With two of his seven comedy albums hitting platinum status and children of all ages adoring him for voicing tow truck Mater in the Disney/Pizer franchise Cars, Blue Collar Comedian Larry the Cable Guy brings his national tour to Davenport's Rhythm City Casino Resort Event Center on March 21, the Billboard Award winner also a bestselling author and co-founder of the non-profit organization The Git-R-Done Foundation.
A lauded comedian, actor, and producer revered for her frequent standup sets at iconic New York City venues including the Gotham Comedy Club, Laugh Factory, Caroline's, and the Improv, Jessica Kirson brings her national tour to Davenport's Capitol Theatre on March 22, her varied list of credits including appearances on TV's Kevin Can Wait and Ramy, as well as Pete Davidson's critically acclaimed film The King of Staten Island.
An engaging and fascinating exhibit developed by the Davenport venue's curatorial staff, the Putnam Museum & Science Center's Indigenous Roots of Mexican Americans will, through March 22, treat guests to artifacts and textiles from areas in Mexico that are housed together alongside some 250,000 objects from the Putnam’s collections.
Lauded for hosting and creating Tosh.0 , a showcase for Internet clips and his sardonic commentary that was one of the longest-running comedy series on Comedy Central, standup comedian Daniel Tosh brings "My First Farewell Tour" to Davenport's Adler Theatre on March 26, the wildly popular funnyman also the host of the video podcast Tosh Show.
Hosted by Davenport's River Action and named in honor of Henry W. Farnam, the chief builder of the Chicago & Rock Island Railroad, the Quad Cities' Farnam Evenings are annual tributes to historically significant citizens and events. This year's 18th-annual celebration – taking place at St. Ambrose University's Rogalski Center on March 26 – will will celebrate regional history, innovation, and the legacy of influential figures who shaped the Quad Cities and American agriculture.
Independent-campaign expenditures have skyrocketed this year in state legislative races. All of these numbers were current as of Friday, at 4:20 p.m., when I finished writing this column.
The Senate and House bills for the use of eminent domain for the Co2 pipeline, now called hazardous liquid pipeline, have become the same as they move into discussion by our legislators. We must review SF2067 and HF2104 to understand how to argue against this legislation.
Jay R. Strickland, 73, of Rock Island, passed away Sunday, February 22, 2026, at Unity Point Health, Rock Island. A Celebration of Life will be held Saturday April 4, 2026 from 2-4pm at the Reader offices located at 532 W 3rd Street, in downtown Davenport, Iowa. Memorials can be made to the Figge Art Museum, Davenport.
Keith E. Meyer, 84, formerly a longtime resident of Davenport, died Tuesday, February 17, 2026, with family at his side. Keith was known for many things in his life including a peaceful protester and activist city watchdog who eventually was elected a Davenport City Alderman. Keith’s passions in life were easily identifiable when visiting his old house at 1012 Marquette Street. Visitors would be greeted by big black labs, or huskies, and offered a sample of his wine or homemade biscotti.
Relief and Opportunity Lessons During UncertaintyI’m standing on a sidewalk at the sideways bend of our great river – a perfect place to reflect on the legacy of my father, former YMCA CEO and Davenport mayor Frank Klipsch III.
One of the most beloved and iconic rock operas of all time enjoys a spectacular new staging at the Coralville Center for the Performing Arts when City Circle Theatre Company presents hosts its July 20 through 29 run of Jesus Christ Superstar, the Andrew Lloyd Webber/Tim Rice classic boasting such unforgettable numbers as “Everything's Alright,” “Hosanna,” “King Herod's Song,” and the timeless ballad “I Don't Know How to Love Him.”
With Time Out NY calling the show “Broadway's funniest, splashiest, slap-happiest musical comedy in at least 400 years,” the University of Dubuque’s Department of Fine and Performing Arts presents a March 20 through 22 production of Something Rotten!, the zany, Tony-winning farce that the Hollywood Reporter called “a big, brash, meta-musical studiously fashioned in the mold of Monty Python's Spamalot.”
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 a March 24 through April 11 run at Rock Island's Circa '21 Dinner Playhouse, this adaptation by playwright Joseph Robinette praised by the Chicago Tribune as a theatre piece that "manages to hit the emotional and humorous high points of the original."
With the world-premiere production created by writer, director, and star Jeff Adamson of ComedySportz and GiT Improv fame, The Adventures of Sam Steele: A Radio Play enjoys a March 27 through April 4 run at Moline's Black Box Theatre, its titular detective up against mobsters, con men, and femmes fatales as he attempts to solve his toughest case, "A Murder in McClellan Heights.”
