From August 11 through 13, an eagerly awaited summertime tradition returns both on and in between the LeClaire and Port Byron Levees, as the 2022 Great River Tug Fest delivers outdoor family fun with carnival attractions, live music, arts and crafts vendors, fireworks displays, and the hotly anticipated tug-of-war over the Mississippi River.
With Davenport one of the 100 cities in which she'll stop on her current Big Panty Tour, Leanne Morgan brings her evening of standup to the Adler Theatre on August 12, the comedian of 22 years beloved for her albums Sweaty & Pissed: Menopause & More and You'd Be Crazy, Too!, as well as her hit comedy special So Yummy.
A popular touring comedian, author, podcaster, and avid sports fan. Steve Hofstetter serves as the latest standup to play Davenport's Rhythm City Casino Resort Rhythm Room, the native New Yorker's August 14 set sure to deliver a night of serious laughs with the funnyman admired from outlets as varied as the New York Times, ESPN, the Billboard comedy charts, and Sports Illustrated.
One of American history's most famous Iowans serves as the subject for a special live solo performance on August 14 when Davenport's German American Heritage Center presents Grant Wood: Prairie Rebel, author/star Tom Mulligan's exploration into the life of the Anamosa native best-known for painting the 1930 masterpiece American Gothic.
Delivering a blend of local history, environmental issues, education, entertainment, and fresh air, Davenport's River Action is again presenting a series of outdoor presentations in the final month of the annual Channel Cat Talks and Riverine Walks: weekly programs that, from August 3 through September 1, will address such topics as improvements to the Lock & Dam 15, green rooftops, the area's German-American heritage, and jazz masters Bix Beiderbecke and Louie Bellson.
The time has come to make a personal change as an American, ignoring for the moment any partisan politics because for this purpose, party affiliation simply does not matter. Each of us needs to reclaim our individual authority, expressly acknowledged and protected via the Declaration of Independence, U.S. and State Constitutions, including the Bill of Rights (first 10 Amendments of the Constitution), the cumulative body of laws and substantive due process. That means robustly familiarizing ourselves with the above, especially the Bill of Rights and Declaration.
While the remainder of this piece will kind of forced to be All About Me, allow me to raise a figurative champagne flute – figurative because it's actually a glass of chillable red I'll be raising – in acknowledgment of others.
Stories about protagonists who’ve been misguided their whole lives about something very important have been emerging in our culture for generations, and they continue to delight audiences at the box office to this day. The pauper was really a prince. Luke was Darth Vader’s son. Keanu Reeves had been living in a computer simulation. Bruce Willis was really a ghost. Jim Carrey’s whole world was the set of a TV show, and everyone in his life had been lying to him since his infancy. This theme repeats so often because it strongly resonates with people. And it strongly resonates with people because it’s exactly what is happening.
During a sometimes-fiery interview last week, House Speaker Chris Welch pledged to tie House Republican candidates to the far-right top of their ticket and called House Republican Leader Jim Durkin a “failed leader.” A Durkin spokesperson, in turn, called Welch “unhinged.” It started when I asked Speaker Welch if he thought gun-law reform would play a major role in the fall campaign, which is basically just around the corner.
In the month of June alone, the FDA demonstrated its most extreme regulatory capture to date with its Vaccine and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee's (VRBPAC) approval for (1) Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) to vaccinate the final age cohort of six-month-old babies to five-year-old toddlers (6/14-15/22); and (2) Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) to reformulate Pfizer and Moderna original vaccines to accommodate current and future variants without clinical trials (6/28/22).
Lauded by the New York Times as a "delightfully weird and just plain delightful show" that "will provide the kind of thrills we look for in all musical comedies," Ride the Cyclone makes its area debut at Moline's Black Box Theatre August 11 through 20, with the Times going on the praise the show's "engaging and varied score" and "supremely witty book."
For the final production in its 2022 summer season, Mt. Carroll's Timber Lake Playhouse is treating patrons to an audience with the Queen – or rather, simply Queen – in the imaginative musical review We Will Rock You, a celebration of the iconic rock and pop band boasting two dozen timeless hits including “Another One Bites the Dust,” “Bohemian Rhapsody,” “We Are the Champions,” “Somebody to Love,” and the iconic title tune.
A Broadway musical sensation that played for more than four years and 1,500 performances, the stage version a Robert Louis Stevenson's literary classic – one boasting a score by Frank Wildhorn and a book by the legendary Leslie Bricusse – comes to life in Jekyll & Hyde, the romantic thriller that will enjoy a Quad City Music Guild interpretation from August 5 through 14.
For the venue's final production of its 2022 summer season, the Clinton Area Showboat Theatre, from August 4 through 14, will present the award-winning song-and-dance revue The World Goes 'Round that celebrates the legendary composing team of John Kander and Fred Ebb, whose works include Broadway’s longest running American musical, Chicago, and Cabaret, considered by many to be the greatest movie musical of all time.
