In collaboration with Augustana College, a world-renowned chef and leader in the field of entomophagy – the eating of insects – will introduce participants to familiar foods augmented by some unfamiliar ingredients on May 11 and 13, when Chef Joseph Yoon presents a tasting event at Rock Islanmd's Nest Cafe on May 11 and a lecture at Augustana College's Gerber Center on May 13.
On May 14, young children and their young-at-heart chaperones can enjoy the stage version of one of the most popular entertainments in television history, with Sesame Street Live: Say Hello invites audiences to a reunion with Elmo, Abby Cadabby, Cookie Monster, and their friends at Davenport's Adler Theatre.
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.
Curated by Christine Chandler, curator of Natural Sciences at the Putnam Museum & Science Center, the enthralling exhibition Tales from Tails: Storybook Beasts will be on display at the Davenport venue through May 28, inviting guests to embark on a wild adventure through the world of literature.
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).
As 196 member countries prepare for the World Health Organization's (WHO) unveiling of its finalized proposed amendments to the 2005 International Health Regulations (IHR), much controversy and resistance is percolating.
A six-time Tony Award nominee and recipient of the 1988 Laurence Olivier Award for Play of the Year, the lauded Broadway hit Our Country's Good enjoys an area-premiere staging at Rock Island's Augustana College from May 9 through 12, this theatrically adventurous drama adapted from the Thomas Keneally novel The Playmaker, and hailed by the New York Times for delivering “the redemptive power of theatrical make-believe."
The winner of eight 2006 Tony Awards and a work that boasted what Entertainment Weekly deemed "the most gorgeous Broadway score this decade," Spring Awakening enjoys a May 3 through 12 engagement at the Coralville Center for the Performing Arts, this latest presentation by the City Circle Theatre Company treating audience to the iconic show that was also the recipient of four Laurence Olivier Awards and a Grammy Award for its original-cast album.
One of only few musicals in history to win Tonys, a Grammy, and the Academy Award for Best Picture, the legendary Chicago enjoys a tour stop of Davenport's Adler Theatre in May 15, this second-longest-running show in Broadway history a smash with both audiences and critics, with the New York Times stating, "It has theatrical muscle, the characters are vivid, and its issues are ongoing in our public discourse."
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.
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."
Appearing locally as the final guest in the 2023-24 season of Quad City Arts' Visiting Artist Series, native Hawaiian Daniel Pak will perform in a half-dozen free-to-the-public events from May 13 through 16, with TotemStar.org stating that the musician and educator "embodies the warmth and soul of the islands in his music of healing and joy."
With gifted vocalist and ensemble leader Donovan Tea currently celebrating his astonishing 40th year with the group, the beloved pop vocalists of the Lettermen make their long-awaited return to the Circa '21 Dinner Playhouse on May 13, their ever-popular springtime engagements overflowing with timeless hits such as “When I Fall in Love,” “Put Your Head on My Shoulder,” “Hurt So Bad,” and “Shangri-La.”
Performing blues, folk, country, and Americana music that, according to NPR, “evokes the old-timey spirit of a thousand crackling 78 RPM records” whose “energy makes them feel new and alive,” Midwestern singer/songwriter Pokey LaFarge headlines a May 14 concert at Davenport's Redstone Room, the artist's 2022 album In the Blossom of Their Shade lauded by PopMatters as "vintage stuff that never sounds old as much as ripe and ready for cruising."
Touring in support of the band's 2024 release Right On, an album whose title track was praised by Atwood magazine as "an achingly tender ballad with a fire burning deep inside," Siri Undlin and her indie outfit Humbird headline a May 14 concert at Davenport's Raccoon Motel, with Atwood adding that the song is "a softly stirring eruption of vulnerability and raw humanity."
With his February release Frank's Full Moon Saloon praised by Glide magazine as a "raw and intimate" recording that "seems to mark a new chapter" for the artist, Matthew Logan Vasquez headlines a May 15 concert at Davenport's Raccoon Motel, the acclaimed singer/songwriter and guitarist also a member of the rock band Delta Spirit and the indie super-groups Middle Brothers and Glorietta.
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.
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 9: A preview of the sole new weekend release Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes, and discussion of The Fall Guy, Tarot, The Idea of You, and Unfrosted. Apologies if our chat about that latter title makes the movie sound worth a look. It's not. At all.
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.
Lauded by the New York Times as "big-screen perfection ... exceptionally well-written, full of wordplay and lively argument," Barbie visionary and Oscar nominee Greta Gerwig's coming-of-age masterpiece Lady Bird enjoys a May 16 screening with the Rock Island Public Library's downtown-branch Downtown Movie Club, the film a National Society of Film Critics Best Picture winner that, according to Variety, boasts "a powerfully distinctive voice."
An eagerly awaited springtime event taking place over Mother's Day weekend in Davenport's spacious Mississippi Valley Fairgrounds, the 2024 Beaux Arts Spring Fair will treat visitors to an outdoor celebration of visual arts and fine crafts on May 11 and 12, with the annual event featuring food, live music, children's activities, and works for sale by more than 60 artists and Midwestern vendors.
Always an eagerly awaited series at the Figge Art Museum, the latest incarnation of Young Artists at the Figge will be on display through May 12, with the Davenport venue again celebrating the accomplishments of budding creative talents of local elementary art students whose works will be showcased in a continuing series of individual exhibitions.
Taking place this year at The Bend Event Center in East Moline, the May 16 Quad City Arts Annual Celebration invites the public to gain insight into the organization's recent achievements, future plans, and community impact, all while enjoying hors d'oeuvres, cocktails, and a performance by Quad City Arts Visiting Artist Daniel Pak.
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.
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?)
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