Hosting two concert sets with the Grammy-nominated comedian famed for his tenure with the Blue Collar Comedy group, the Rhythm City Casino Resort Event Center brings TV and recording sensation Bill Engvall to its Davenport stage on March 6, the actor/comedian currently traveling the country on his acclaimed “Just Sell Him for Parts” standup tour.
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.
One of the Quad Cities' most eagerly anticipated sales events returns to Rock Island's QCCA Expo Center March 6 through 8, as Melting Pot Productions presents the 26th Annual Spring Antique Spectacular Vintage Market, allowing hunters of vintage goods an all-weekend opportunity to shop for a wide range of quality antiques.
Delivering a special area presentation on the criminal-justice system and his own personal journey following a wrongful conviction, inspirational speaker Yusef Salaam visits Augustana College on March 7, his Centennial Hall lecture covering the man's experiences as an accused member of “The Central Park Five” and his long road to a new identity as one of “The Exonerated Five.”
Presented in conjunction with scientists at the global bio-pharmaceutical company AbbVie, the interactive children's exhibit Science + You enjoys a stay at Bettendorf's Family Museum through April 19, demonstrating the role that science plays in keeping the body healthy through fun and fascinating scientific experiments and a child-sized laboratory appropriate for young visitors.
Former Governor Rod Blagojevich emerged from prison just like he went in: Defiantly proclaiming his innocence and ostentatiously displaying his carefully-coiffed victimhood.
If you were too young to know about Blagojevich or your memory is hazy, you're now getting a lesson in Rod 101. He knows what reporters want and he's more than happy to give it to them if it serves his purposes. He will say anything, literally anything, to stay in the public eye, no matter how far from the truth it may be. And reporters are eagerly obliging him.
All six Democratic candidates vying to replace former State Representative Sara Feigenholtz (D-Chicago) gathered for a candidates' forum last week moderated by Laura Washington of the Sun-Times. Feigenholtz was recently appointed to the Illinois Senate.
I've read and heard a lot of commentary about what Governor JB Pritzker didn't say in his State of the State address last month. Some folks are still quite angry that he didn't address their pet causes.
Corporate media distributed content disguised as news has devolved into (1) a perpetual call of winners and losers in the fabricated binary national selection of so-called US presidential options, and (2) tightly scripted propaganda across all platforms and channels masquerading as (no, not even fact-driven news anymore) misguided speculation based on contrived narratives specifically formulated to elicit conditioned responses from you, the viewer, listener, and reader.
"It's hard for me to swallow how [people] make so much off of you. Right? And I gotta do the work."
That's from the July 31, 2018 federal surveillance of now-former state Senator Martin Sandoval (D-Chicago) complaining, according to media reports, to one of the founders of the red-light camera company SafeSpeed. Sandoval was bemoaning how he was killing and passing bills on the company's behalf while watching other people make bank off the red-light-cam industry.
Writing about the iconic stage presentation The Vagina Monologues in a 2018 article, the New York Times stated, “No recent hour of theatre has had a greater impact worldwide.” And Augustana College patrons will no doubt understand why when Eve Ensler's revered work is staged in a February 28 through March 1 production, with 90 percent of the proceeds benefiting women in the Quad Cities who are survivors of rape, sexual assault, and abuse.
Described by Talkin' Broadway as a family entertainment that provides both “plenty of humor” and “simple yet incredibly effective lessons for younger children to learn,” playwright Allison Gregory's Junie B. Jones Is Not a Crook enjoys an Augustana College presentation on February 29 and March 1, delivering what Arizona Central declared “a wonderfully fun production” that's “clever enough to charm all ages.”
A timeless classic gets an original, locally created makeover at the Playcrafters Barn Theatre March 6 through 15, with the Moline venue hosting the debut of author Alexander Richardson's Their Town, a salute to, and modernized take on, Thornton Wilder's iconic Our Town that serves as the first of four 2020 world premieres in the theatre's acclaimed Barn Owl Series.
With a rather evocative title such as Kinky Boots, you may find yourself a tad wary of the Circa '21 Dinner Playhouse's latest production. But bring that wariness in and let director M. Seth Reines and his talented cast broaden your scope. Kinky Boots, you see, is an exciting, engaging story for everyone and about everyone.
If you missed the perfectly timed Valentine’s Day opening of the Spotlight Theatre’s The Wedding Singer, don’t have a cow. There’s a second weekend of this righteous romantic-comedy musical if you’re in need of an extra opportunity to show your sweethearts how much you love them. The energetic cast, familiar storyline, and totally awesome music make for the perfect escape from reality back to the '80s for a few hours.
Multi-platinum-selling artists with three chart-topping albums to their credit, the country and Southern-rock sensations of the Zac Brown Band play Moline's TaxSlayer Center on February 28, treating fans to a repertoire that has thus far resulted in nine Grammy Award nominations, three wins, and more than a dozen number-one hits on the Billboard charts.
