With special attention paid to Roddewig Schmidt Candy Company, Velma Chocolates, and other former Quad Cities institutions, Davenport's German American Heritage Center will, through May 19, explore different candy manufacturers in our area in the exhibition Sweet Treats: German Influence on the QC Candy Industry, demonstrating how the Quad Cities were once home to numerous candy manufacturers of German heritage popular both locally and regionally.
With her most recent publication lauded by the Historical Novel Society as "well-researched" and "beautiful to behold." local author and native of China X.H. Collins will read from and discuss her 2020 novel Flowing Water, Falling Flowers on May 22, the in-person event held as part of the Asian American and Pacific Islanders (AAPI) Month celebration at the Davenport Public Library's Eastern Avenue Branch.
The originator of one of the most indelible and popular sitcom characters of all time, the “Dy-no-mite!” Jimmie Walker of the 1970s classic Good Times brings his nationally touring standup set to Davenport's Rhythm City Casino Resort Rhythm Room on May 24, the Golden Globe-nominated comedian/actor's credits also including guests stints on Emmy winners The Larry Sanders Show, Cagney & Lacey, and Scrubs.
What does a hand pointing on a gravestone mean? Does an anchor mean someone was a sailor? On May 26, patrons of Davenport's German American Heritage Museum are invited to learn what the different symbols on gravestones mean during this lively "Kaffee und Kuchen" program Translating Tombstones: Eternal Memorials & Their Meaning, which finds Minda Powers-Douglas explaining common and uncommon symbols and helping participants understand the special language of tombstones.
Presented by the Quad Cities Bicycle Club and returning to the Village of East Davenport, an eagerly anticipated Memorial Day tradition returns for its 57th year in the Quad Cities Kwik Star Criterium – a May 27 event featuring hundreds of adult and youth cyclists from across the U.S., Canada, and Europe participating in a dozen bicycle races, with thousands of dollars in cash prizes awarded throughout the day.
Much of the Illinois Statehouse appeared to be girding itself for battle with Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson before his Springfield visit last week.
Governor JB Pritzker unexpectedly moved away last week from his long-standing opposition to taxing services, saying he didn’t want to start taking ideas off the table as lawmakers search for ways to fund and reform the Chicago region’s mass-transit system. A major business group predictably pushed back.
When public officers are appointed to positions by a bureaucracy or by fellow elected officials versus elected by the people, there is often a distinct lack of transparency that accompanies the process that can be antithesis to the public interest.
In keeping with the Reader's tradition during primary season, we are publishing a candidate questionnaire for each of the three Scott County offices on the ballot this election year. The following questions were emailed to the candidates below. The unedited responses will be published at the Reader's website May 8 through May 10, and then again in print on May 23, 2024, when the June Reader print edition hits the streets.
More sports team stadium drama could be on the horizon as the Chicago White Sox are said, as of this writing, to be preparing to announce a significant private investment in a new South Loop ballpark. The ball club has already demanded a share of the Illinois Sports Facilities Authority’s bonding authority, which the Chicago Bears claimed for itself in its entirety last week for its own stadium plan (to the tune of $900 million).
A four-time Tony Award-winning smash that enjoyed Broadway runs with talents such as Ben Stiller, Edie Falco, Christopher Walken, and Stockard Channing, author John Guare's masterful dark comedy The House of Blue Leaves enjoys a May 17 through 26 run at Moline's Playcrafters Barn Theatre, this wild theatrical ride also lauded by Variety magazine as a stage work that "still sets the bar for smart comic lunacy."
Nearly a year after the tragic collapse of the downtown-Davenport building that housed theatre venue The Mockingbird on Main, the company will fly again with an appropriate title for its return to Moline's Black Box Theatre:To Kill a Mockingbird, playwright Christopher Sergel's adaptation of the Pulitzer Prize-winning Harper Lee novel, running May 16 through 26.
Just a few performances in and I think it’s safe to say that the Circa '21 Dinner Playhouse has a hit on its hands.
Based on the 1943 Vera Caspary novel and the 1944 movie classic that the American Film Institute named one of the 10 best mystery films of all time, Caspary's and George Sklar's stage thriller Laura enjoys a run at Geneseo's Richmond Hill Barn Theatre from May 30 through June 9, the play a faithful adaptation of the Oscar-winning entertainment that Roger Ebert's cited in his famed "Great Movies" series.
Hailed by Variety as a slapstick in which "the audience almost never stops laughing," with "handkerchiefs wiping away tears of merriment," Larry Shue's screwball stage classic The Nerd opens the 2024 mainstage theatre season at Mt. Carroll's Timber Lake Playhouse, its May 30 through June 9 run sure to demonstrate why the Milwaukee Journal raved that "Shue delivers a neatly crafted package that uses some classic comic forms to bring the audience to its knees laughing."
