Appearing locally in a special partnership between the Davenport Public Library and Rock Island Public Library, National Book Award finalist Jason Reynolds – the award-winning author of works including 2017's Marvel Comics novel Miles Morales: Spider-Man – will read from and deliver presentations on his literary output in a trio of special area engagements at the Davenport Main Library on March 28 and Rock Island High School on March 29.
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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.
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Race is an issue that, in daily life, can feel like a daunting one to approach. Yet Davenport's Putnam Museum & Science Center is addressing the subject head-on in its new, interactive, and accessible traveling exhibition RACE: Are We So Different? Open to museum guests from January 26 through June 2, RACE aims to help visitors of all ages better understand the origins and manifestations of race and racism in everyday life by investigating race and challenging its misconceptions through the framework of science. And as Putnam President and CEO Kim Findlay says, it's an exhibit designed “to explore race through history, science, and culture – which happen to be the three things the Putnam focuses on.”
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Anti-comedy legend and parodic crooner misfit Neil Hamburger visits the Triple Crown Whiskey Bar & Raccoon Motel on March 17.
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Presented at Moline's Black Box Theatre in the style of a radio play complete with live music, sound effects, and actors with scripts in hand, three new episodes of the locally produced podcast All You Care to Eat will be performed by the area troupe Comedy Thingy on March 11 and taped in front of a live “studio” audience.
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A bunch of weak political arguments have been used so far against Governor JB Pritzker's proposed constitutional amendment for a graduated income tax. But there is a clear path to killing it.
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Democrats often propose ideas that take forever to explain and are often difficult for the masses to understand. That wasn't the case last week.
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A lobbyist who works for a business-related organization asked me a question the other day that I've been hearing a lot lately: "Who's going to be the stopper now?"
What he meant was: Who in the legislative process can be counted on these days to help derail bills which are deemed hostile to business interests?
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Give Governor JB Pritzker some credit: The man can give a good speech.
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Governor JB Pritzker's administration has confirmed that its new public pension plan will slash $800 million from the state's scheduled pension payment next fiscal year, which begins July 1.
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One of the most beloved and iconic rock operas of all time will enjoy a spectacular new staging by the talents of Quad City Music Guild when Moline's Prospect Park Auditorium hosts the March 22 through 31 run of Jesus Christ Superstar, the Andrew Lloyd Webber/Tim Rice classic boasting such unforgettable numbers as “Everything's Alright,” “Hosanna,” “King Herod's Song,” and the timeless ballad “I Don't Know How to Love Him.”
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It was mentioned – more than once – at its opening-night performance that the Circa '21 Dinner Playhouse’s production of Diamonds & Divas: A Murderous Fiasco was the comedy's United States professional premiere. If we were supposed to be impressed by that fact, it really isn't saying much, as author Robin Hawdon's script would feel right at home with a group of American middle-schoolers. However, the cast, composed of many familiar Circa '21 favorites, injects talent amidst the chaos of this melodramatic escapade, almost fully redeeming an otherwise ridiculous affair.
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A cold chill ran through the Playcrafters Barn Theatre at Friday's opening-night performance of Arthur Miller's 1953 play The Crucible; a riveting, partially fictionalized story about the hysteria that took place during the Salem Witch Trials in the Puritan town of Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1692. A group of young women are accused of casting spells, communing with the dead, and putting curses on children. The subsequent Salem Witch Trials, meanwhile, consisted of depositions, legal proceedings, hearsay, evidence (or lack thereof), and religious leaders of the day investigating alleged heresy and evil-doings involving the practices of witchcraft and black magic. Director Patti Flaherty delivered a provocative and captivating production that kept you interested and on the edge of your seat.
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Described by Time Out New York as an “insanely fun mixtape musical” and by Variety magazine as a show that “gleefully apes the worst excesses of the era's pole-dancing, crotch-grinding, big-hair-tossing movies,” the Broadway smash Rock of Ages lands at Davenport's Adler Theatre on March 17, treating audiences to a celebration of 1980s chart-toppers that NY1 called “so cleverly staged and impressively performed that it's an irresistible, offbeat trip of a show that hits all the right notes.”
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Is Nora, the protagonist of Henrik Ibsen's classic drama A Doll's House, a hero or a villain? Given that the play ends with her walking out on her husband and children seemingly forever, it’s a theme that’s been discussed since 1897, and one that the QC Theatre Workshop seeks to continue with its local premiere of A Doll’s House, Part 2, directed by Dave Bonde.
