Delivered as part of the Davenport Public Library's virtual 3rd Thursday at Hoover's Presidential Library & Museum programming, the January 20 Zoom webinar A Few of My Favorite Things will find Matthew Schaefer sharing engaging and sometimes astounding facts and materials he discovered in his career as a Hoover archivist, with the presenter saying of his inclusions, “Some are treasures and others are just fascinating pieces of history most people never knew existed.”
On January 21 and 22, one of the most spectacular extreme-racing environments in the world will be re-created at Moline's TaxSlayer Center in the two-day Hoosier Racing Tire Arenacross Nationals, a touring event in which top professional and amateur athletes compete on man-made, custom-designed tracks built inside the country’s most well-known arena stages and amphitheaters.
In a special panel discussion taking place at the Bettendorf Public Library on January 25, area professors and their students will share some of their faculty-led experiences abroad, their Stories from Around the World program presented by the World Affairs Council of the Quad Cities and featuring Augustana College's Dr. Mariano J. Magalhães and St. Ambrose University's Dr. Kirk Kelley, Dr. Terri Switzer, and Dr. Duk Kim.
With the Washington Post deeming her latest novel “a fast-paced, darkly romantic journey,” and NPR stating that its characters are “unique, flawed, and sad in a way that burrows into your heart,” best-selling and award-winning novelist Silvia Moreno-Green will take part in a virtual conversation hosted by the Rock Island Public Library, the January 26 event allowing the author to discuss her 2021 book Velvet Was the Night and her genre-defying mashups of cultural noir and Lovecraft-ian horror.
An acclaimed author, public speaker, radio host, and former halfback for the Pittsburgh Steelers, Rocky Bleier takes the stage at the University of Dubuque's Heritage Center for the touring sensation The Play with Rocky Bleier, a special January 28 event in which the guest will take audiences from his early years through his professional career and talk about the lessons he learned along the way.
"Well, I don't know what will happen now. We've got some difficult days ahead. But it doesn't matter with me now. Because I've been to the mountaintop. And I don't mind. Like anybody, I would like to live a long life. Longevity has its place. But I'm not concerned about that now. I just want to do God's will. And He's allowed me to go up to the mountain. And I've looked over. And I've seen the promised land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight that we as a people will get to the promised land. And I'm happy, tonight. I'm not worried about anything. I'm not fearing any man. Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord." - MLK
House Speaker Chris Welch marked his one-year anniversary as his chamber’s top leader with a series of news media interviews last week. One of the questions I asked was what his legislative district’s constituents were talking to him about the most. “The number-one issue in my district, and this is across the state, is crime,” Speaker Welch said.
First and foremost is that no one has explained the motive behind why Trump supporters would deliberately storm the castle to sabotage the Congressional Electoral College certification process when they considered it the last best hope to see their precious Trump restored to the office of the President. The third narrative hole is that there are 14,000 hours of video footage being withheld from the public.
Thank you to these five concerned citizens who provided their candid and first-person perspectives about a day that many would have live in infamy. Below are short bios on each participant, followed by each person's response to our 12 questions.
The CDC was sued under FOIA for all its documentation regarding people who have been infected with COVID-19 and recovered who are unvaxxed, all documentation relative to natural immunity in the COVID-19 recovered, all documentation relative to COVID-19 recovered people becoming reinfected and then transmitting to others. (https://www.icandecide.org/cdc-concedes-never-conducted-vaccinated-v-unvaccinated-study/)
The CDC responded that it had no such documentation and that it was not collecting data relative to any of the requested parameters. This means that the CDC's Director Rochelle Walensky committed perjury in her November 4 testimony before Congress that the CDC had reviewed 96 papers as part of their review submission to Congress, and determined that all COVID-19-recovered people should be vaccinated. (https://www.c-span.org/video/?515699-1/senate-hearing-biden-administrations-covid-19-response)
With The Telegraph reviewer Tim Walker stating, “I have seldom, if ever, heard louder or more sustained laughter in a theatre,” the object of that praise – the Tony-winning slapstick farce The Play That Goes Wrong – makes its area debut at the Circa '21 Dinner Playhouse, the show's January 19 through March 12 Rock Island run sure to demonstrate why the New York Times deemed it “a knockabout farce” whose audience “roared as loudly as the crowds at any wrestling match.”
From January 21 through 30, the Center for Living Arts, the Penguin Project of the Quad Cities, and Augustana College's theatre department will team up to help turn kids into stage stars for the eagerly awaited family-musical presentation The Little Mermaid Jr. – a production based on Disney's Oscar-winning animated adventure, and a show that boasts a cast composed of talented youths with special needs.
