Authors of fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and more will share their talents and help strengthen the talents of others during the Midwest Writing Center's annual David R. Collins Writers Conference at Davenport's St. Ambrose University, a June 27 through 29 celebration of the written word boasting workshops, readings, book pitches, and more.
This feature collects articles published online by Quad Cities-area media outlets and by CapitolFax.com and the state-politics sections of the Des Moines Register and the State Journal-Register.
Presented by QC Pride and numerous other area organizations, businesses, and venues, more than a half-dozen inclusive events are scheduled in celebration of 2019 Quad Cities Unity Pride Week, which, from June 22 through 29, will boast nine days of activities and entertainment including a parade, a film screening, a pageant, a pub crawl, and, on June 28 and 29, a festival in downtown Davenport.
Following a two-year hiatus for the popular summertime event, the Quad City Air Show roars back above and throughout the Davenport Municipal Airport on June 29 and 30, the exhilarating aerial celebration featuring airborne performances, aerobatic teams, helicopters, squadrons, information booths, vendors, and more.
Annual explosions of fun will be taking place at both Davenport's Modern Woodmen Park and Rock Island's Schwiebert Riverfront Park when the Quad Cities hosts its Fourth of July celebration Red, White, & Boom!, the July 3 event delivering a spectacular fireworks display over the Mississippi River as well as live music, food and beverage vendors, special presentations, family programming, and more.
"We are so proud of what we've been able to accomplish this first legislative session of ours," Lieutenant Governor Juliana Stratton told a TV interviewer earlier this month. "We said that we wanted to think big for the people of Illinois. We said that we wanted to get Springfield back on the track of working families. And that's what we did."
As U.S. Constitutional scholar and George Washington University Law School professor Jonathan Turley wrote in May, the U.S. Attorney General is completely wrong in his efforts to prosecute Wikileaks publisher Julian Assange under the Espionage Act. "The use of the Espionage Act strikes at the heart of the First Amendment," wrote Turley, who noted with approval that several prosecutors in the Attorney General's office shared his view that the indictment of Assange on espionage charges is a terrible idea.
Back when this state was fairly well-run – meaning, before Illinois voters elected three anti-Springfield "populist" governors in a row – the general rule of thumb was that for every two dollars appropriated to K-12 education, higher education received one dollar.
If you talk to the Statehouse old-timers, they'll tell you they haven't seen such a productive spring legislative session since Governor Jim Thompson's days.
The governor and his top staff showed again last week that they can make things happen under the Statehouse dome.
The opening-night, sell-out crowd filling the Black Box Theatre appeared engaged by, and mostly appreciative of, Little Women: The Musical. The talented cast performed with gusto, intelligence, and tenderness, as required. Unfortunately, however, the adaptation itself of the late-19th-century Louisa May Alcott classic left me disappointed overall.
There are two sides to every story. And no matter what you think you know, the Circa '21 Dinner Playhouse’s delightful children’s show The True Story of the Three Little Pigs is here to lay the facts all out for you so you can decide for yourself.
Noël Coward's 1941 comedy Blithe Spirit was adapted for film in 1945, as well as for television and radio and as a musical. It's been offered by multitudes of theatres, now including the Clinton Area Showboat Theatre – which proved, on Friday, that their production can stand with the best of them.
Noises Off, by English playwright Michael Frayn, is a 1982 comedic farce of epic proportions, and you will likely either love this show or hate it. The guy sitting next to me, for instance, did not come back after intermission. The lady in front of me laughed hysterically. And an older fellow in the front row seemed to be dozing off. So there was definitely a wide range of audience reactions to this gag-filled production.
A classic Greek tragedy making its first return to the Quad Cities in more than 15 years, Euripides' arresting tale of The Bacchae will be staged by Genesius Guild June 28 through July 7, the outdoor Lincoln Park presentations boasting a cast of 17 and its central characters performing in period-appropriate Greek masks.
Described by NPR as “a vintage boogie stylist whose sonic footprint is no mere retread of his inspirations,” Jamil Rashad performs a June 25 Moeller Nights concert under his solo-project moniker Boulevards, sharing with Triple Crown Whiskey Bar & Raccoon Motel audiences what The Wild magazine deemed “a throwback to the Parliament-style days of funk music – infectious grooves, high notes, and sexy style.”
Described by the San Diego Reader as “a true Motown-glam show-stopper” and with Consequence of Sound stating that “his vocals and personality go well with just about everything,” Diane Coffee – the stage moniker of California-based musician and actor Shaun Fleming – headlines a Moeller Nights concert on June 28, bringing his teasing pop sensibility and singular style to local audiences in support of the artist's new album Internet Arms.
