a screening of 9 to 5, the star's film debut and among the most widely adored comedies of the 20th century.
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Now playing at area theaters.
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On September 22, Quad City Arts will officially kick off its 53rd season of the Visiting Artist Series at the organization's venue in downtown Rock Island, the public invited to enjoy refreshments, meet and connect with new executive director Ben Gougeon, and learn more about the artists and experiences headed to schools and communities throughout the Quad Cities in the 2026-27 season.
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Visitors of the Bisignano Art Gallery are invited to experience the University of Dubuque in fresh and unexpected ways through the creative vision of the Plein Air Painters of Dubuque, the exhibition UD Expressions: Plein Air Painters of Dubuque on view through September 25.
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Purchased in honor of the Figge Art Museum's late museum trustee, board president, and museum supporter Tom Gildehaus, the visitor favorite Corn Zone returns to the Davenport venue through September 27, its “corn field” installation of oversize blown-glass ears carefully suspended from the museum's ceiling with rope, and designed to explore the fragility of glass, the story of corn, and contemporary issues in farming.
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On October 8, the Figge Art Museum will host a special Artist Talk with Amanda Burnham, who is creating a site-specific installation of her work in the Davenport venue this fall. Burnham uses acrylic on paper, and an exaggerated, often frantic comic visual language, making three-dimensional drawing installations that both allude to and frustrate traditional pictorial space.
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New works by a pair of gifted artists, working in vastly different mediums, will be on display at the Quad City Arts Center hrough October 2, staffers at the Rock Island venue proud to house paintings by Colleen McCarty-Tomlinson and marbled-paper works by Connie Sherman.
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