A world-premiere presentation that challenges commonly held beliefs about the true cost of freedom, playwright Mat Smart's Eden Prairie, 1971 enjoys a January 27 through February 20 run at Iowa City's Riverside Theatre, its author a noted talent whose The Royal Society of Antarctica received Chicago's 2015 Jeff Award for Best New Work.
An exploration of the valiant and courageous personalities behind one of the most critical chapters in the history of the Civil Rights movement, Mad River Theater Works' Freedom Riders will enjoy a special January 31 staging at the University of Dubuque's Heritage Center, the play delivering unforgettable heroes and facts essential to a full understanding of the Civil Rights era and American history.
In the Redstone Room's first concert event under the "All Sweat Original Series" banner, local songwriters are paired up alongside topnotch area musicians to act as their own personal backing band, with this January 20 explosion of community and fun showcasing three exceptional headliners on the Davenport stage: Randy Leasman, Erin Moore, and John Born.
With his most recent acoustic recording Lost My Brother's Goat named by Country Underdog as one of 2020's top-20 albums and described by Daily Texas Country as a “very strong” release with “a mix of everything you might want,” Billboard-charting country star Casey Donahew plays East Moline venue The Rust Belt on January 20, his career to date boasting five top-10 smashes and smash singles including “Country Song” and “Kiss Me.”
Boasting a discography encompassing more than two decades and collaborations with diverse artists ranging from The Doors and Eminem to Boyz II Men, and Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, hip-hop and rap artist Tech N9ne plays East Moline's The Rust Belt on January 21, the musician currently touring nationally in support of his 2021 release Asin9ne.
With SputnikMusic.com praising their most recent album When We Were in Love as “larger than life in its indie-pop/rock sound,” adding that “shimmering synth, strong vocals, and endless energy are all constants throughout,” Mike Mains & the Branches headline a January 26 concert at Davenport's Raccoon Motel, the indie musicians described by Sunlight magazine as “a powerhouse of a band both in sound and lyrics.”
Featured in Beyoncé's unforgettable performance piece Homecoming: A Film by Beyoncé!, the musical talents of DRUMline Live! bring their riveting rhythms, bold beats, and ear-grabbing energy to the University of Dubuque's Heritage Center on January 26, this show-stopping family attraction created by the musical team behind the hit movies Drumline and Drumline: A New Beat.
While this latest, incessantly meta sequel is frequently clever and easily watchable, it also kept reminding me, unfortunately, that there's a fine line between smart and smarty-pants.
Described by CNN as “amazing,” by the San Francisco Chronicle as “wonderful,” and by the Hollywood Reporter as “a fascinating portrait,” Picture of His Life, the 2019 documentary on lauded underwater photographer Amos Nachoum, opens the 2022 season in River Action's QC Environmental Film Series, this January 23 presentation at Davenport's Figge Art Museum a multiple festival-award winner by acclaimed directors Dani Merkin and Yonatan Nir.
There's nothing much wrong with the action thriller The 355 that couldn't have been fixed with a better director and a better script.
Welcome to my 21 for '21 – a list of 21 cinematic favorites from 2021 (even if they were technically 2020 releases, and even if they didn't literally play at cinemas), along with 21 runners-up, and, because I'm only in half-bitchy critic mode these days, 10-and-a-half citations for the most egregious offenders of the past 12 months.
Now playing at area theaters.
An opportunity to explore the personal and collective experience of living through a global pandemic, the Figge Art Museum's January 20 maker session will find artist Anna Richards guiding participants through an exciting, hands-on program that explores the Feminist Art Movement in relation to the Davenport venue's current installation Jane Gilmor: Breakfast on Pluto.
Vividly colorful works by a Rock Island professor of art will be showcased across the river in Davenport in the January 24 through February 25 exhibition Rowen Schussheim-Anderson: Tapestry Collage, with the talents of this longtime Augustana College educator and professional artist on display in St. Ambrose University's Morrissey Gallery.
A number of specific art forms blend in a new exhibition at St. Ambrose University when the Catich Gallery, from January 24 through March 4, houses the works of Clifton Meador: Studio of Exhaustion, its creator a noted artist who combines writing, photography, printmaking, and design to make books that explore how the narratives of culture, history, and place are the basis for identity.
Held in conjunction with the Figge Art Museum's current exhibition Breakfast on Pluto, art historian Joy Sperling and exhibit creator Jane Gilmor will discuss the artist's career and how her work “bounces off” the world around her, the January 27 conversation topics extending to current events and the opportunities for dialogue, exploration, and connection that thrive in Gilmor’s artwork.
Always an eagerly awaited series at the Figge Art Museum, the latest incarnation of Young Artists at the Figge will be on display from January 29 through May 15, 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.
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