With his one-man show inspired by Robert Louis Stevenson's 1886 novella The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, St. Ambrose University professor and theatre-department chair Dan Hale presents a one-night-only performance of Strange Case on March 28.
Touring in support of his 2025 recording Country! Country! that Country Swag deemed "raw, reflective, rowdy, and rooted in his Mississippi upbringing," chart-topping singer/songwriter Michael Wilson Hardy – better known by his singular moniker HARDY – brings his national tour to Moline's Vibrant Arena at the MARK on March 20, Rolling Stone classifying the artist as "simultaneously the chest-thumping id of masculine country and a fun-house mirror poking fun at the whole enterprise."
A chart-topping American Country Award and Academy of Country Music Award winner currently touring in support of his 2025 album Dreams to Dream, singer/songwriter Jake Owen headlines a March 20 concert event at Davenport's Capitol Theatre, his most recent recording inspiring Saving Country Music to rave, "It’s like nothing you ever heard from Jake Owen, or really any current or former mainstream country music before."
With their long list of celebrated rockers including Led Zeppelin, Aerosmith, AC/DC, Bon Jovi, and Guns N Roses, the tribute musicians of That Arena Rock Show bring their tour back to East Moline venue The Rust Belt on March 20, the rockers famed for their trips back in time that turn venues of all sizes into arena stages for a night.
The Quad Cities area will join communities nationwide this year to celebrate the United States' 250th anniversary, kicking off with a patriotic concert by the Quad City Singers on Friday, March 20.
Delivering a blues-rock tribute to legendary musicians of the past, Iowa City's ever-popular ensemble The Beaker Brothers Band returns to the Quad Cities for a concert at Davenport's Gypsy Highway Bar & Grill, the March 20 show one of the last touring stops the beloved ensemble will make before signing off as a publicly performing band at the end of 2026.
If, after three of the author's films over 20 months, my up-and-down reactions continue on this trajectory, I'm already looking forward to the Colleen Hoover adaptation after the next one.
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, March 19: Discussion of Reminders of Him and Undertone, previews of Project Hail Mary, Ready or Not 2: Here I Come, and The Pout-Pout Fish, and a recap of Sunday's Academy Awards, a pretty-great telecast with major highs (Conan! The In Memoriam!) and lows (were Downey and Evans forced into that bit at gunpoint?). No segment next week ... we'll catch y'all again in April!
All awards-season long, One Battle After Another v. Sinners felt like the friendliest of rivalries, an unusual happenstance no doubt augmented by both films coming from the same studio. Why pitch the titles against each other when Warner Bros. was gonna win either way?
An Illinois-born pioneer, independent filmmaker, and former Iowa resident’s story will be revealed when the Truth First Film Alliance hosts the feature-length documentary Oscar Micheaux: The Superhero of Black Filmmaking, this March 22 showing at Davenport venue The Last Picture House boasting a post-film discussion with guest historian Jordan Bell, and followed by a screening of Micheaux's 1920 silent movie Within Our Gates.
Now playing at area theaters.
With the works of both Iowa-based artists boasting vivid colors and expressive storytelling qualities, the dual exhibition Laber & Mullins will be on display in Rock Island's Quad City Arts Center through March 20, this showcase of local talent boasting evocative, thrilling paintings by Phillip Laber and Rachael Mullins.
Amethyst cathedrals, diamonds, Lake Superior agates, opals, geodes, and additionally beautiful objects will be on view at the University of Dubuque's Bisignano Art Gallery through March 20, with works in the fascinating exhibition Rocks, Minerals, & Gems: The Olsen Collection spanning five-plus decades of curiosity, craftsmanship, and global exploration.
Culling through artists Lisa Lofgren's and Matt Erickson's archive or shared studios, shared conversations, and shared life over the last years, the exhibition Tongue + Groove will be on display in St. Ambrose University's Catich Gallery March 23 through April 24.
Nearly 200 works by gifted student artists will be on display at Rock Island's Quad City Arts Center from March 27 through April 30 in the expansive 49th-Annual High School Art Invitational, a glorious celebration of local talent featuring the Quad Cities’ most promising artists expressing themselves through paintings, drawings, sculpture, paper, recycled materials, and film.
An artist whose three-dimensional compositions often incorporate found objects such as rusted metal, dried botanical specimens, and aged frames, Wayne Bertola showcases his exhibit Imperfect Objects at Black Hawk College's ArtSpace Gallery through April 3, Bertola quoted as saying, "I believe that 'style' is instinctual and is an organic process which gives form to an inner state or sensibility."
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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