Gifted bluegrass and Cajun musicians who have been performing together for more than three decades, Vince Herman and Drew Emmitt – co-founders of popular touring act Leftover Salmon – bring their special acoustic-duo set to Davenport's Redstone Room on February 28, treating crowds to the toe-tapping talents that brought their band fame for albums including 1995's Ask the Fish, 1997's Euphoria, and 2018's Something Higher.
On February 29, audiences at the Rust Belt will see just what transpires when a Superstar meets up with A Giant Dog, as the East Moline venue delivers a night of doo-wop, electro dance, alternative pop, and more with the singular talents of Heart Bones – a unique collaboration between Sean Tillmann of Har Mar Superstar fame and Sabrina Ellis of the punk outfit A Giant Dog.
Iowa City-based sophisti-pop/New Wave crew Anthony Worden & the Illiterati bring their strain of baroque, '60s-influenced pop composition to Rozz-Tox on February 29.
Performing under the direction of Curtis Fischer-Oelschlaeger and accompanied by pianist Marcia Renaud, more than two dozen of the area's premier vocalists will celebrate beloved songs of the past in A Sunday in Tin Pan Alley – the March 1 concert event at Davenport's Modern Woodmen Park featuring iconic classics given beautiful new life by area ensemble the Quad City Singers.
Once you adjust to Buck's initially off-putting quality, and the similar anthropomorphism of the film's other animals, and the intentional broadness of everything from the compositions to the choreography to the humans, Chris Sanders' outing emerges as an unexpectedly winning and effective family flick. The wide-screen vistas and gripping action sequences make seeing it at the cineplex preferable, but don't fret if you miss the movie now – once it lands, it'll be a go-to choice on Disney+ forever.
Friday, February 14, 10:30 a.m.-ish: As I deeply love movies, and have been known to occasionally fall in love with movies, it feels appropriate that I'd spend a large chunk of this year's Valentine's Day at my first quadruple feature in 10 months. Yet while previous four-fers have started better, I'm not sure any of them have started weirder than this one, given that it begins with a reboot of television's Fantasy Island, that deliciously cheesy Aaron Spelling soap that demanded “Smiles, everyone, smiles!” from the start and almost couldn't help but deliver them.
Wrapping up my pan of DC Films' Suicide Squad in the summer of 2016, I wrote, “The inevitable sequel to this franchise-starter can only be better. I say that all the time, and one of these days, damn it, I'm gonna be right.” Hey, whattaya know! I was finally right!
Well.
Well well well well well.
Lookie what the Oscars did.
It's estimated that the Brothers Grimm composed roughly 200 fairy tales and folk stories between 1812 and 1857. And I know it would be asking a lot, but based on their delectably macabre new fright film, I'd be happy to start a petition demanding that Gretel & Hansel director Oz Perkins and screenwriter Rob Hayes be given a crack at each and every one of them.
A former Quad Citian and St. Ambrose University alumna currently showcasing her Finding God in the Dark: A Retrospective Exhibition in the Galvin Fine Arts Center's Catich and Morrissey Galleries, Rosalind Wilcox will participate in two weekend events at Davenport's university: an artist Q&A and reception on the afternoon of February 28, and a concert performed under Wilcox's stage alias “Mississippi Rose” on the evening of February 29.
Works by a trio of Midwestern artists will bid adieu to the winter and welcome the spring at the Quad City Arts International Airport Gallery, with Moline's airport, from March 4 through April 28, housing encaustic paintings by McHenry, Illinois' Cindy Lesperance, color-reduction woodcuts by Peoria's Cathie Crawford, and mixed-media sculptural work by Bettendorf's Dawn Wohlford.
Patrons of the Beréskin Gallery & Art Academy can soon enjoy vacation stops the world over without ever leaving the comforts of the Quad Cities, with the Bettendorf venue, from March 6 through 26, showcasing works in the exhibit The Art of Travel that celebrate their artists' travel experiences through a variety of chosen mediums.
A celebration of the human body's most fascinating facets as viewed through abstract illustrations will grace the Beréskin Gallery & Art Academy from February 1 through 28, with the Bettendorf venue hosting colorful, captivating works by Bettendorf artist Kaitlin Walsh in her new exhibition Anatomy of the Senses.
With the new year comes a trio of new exhibitions at Moline's Quad City Arts International Airport Gallery, with three gifted Midwestern artists showcasing a variety of works from January 3 through March 3: landscape paintings by Emily Fitzpatrick, acrylic paintings by Kelly Schnell, and mixed-media fiber creations by Colleen Curry.
You'll get a rundown of What's Happenin' along with your keys to the Quad Cities' culture.