Lauded by NPR Music for his “pop-kissed soul of old-time rock and roll” and by the Smoky Mountain News for lyrics “soaked in spilled whiskey, misunderstood tears, and dusty memories,” folk-rock and power-pop musician Aaron Lee Tasjan plays a Moeller Nights headliner concert on June 29, his set certain to prove why American Songwriter insisted, “Few contemporary acts have taken stylistic leaps as radical as singer/songwriter Aaron Lee Tasjan.”
Lauded by The Sun Chronicle for their “distinct vocal harmonies, choreography, and performances [that] have helped bring a cappella into the mainstream of music,” the chart-topping pop singers of Pentatonix bring their world tour to the TaxSlayer Center on June 22, showcasing the talents that have thus far resulted in three Grammy Awards and numerous appearances on the TV smash The Sing-Off.
With RootsMusicReport.com praising the artist for his “perfectly constructed lyrics” and “smooth, effortless singing,” country crooner and prodigious songwriter Ward Davis headlines a Rock Island Brewing Company concert on June 22, his showcase demonstrating why SavingCountryMusic.com insisted, “On the three-bearded hydra that is Cody Jinks, Whitey Morgan, and Ward Davis, Ward is the one you turn to when you’re looking for something more thoughtful, more introspective, and where the songwriting is the foremost concern.”
Is this latest franchise entry enjoyable? Absolutely. Is it frequently clever and touching and sweet? For sure. Is it well-animated? Duh. But does it feel the slightest bit necessary? Nope. Does it enrich the inner lives of beloved characters we've known for decades? Not really. And is it in any way a more satisfying end – or “end” – to the Toy Story series than 2010's seemingly conclusive third chapter? No way.
The Reader's Mike Schulz and OurQuadCities.com's Ashe Simpson d
I read an article this past weekend devoted to our current, collective state of franchise fatigue, with the disappointing domestic box office for Godzilla: King of the Monsters, The Secret Life of Pets 2, and Dark Phoenix cited as proof that audiences are getting tired of seeing the same ol' things in newfangled packaging. What that “Are franchises finally over?!” piece failed to suggest, though, was that maybe these particular sequels weren't making major bank because they're just not good. And the third sequel to 1997's Men in Black might be the not-good-est of them all – an exhaustingly manic and just-plain-exhausting reboot to a series that should have ended with 2012's surprisingly clever Men in Black 3. The only real surprise here is that cleverness is in such depressingly slim supply.
Another summer-movie weekend; another threat of impending global annihilation. Yet even if, like me, you've dutifully and, for the most part, agreeably stuck with the superheroes since the mutants' cinematic start in 2000, it's impossible to imagine anyone shedding even a hint of a tear at Dark Phoenix, the apparently final X-Men entry before the team gets an inevitable makeover in a few years' time.
Given the relatively close proximity of their release dates, to say nothing of their both being about gay rock icons of the '70s, Rocketman is almost inevitably going to be compared to last fall's Oscar-winning Freddie Mercury salute Bohemian Rhapsody. If the latter was a musical bio-pic, though, the former is most definitely a bio-pic musical, and as such, it's sentimental, corny, kind of silly, and frequently campy beyond belief. It is, in other words, exactly what you want from a celebration of the early life and music of Elton John – an explosive pop fantasia of deep tenderness, unapologetic shamelessness, and unbridled love for its subject.
From June 28 through August 16, works by a pair of familiar faces from St. Ambrose University's art department will be on display at the Quad City Arts Center, with the Rock Island venue showcasing paintings by the school's gallery director and university curator Christopher Reno, and digital collages by Associate Professor of Art Renee Meyer Ernst.
The glories of Midwestern landscapes and idyllic farm scenes will be on display at the Beréskin Gallery & Art Academy June 29 through July 25, with the Bettendorf venue celebrating the works of a gifted artist and Fairfield, Iowa, resident in the multi-hued, evocative painting exhibition Hans Olson: Big Sky.
Boasting images from the Windy City both familiar and unfamiliar, and with the sites' natural hues exploding with vibrantly painted colors, Chromatic Chicago will be on display at Bettendorf's Beréskin Gallery & Art Academy, from May 31 through June 28, the new exhibition demonstrating the significant talents of Galesburg-based artist Carla Markwart.
Drawing inspiration from works of the surrealist and abstract-expressionist movements, particularly those that explore the subconscious, Davenport-based artist Nathaniel Kraft presents an exhibition of his paintings at the MidCoast Centre Station Gallery from May 1 through June 30 – the results of an artistic process, the artist says, “driven by the desire to bring suppressed feelings, memories, and ideas to the surface through abstraction.”
Hand-crafted works by Midwestern artists from both sides of the Mississippi will be on display at Moline's Quad City International Airport Gallery from May 2 through July 1, with the airport showcasing sculpture, tapestries, mixed media, and more from artists Tim Kowalczyk of Minonk, Illinois, Jan Friedman of Iowa City, and Kelly Schrader of Davenport.
You'll get a rundown of What's Happenin' along with your keys to the Quad Cities' culture.