A multi-platinum-selling, Grammy-nominated artist who has thus far won three BMP Pop Awards, soul, rock, and country singer/songwriter Gavin DeGraw headlines a May 17 concert event at Davenport's Capitol Theatre, his repertoire boasting such top-10 Billboard smashes as "Chariot," "In Love with a Girl," and the chart-toppers "I Don't Want to Be" and "Not Over You."
A pair of exceptional blues talents bring their lauded skills as vocalists and guitarists to Davenport's Redstone Room on Ma 17 when the venue hosts an evening with headliner John Primer and featured artist Kevin Burt, the former a member of Willie Dixon, Muddy Waters and Magic Slim bands before he became an acclaimed solo artist, and the latter a Midwestern talent praised by Blues Matters! as "vocally exquisite and "musically phenomenal."
With Rolling Stone calling it "a relief to hear a country performer engage with the Spanish-speaking world in a way that feels fresh and not resorting to cheap (or offensive) gimmicks," chart-topping singer/songwriter Frank Ray headlines a May 18 concert at Davenport's Rhythm City Casino Resort Rhythm Room, Rolling Stone adding that the artist "exudes the kind of sexiness that Enrique Iglesias might have if he'd decided to pursue a country-music career."
Performing an eagerly anticipated concert return at East Moline venue The Rust Belt, the Midwestern pop-rockers of the Pork Tornadoes will deliver an eclectic assortment of hits on May 18, their energetic repertoire ranging from Taylor Swift, Katy Perry, Justin Timberlake, and Beyonce all the way to Lizzo, Morgan Wallen, NSYNC, and Phil Collins.
Performing in a special Chamber Music Quad Cities concert at Davenport's Unitarian Universalist Church on May 18, gifted soprano and Davenport native Lily Arbisser and Grammy Award-winning violinist Kyu-Young Kim will join CMQC Artistic Co-director and pianist Thomas Sauer for Violin & Voice, the organization's season-ending repertoire of compositions by Beethoven, Debussy, Rachmaninov, Kurt Weill, and Reena Esmail.
Considering that nearly all of its performances are motion-capture ones, I didn't expect to spend so much time at Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes marveling at the nuances of naturalistic human acting.
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, May 16: Discussion of Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes, previews of IF, Back to Black, The Strangers: Chapter 1, and Poolman, and, for a change of pace, lots of talk about TV shows, including Baby Reindeer, Under the Bridge, and Fallout. These guys are true Renaissance men.
The leads are attractive and charming. The action is swift and loud. The jokes are unmissable. And if you spend more than five seconds thinking about The Fall Guy, the whole thing crumbles like a particularly flimsy house of cards.
I found Challengers almost obscenely entertaining – a deep dive into competitive and sexual power dynamics so overflowing with passion that your admission ticket should come with a complimentary mini-fan.
With Davenport's Figge Art Museum holding a small yet impressive collection of Medieval and early-Renaissance manuscripts from Europe, the Middle East, and India, a selection of 12 of these works will be on view from May 18 to August 11, as Illumination: Medieval & Renaissance Manuscripts from the Figge Collection offers a cross-cultural examination of hand-painted book illustrations and typography from the 15th and 16th centuries.
Delivering a close look at the artist's early years in New York with her husband Alfred Stieglitz, Georgia O'Keeffe's World: Focused on Nature will find Carol Ehlers leading a May 22 program at the Rock Island Public Library's Watts-Midtown Branch, the event's presenter exploring how O'Keefe's close-up and magnified flower, leaf, and landscape paintings forever affected the way we look at nature.
On May 30, area art lovers are invited to enjoy their "Last Chance" at touring the Figge Art Museum's popular 43rd Rock Island Art Guild Fine Arts Exhibition, with the Davenport venue's exhibit boasting 62 works – paintings, sculptures, installations, and more – by 42 artists living within a 200-mile radius of the Quad Cities.
An eagerly awaited tradition featuring dozens of recent and debuting works in a variety of artistic mediums, the 43rd edition of the Rock Island Art Guild Fine Arts Exhibition will be on display at the Figge Art Museum through June 2, with the Davenport venue housing 62 works - paintings, sculptures, installations, and more - by 42 artists living within a 200-mile radius of the Quad Cities.
With the exhibit's artist known for his large public murals using the latest in equipment, materials, and technique, as well as for being one of the most famous of the "Mexican muralists," Revolutionary Artist: The Prison Fantasies of David Alfaro Siqueiros will be on display at Davenport's Figge Art Museum through April 9, this lithograph series on loan from the Deere & Company collection for an intimate exhibition on view in the Lewis Gallery.
You'll get both the current official narrative challenge and What's Happenin' in the Quad Cities.
(Did you know we publish a new Amy Alkon Advice Goddess, Real Astrology, Red Meat cartoon and RCR Crossword every week?)
Get the printed Reader edition mailed to you (or anyone you want) first-class for 12 months for $48.
$24 goes to postage and handling, $24 goes to keeping the doors open!
