Claud, July 30

With the pop-culture Web site NME.com giving the artist's solo-album debut Super Monster four stars and calling the release “a vivid portrait of the giddiness and drama of love,” bedroom-pop singer/songwriter Claud performs July 30 as the first headliner for Davenport's new Raccoon Motel at 315 East Second Street, her compositions, according to NME.com, capable of “pulling on the heartstrings in a way that feels intensely genuine.”

The literary gifts of more than a dozen area teens will be both celebrated and showcased in a special outdoor event on July 22, with the Rock Island venue Rozz-Tox hosting the Midwest Writing Center's latest edition of literary journal THE ATLAS, a night boasting performances of original work by 17 gifted and burgeoning talents.

Returning to downtown Davenport for the 47th time after an unplanned year off, the Quad-City Times Bix 7 will find runners and walkers taking on a seven-mile foot race alongside live bands and cheering crowds, with the July 23 and 24 weekend also featuring numerous block parties – hosted by more than 20 downtown-Davenport businesses – between the Rock Island Arsenal Bridge on the east to the Centennial Bridge on the west.

One of the greatest, most genre-defying musicians of all time will enjoy a live tribute at the Circa '21 Dinner Playhouse on July 22, with the Rock Island venue hosting Bobby Miller and his ensemble in The Purple Madness: The Ultimate Prince Tribute, a high-energy, must-see showcase of hits originally performed the frequent Billboard chart-topper and seven-time Grammy winner.

Five days of outdoor fun will be on hand when East Moline's Rock Island Country Fairgrounds hosts the annual Rock Island County Fair July 20 through 24, offering patrons mornings, afternoons, and evenings filled with carnival rides, games, food vendors, animal shows, racing tournaments, 4-H events, and exciting happenings scheduled for the nights' grandstand entertainment.

A famous William Shakespeare title featuring the Bard's most famous stage direction serves as the first of two free summertime Riverside Theatre productions held in Iowa City's Lower City Park, with The Winter's Tale, from July 15 through 25, treating audiences to passion, treachery, low comedy, high drama, and a potentially unforgettable “exit, pursued by a bear.”

Ever since the 2018 musical bio-pic Bohemian Rhapsody won four Academy Awards and grossed more than $215 million domestic and $875 million worldwide, Freddie Mercury and Queen have been hotter than ever – which is sure to be proven by the raucous crowd response on July 23 when Moline's TaxSlayer Center pays tribute to the iconic British rockers in the stage spectacle One Night of Queen performed by Gary Mullen & the Works.

On July 21, Figge Art Museum members are invited to learn more about one of the most iconic visual artists of the 20th century in the virtual presentation Discovering Warhol: An Evening with Donald Warhola, a special event in which one of Warhol's nephews will talk about his personal connection with “Uncle Andy,” the man's artistic process and legacy, and the Warhol works currently on display in the museum's popular exhibition POP Power from Warhol to Koons.

After a pair of unanticipated re-schedulings, a bona-fide folk-rock legend makes his eagerly awaited return to Davenport's Adler Theatre on July 19, with the Canadian icon Gordon Lightfoot performing from a repertoire that dates back more than 50 years and boasts such iconic chart-topping hits as “If You Could Read My Mind,” “Sundown,” and “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald.”

One of the most beloved and iconic rock operas of all time will enjoy a spectacular new staging in Mt. Carroll when the Timber Lake Playhouse hosts the July 15 through August 1 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.”

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