Disaster!, created by Seth Rudethsky, written by Rudethsky and Jack Plotnick, and now at the Circa '21 Dinner Playhouse, combines classic catastrophic-cinema elements with '70s pop tunes, and director/choreographer Amy McCleary, music director Ron May, and all involved came together to create this silly, music-filled diversion.
Returning to Maquoketa's Codfish Hollow Barn for the second August in a row, folk- and alternative-rock icon Ani DiFranco will headline a pair of summer concerts on August 9 and 10, the artist's most recent album Revolutionary Love described by The New Yorker as boasting “robust melodies, padded with streaks of soul and jazz, that represent some of DiFranco's fullest productions yet.”
Bringing their national tour to Davenport in advance of their mid-September release Expert in a Dying Field, the indie-rock and -pop talents of New Zealand's The Beths headline a Raccoon Motel concert on August 10, their second recording Jump Rope Gazers described by Pop Matters as "a sophomore album that makes even the most senior indie-rock acts feel rudimentary by comparison."
With the Colorado-based indie rockers praised by Bandwagon magazine as "bright, energetic, and bursting with pop polish," the rising stars of Lady Denim headline an August 12 concert at Davenport's Raccoon Motel, the group's talents having inspired 303 magazine to rave about their "catchy tunes and relatable lyrics," and to state, "If you aren’t listening to their music already, then now’s the time to try their songs on for size."
Arriving in Davenport for a live August 13 performance while Baz Luhrmann's movie smash is still playing in theaters, international tribute artist Shawn Klush commands the Adler Theatre stage with his Ultimate Elvis Tribute Artist Experience, a thrilling celebration of Presley's music and magic that has spent numerous years captivating audiences around the globe.
Following successful indoor and outdoor performances at Davenport's River Music Experience Courtyard last summer and fall, the Quad Cities musicians and energetic talents of Heads in Motion return to Bettendorf venue The Tangled Wood on August 13, with the 10-piece ensemble paying tribute to Oscar, Grammy, and Tony Award winner David Byrne and his iconic rock outfit Talking Heads.
As a movie lover/reviewer who's been at this a lo-o-ong time, it should go without saying that I almost never see a film anymore that I'd consider calling my new all-time favorite. But every now and then, I do see films that I'm pretty certain will be somebody's new all-time favorite, and director David Leitch's comedy thriller Bullet Train absolutely feels like one of those titles.
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, August 4: Discussion of DC league of Super-Pets and Vengeance, and celebration of the Reader's 1,000th print edition.
In his first outing as a feature-film writer/director/star, B.J. Novak does a lot of very smart things in Vengeance; while I've enjoyed a bunch of movies this summer, none of them has been the low-key, completely unanticipated surprise that this comedic thriller proves to be.
Did you know that UFOs (unidentified flying objects) are now, instead, routinely classified as UAP (unidentified aerial phenomena)? Until seeing Jordan Peele's Nope, I had no idea – just as I had no idea that the writer/director/producer could so successfully harvest the Spielberg/Shymalan oeuvres for his specific needs, or that the image of a monkey staring directly into the camera lens could so thoroughly freak me out.
Barring only a few minor plot twists and one major (terrible) one, I certainly felt as though I had read both of these un-read books, considering that their movie adaptations come off as under-imagined page-to-screen transfers terrified of alienating their fans with anything approaching spontaneity, surprise, or the intrusion of real-world complexity. Only in the case of one film, however, does that prove to be a deal-breaker.
Fascinating works by two artists with degrees from the University of Iowa are currently showcasing their talents at the Quad City Arts Center, with the Rock Island venue, through August 12, housing multi-media installations of Melissa Airy and oversize, jewelry-like sculptures by Ali Hval.
An artistic exploration into the lives of children raised in many different kids of circumstances, the Muscatine Art Center's new exhibition Where Children Sleep: Photographs by James Mollison will be on display through August 21, and stands as a revealing series of photos that share the diverse stories of youths living in different countries around the globe.
In the 12th installment of the venue's latest group exhibition, the artistic talents of 41 students from area colleges and universities will be on display in the Figge Art Museum's College Invitational 2022 through August 28 – a showcase of techniques and mediums including drawing, painting, collage, printmaking, clay, digital illustration, silkscreen, mixed media installation, and found materials.
Dozens of paintings by the gifted artist credited for introducing Impressionism to the United States – many never before seen – will be on display at the Figge Art Museum through August 28, with the Davenport venue exploring the work, life, and career of a celebrated 19th-century American in the exhibition John Leslie Breck: American Impressionist.
A pair of summertime exhibits by Illinois artists – with some of their works boasting a distinctly summertime theme – are currently on display at the Quad City Arts International Airport Gallery, with the Moline locale, through August 29, housing vividly colorful oil paintings by Wapella's Judy Steffens and acrylic paintings and mixed-media assemblages by Rock Island's Lisa Mahar.
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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