Enabling visitors to explore the remarkable ways in which animals across 500 million years have adapted armor for survival, and how these adaptations continue to inspire human innovation, the traveling exhibition Animal Armor takes residence in Davenport's Putnam Museum & Science Center from September 20 through February 15, the fascinating exhibit exploring the evolutionary battle between protection and predation.
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."
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.”
Having lived through and closely covered the Bruce Rauner gubernatorial administration, I’ve been getting a strong sense of déjà vu lately as several famous “wise old men” have publicly advised Governor JB Pritzker to call President Donald Trump and make some sort of deal that settles their disagreements. This effort by political consultant David Axelrod and others was highlighted earlier this month when a Chicago TV reporter asked Governor Pritzker: “Don’t you think if you maybe called [Trump], you can lower the temperature?”
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.
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.
The Playcrafters Barn Theatre brings another of Agatha Christie’s mysteries to life with its production of Murder on the Nile, directed by Karen Riffey. With twists, gunshots, and more exposition than you can shake a fully loaded pistol at, this play will no doubt please fans of the genre.
Mischa: Kristin Wetherington absolutely delivered. From start to finish, she commanded the audience’s attention, with carefree positivity at first, then convincing anguish as the story reached its emotional climax.
Kitty: I was also really impressed by her ability to maintain a consistent, believable Italian accent throughout, both in her speaking and her singing.
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.
Described by Time Out New York as a play that “provides a pleasurable ripple of fear down one's spine and an uncomfortable lurch in the pit of one's stomach,” the intimate chiller The Woman in Black enjoys a spooky-season run at Geneseo's Richmond Hill Barn Theatre, its October 2 through 12 engagement inviting audiences to witness an evocative stage tale that The Daily Mail called “a truly nerve-shredding experience.”
Currently touring in support of her new album Rhinestone Requiem that Entertainment Focus said "blends Brandy Clark-style lyricism with the vocals of Nanci Griffith and the heart of a honky tonk angel," singer/songwriter Sunny Sweeney headlines a September 18 concert at Davenport's Redstone Room, her latest inspiring Americana UK to dub it "a sparkling yet soul-baring exploration of resilience, heartbreak, and honky-tonk healing."
With award-winning, Billboard-charting, internationally touring artists performing on the banks of a mighty river, the Mississippi Valley Blues Fest returns to Davenport for its 38th incarnation on September 15 and 16, the LeClaire Park event – hosted by the Mississippi Valley Blues Society – featuring seven thrilling Main Stage concert sets, eight additionally incendiary sets on the neighboring Pedigo-Jones Stage, and music lovers ages 16 and under admitted free with a paid adult.
Lauded by the Los Angeles Times for his “commanding presence” and “a voice that can yearn with crystalline purity or howl with guttural anguish,” Nathaniel Rateliff and his band the Night Sweats bring their national "South of Here Tour" to Moline's Vibrant Arena at the MARK on September 19, this 2024 album of the tour's title leading AllMusic to rave that "Rateliff leads his crew through a panoply of '70s-touched roots rock, delivered with warmth, sincerity, and occasional bursts of grit."
Touring in support of their 2025 album debut Afterglow that Bring the Noise UK called a "seamless blend of clean and screamed vocals, backed by guitar riffs that switch between groovy and crushing," the alternative-metal rockers of Sleep Theory headline the I-ROCK 93.5 Sixth-Anniversary Show at East Moline venue The Rust Belt, the September 19 headliners also praised by Dead Rhetoric for delivering a "fluid powerhouse of metallic urgency, R&B playfulness, danceable electronics, and modern rock energy."
Held as part of the unique concert series held in Davenport's intimate and cozy Redstone Room, the September 19 Songwriter Sessions event will find Common Chord guests treat to a seated evening of tunes hosted by David G. Smith, with additionally winning performances delivered by Chris Avey, Jenny Shawhan, and Jack Morrow.
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.
Lauded by Roger Ebert as "ambitious and inventive, and almost worth seeing just for Anjelica Huston's obvious delight in playing a completely uncompromised villainess," director Nicolas Roeg's The Witches enjoys an outdoor screening in Rozz-Tox's "Garden Cinema '90s Family Night" series on September 19, with Rotten Tomatoes' critical consensus adding that "Roeg's dark and witty movie captures the spirit of Roald Dahl's writing like few other adaptations."
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.
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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