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Revered for such chart-topping singles as “Breath,” “I Will Now Bow,” “Failure,” “Angels Fall,” and last year's “Torn in Two,” the heavy-metal rockers of Breaking Benjamin take the stage at Moline's TaxSlayer Center on March 20 in support of their 2018 album Ember, a release that, according to Loudwire, finds the artists “proving that they're better (and, yes, heavier) than ever with plenty left to say.”
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Rozz Tox links up Cave Light and Harakiri, a pair of Minnesotan indie/psych-rock bands, with Quad Cities-based openers Condor & Jaybird and Bold Little Airwave on March 20.
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Called “one of the top-tier performers of soul and blues music” by Blues Blast magazine and “a strong songwriter and performer with magnetic stage presence” by Elmore, Blues Music Award winner John Németh takes the stage at Davenport's Redstone Room on March 21 in support of his most recent album Feelin' Freaky, a work BluesMatters.com described as “a superb, eclectic, easy-listening release by a man at the top of his game.”
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A pair of lauded blues-rock collectives out of the Midwest share co-headliner duties at the Redstone Room on March 22, as the Davenport venue hosts one night with two top-tier ensembles: the Chicago-based talents of The Steepwater Band and the Omaha natives of Nebraska's Kris Lager Band.
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Rozz Tox’s Outlet series of experimental and electronic music offers up one of the most exciting local bills in recent memory with the arrival of Chicago’s ascendant Teklife footwork producer DJ Taye on March 22, performing with support from Collidescope and AppleTree.
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Is there any stronger gauge of movie stardom than the ability to singlehandedly redeem an otherwise unworthy film?
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Wonders of nature and conveniences of modern locomotive travel will both be celebrated in the latest “World Aventure Series” presentations at the Putnam Museum & Science Center, with the Davenport venue hosting two March 19 screenings of Doug Jones' documentary The Great Canadian Train Ride followed by presentations with special guest Sandy Mortimer.
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Iron Man is sarcastic. Thor is arrogant. Hulk is ill-tempered. Captain America is patriotic to a fault. And Captain Marvel, a.k.a. the human Carol Danvers, a.k.a. the alien Vers, is … female. At least, that felt like the chief takeaway from Captain Marvel, whose filmmakers and star have given us a perfectly respectable comic-book role model while neglecting to make her in any way interesting.
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Contrary to Tyler Perry's public statements, I don't for an instant believe that his latest showcase for the straight-shooting, bible-thumping, politically-way-incorrect Madea – Tyler Perry's A Madea Family Funeral – is going to mark the house-dress-wearing hellion's final film appearance, especially considering that the titular ceremony isn't being held for Madea her(him)self. But maybe that's just preemptive grief talking, given that Perry's latest might be his most wholly satisfying Madea outing to date.
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Given that they tend to get their jobs done even when the works themselves are crap, triumph-of-the-underdog sports flicks are perhaps the only genre movies almost completely impervious to criticism. You can fail to be amused by a comedy or excited by a thriller, but if the heroes win the big game and the music swells and everyone on-screen – and everyone sitting around you – is tearfully cheering and somehow you're still not moved? That's on you, not the film.
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Serving as the latest guest speaker in the venue's “Evenings at Butterworth” series, noted scholar and historian Rolf Achilles will deliver a fascinating program on the art of stained glass – and one of its chief innovators in particular – in the Butterworth Center's March 22 presentation Tiffany & Other Great Midwestern Panes.
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The personal beliefs and significant experiences of two Iowa-based artisans will be expressed in a fascinating pair of Quad City Arts Center Gallery exhibitions February 1 through March 22: Esprit De Corps: The Brotherhood of Paratroopers, Rangers, & Special Forces at War by Eldridge painter Kenneth Cunningham, and Sophisticated Disobedience by Davenport's stpray-paint-college artist Brian Schulz.
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Cityscapes in Chicago, New York, and numerous other worldwide locations will be on display in the latest exhibition at the Beréskin Gallery & Art Academy, with the venue hosting Robert Reeves: Sounds of the City from February 23 through March 29 – a collection of paintings reflecting the hidden beauty in sights that millions of people likely view as everyday.
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Works by one of the Quad Cities' most revered artistic talents and an emeritus professor at St. Ambrose University will be on display at MidCoast Gallery West / The ARTery February 8 through March 31, with the Rock Island venue celebrating its 10th birthday with the debut of the new exhibition Leslie Bell: Paintings & Drawings Waiting to Go On.
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From February 1 through March 31, vibrant watercolors by one of the Quad Cities' most accomplished artists will be showcased in Tom Hempel: Retrospective, a exhibited collection of works by the Davenport-based talent who has painted more than 1,700 originals depicting a wide variety of subjects that include water scenes, landscapes, and the architecture of area homes, schools, office buildings, and churches.
