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Making an eagerly anticipated stop at the Rhythm City Casino Resort Event Center in support of his chart-topping album Get Em Out, comedian and singer/songwriter Rodney Carrington shares his standup and vocal talents in two performances on March 5, demonstrating the country-themed gifts that have made him an internationally touring crowd favorite and platinum-selling recording artist.
This feature lists all headlines with links to the articles by date/time published online by Quad Cities-area media outlets and the state-politics sections of the Des Moines Register and the State Journal-Register.
On March 7, Army Sustainment Command Historian Kevin Braafladt will host a special virtual program for the German American Heritage Center, with his presentation The Fall of Berlin detailing the strategic fighting that led to the last days of the World War II, and the surrender negotiations between the Allies and the German government that officially ended the war in Europe.
Based on the essential writings of perhaps the most iconic civil-rights champion in American history, the virtual performance piece The Norm of Greatness: A Tribute to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. will be presented by the University of Dubuque's Heritage Center on March 8, with its playwright and star Darryl Van Leer described byVariety magazine as “an actor gifted not only with exceptional range and depth, but with clear-eyed passion and intelligence.”
Appearing in a special co-presentation by the Davenport and Rock Island Public Libraries, award-winning young-adult author Tiffany D. Jackson will be showcased in a virtual author visit on March 9, with the Brooklyn-based talent speaking on her writing process, and five lauded novels, and her successful career that has extended far beyond literature.
Illinois House Speaker Chris Welch gave his standard reply to a question about redistricting reform last week when queried at the Chicago Economic Club, saying different people have different opinions about what a “fair map” actually is. But then the new House Speaker leaned a bit harder into the concept of protecting minority rights when redrawing the new legislative district maps than I’ve heard him do in the past.
“The 22nd District is a garden,” then-House Speaker Michael Madigan told reporters several years ago when asked about his House district. Some thought it was funny, but he was serious. And he’s most definitely the head gardener. I’ve often said that Madigan, who officially resigned from the House on February 18 after more than 50 years in office, ran the Speaker’s office like he ran his ward and district offices. The House was an even bigger garden than his home turf.
The Justice Department under President Joe Biden plans to continue the case against WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange that was launched under President Donald Trump. "We continue to seek his extradition," Justice Department spokesperson Marc Raimondi told Reuters days before February 12 – the deadline for the United States government to submit its "grounds for appeal." The statement represents a departure from President Barack Obama's administration, which declined to prosecute Assange. Justice Department officials were reportedly concerned about the threat it would pose to press freedom.
While the House Republicans made some decent points last week when arguing against the Chamber’s new rules, they all but dismissed some pretty darned historic changes. For years, decades even, the House Republicans have argued for leadership term-limits. House Speaker Michael Madigan rebuffed them at every single turn. Heck, Speaker Madigan retaliated against members of his own party who dared broach the subject.
The immediate partisan reaction to the governor’s reversal on whether legislators should be allowed to be vaccinated during Phase 1B was fairly predictable.
Deemed “extraordinary” by the London Times and “seriously funny” by the Charleston City Paper, David Lee Nelson's one-man-show Stages will be available for March 5 through 21 viewing in a virtual presentation by Iowa City's Riverside Theatre, the late writer/star's final offering a work that, the Charleston City Paper continues, “gives the audience a glimpse of a man wrestling with his fate, coming to grips with a death sentence, and yet accepting it with humbling joviality.”
Lauded by the New York Times as an “extraordinary accomplishment” that “becomes a virtuoso study in sensory overload,” the Tony Award-winning The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time will be produced by Augustana College in a virtual presentation available March 4 through 7, with playwright Simon Stephens' exhilarating stage piece described by Time magazine as “a demonstration of the power of theatre to transport us to exotic places.”
As area theatres again gradually reopen for business, Moline's Black Box Theatre returns with its first new production since October in Dick Tracy: A Live Radio Play, the show's March 11 through 20 run inviting audiences to delight in the old-time mystery, comedy, and excitement involving one of pop culture's most iconic and memorable characters.
Reviews by Jeff Ashcraft, Patricia Baugh-Riechers, Audra Beals, Pamela Briggs, Dee Canfield, Kim Eastland, Emily Heninger, Heather Herkelman, Paula Jolly, Victoria Navarro, Mark Ruebling, Mike Schulz, Joy Thompson, Oz Torres, Brent Tubbs, Jill (Pearson) Walsh, and Thom White.
Continuing its 69th season of theatre “for kids, by kids,” Davenport Junior Theatre will present its second virtual production with the February 20 through 28 run of Alice in Wonderland, a charming and imaginative version of the Lewis Carroll storybook classic boasting a script by the organization's former artistic director Daniel D.P. Sheridan.
Two of the most prolific and notable composers of all time will be the focus of the Quad City Symphony Orchestra's fifth virtual presentation in the musicians' 2020-21 Masterworks series, with the March 7 presentation A Little Night Music showcasing Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's spirit-lifting Serenade in G major, Eine kleine Nachtmusik (A Little Night Music) and Johannes Brahms' rich, enchanting Serenade No. 2, op. 16.
Continuing its presentation of virtual programming in the venue's annual PASS (Performing Arts Signature Series) program, Rock Island's Quad City Arts Center hosts a riveting March 11 concert event with genre-crossing jazz pianist Barron Ryan, the up-and-coming musical sensation recently recognized as one of Smithsonian magazine's “Ten Innovators to Watch in 2021.”
In a virtual concert perfectly timed to coincide with St. Patrick's Day, the Celtic rockers of Gaelic Storm will bring the party to the people in the March 17 live-stream event One for the Road, an Englert Theatre presentation and holiday celebration with the vocalists and multi-instrumentalists hailed by the Examiner for their “high energy” and “exceptional musical performance.”
It took me, like, a minute into the first track on Iowa City experimental rock crew Nraakors’ album Hoppel Poppel to decide that I frickin' love this band.
Troll Trax Studios’ fiery compilation of Quad Cities technical death metal and grind core titled The Cave Compilation landed in January and laid out an entire roster of like-minded Midwest metal freaks that all proved capable of shredding our guts to pieces.
An undercover DEA agent attempts to bust an international smuggling operation. A bereaved mother hunts those responsible for her teenage son's overdose. A tenured professor contemplates blowing the whistle on unethical Big Pharma practices. Haven't we all sat through previous versions of these shopworn tales before? Maybe even with Crisis leads Armie Hammer, Evangeline Lilly, and Gary Oldman starring in them?
Nomadland is a true anomaly: a low-key slice of life that's shot, and feels, like an epic. And it's a thing of singular, wondrous beauty no matter how you watch it – though maybe not if you watch it on your phone.
The completist in me is so delighted to be catching four new movies – three of them recently nominated for Golden Globe and/or Screen Actors Guild Awards – that I don't even mind that the collective titles are tackling subjects such as murder, suicide, imprisonment, torture, spousal abuse, a debilitating stroke, and temperatures even colder than the ones we're currently facing. Okay: I mind a little.
The latest exhibition by a noted area sculptor and multi-media artist, Steve Banks: Construct/Destruct will be on display at the Beréskin Gallery & Art Academy from March 5 through April 30, with Banks' fascinating artistic themes and subjects including ruined temples, Ionic columns, fragments of architecture, and more.
Aquatic paintings, bold tapestries, and woven baskets combine for a fascinating and eclectic trio of exhibitions on display from March 3 through April 29, with the Quad City Arts International Airport Gallery hosting exhibits by Waterloo, Iowa painter Brian Buckles, Davenport-based textile artist Rowen Schussheim-Anderson, and Moline's woven-basket creator Kelly Hanson.
Vibrant explosions of color and character are currently on display in the Quad City Arts Center's exhibition Machinations of a Colorholic, and gallery visitors can enjoy a special meet and greet with the exhibit's artist when acrylic painter Elaine Rexdale chats with patrons and discusses her artistic process at the Rock Island venue on March 13.
Colorful paintings and fascinating installations will be showcased in the first 2021 exhibitions at the Quad City Arts Center, with the Rock Island venue, through March 19, housing installations by Wisconsin artist Keith Kaziak in Turn on the News and paintings by Rock Island native Elaine Rexdale in Machinations of a Colorholic.
Forgeries, mental illness, intrigue, and rapid fame – the dramatic circumstances of Ralph Albert Blakelock’s life often overshadow the merits of his work. But the Figge Art Museum hopes to amend that in the Davenport venue's new exhibition Blakelock: By the Light of the Moon, a showcase (on display through April 25) of eight exceptional artworks from the museum collection.
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