On May 29, patrons of Davenport's German American Heritage Center will be treated to a fascinating presentation on one of the longest-running religious traditions in world history, with The Oberammergau Passion Play: Tradition & Renewal Since 1633 exploring the work that was performed every year from 1634 to 1680 – and, with a few exceptions, every 10 years since 1680 – by the inhabitants of the village of Oberammergau in Bavaria, Germany.
Hosted by the Quad Cities Bicycle Club and returning to the Village of East Davenport for the first time since 2019, an eagerly anticipated Memorial Day tradition returns for its 55th year in the Quad Cities Kwik Star Criterium – a May 30 event featuring hundreds of adult and youth cyclists from across the U.S., Canada, and Europe participating in nearly a dozen bicycle races, with thousands of dollars in cash prizes awarded throughout the day.
Delivering a blend of local history, environmental issues, education, entertainment, and fresh air, Davenport's River Action will again present a series of outdoor presentations in the first month of the annual Channel Cat Talks and Riverine Walks: weekly programs that, from May 31 through July 2, will address such topics as commercial fishing, steamboating, the Quad Cities River Bandits, the Hauberg Estate, and the history of Arsenal Island.
After a long winter, spring is finally in the air – and also in the halls and on the walls of Davenport's Putnam Museum & Science Center via Pollination Investigation, a fascinating exhibition hosted courtesy of the Smithsonian Gardens and the Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service through May 31.
An exploration into the innovations that have resulted when the natural world is allowed to be our guide, the new Putnam Museum & Science Center exhibition Mother Nature: Modern Muse is currently on display at the Davenport venue, this celebration following the museum's mission of delivering to patrons "a sense of place, time, and purpose to ignite human potential and inspire our diverse community to learn about and care for our world and all its people."
Illinois peaked at 27 U.S. House seats after the 1910 Census and subsequent reapportionment. That lasted until the 1940 Census, when Illinois dropped to 26 seats in Congress. We’ve been steadily losing ground ever since. It’s not that we lost population, it’s that other states in the West and the South grew much faster. California had just eleven congressional districts as a result of the 1910 Census. It now has 53.
Gubernatorial candidate Richard Irvin has spent tens of millions of billionaire Ken Griffin’s dollars introducing himself to Republican primary voters. Yet, a recent poll taken for WGN TV by Emerson College Polling shows he’s leading Senator Darren Bailey by just four percentage points, 24-20, with nineteen percent split between the other four candidates and undecideds “leading” with 37 percent.
Almost every weekday since the beginning of February, the Richard Irvin campaign has sent at least one press release to reporters about a host of issues, from crime to taxes to corruption to former House Speaker Michael Madigan to, well, you name it. Last week, however, the Irvin campaign was conspicuously silent for 24 hours.
I’ve mentioned before that House Speaker Chris Welch has said since the day he was elected to his chamber’s top job last year that he is fully committed to protecting all of his incumbents, whether in the primary or in the general election. That wasn’t always the case with his predecessor, House Speaker Michael Madigan.
The Illinois Senate adjourned its session April 9 just after 3 o’clock in the morning. The House adjourned about three hours later, as the sun was coming up. This wasn’t the first time that the chambers worked into the wee smalls to finish their work, including a budget, and it probably won’t be the last, but it’s getting to be a bit much. Senate President Don Harmon told me afterward that, in the future, he would like to “avoid” adjourning sessions that late.
Haus of Ruckus fans will be delighted to learn that Green's and Vo's signature nuttiness will remain intact. There will be puns. There will be puppets. This time, however, there will be twice as many of them.
Praised by Variety magazine for i
This family favorite, smartly directed and choreographed by Shane Hall for the Circa '21 Dinner Playhouse, was spectacular from start to finish. In fact, you should get your tickets now, and finish reading this review later. Name recognition alone could sell this show out, and once word gets out that it’s also great, seats will no doubt be hard to come by.
Praised by the Bangor News as “a smashing hit” and “a rib-tickler if ever I saw one,” the farcical comedy Here Lie Jeremy Troy enjoys a June 2 through 12 run at Geneseo's Richmond Hill Barn Theatre, its playwright Jack Sharkey also the author of such recent venue hits as Missing Link, I Take This Man, and 100 Lunches: A Gourmet Comedy.
With Broadway World describing the dark comedy as "a wicked satire that is so much more than just a tearing-down of cultural icons," author Bert V. Royal's Dog Sees God enjoys a June 3 through 12 run at Moline's Playcrafters Barn Theatre, this Barn Owl Series presentation having inspired The Toronto Star to rave, "What seems to be a comedic deconstruction of the famous Peanuts cartoon characters turns out to be one of the most interesting and moving plays I've seen this year."
Their 2019 album Saints & Sinners praised by Sonic Perspectives as "the rock fix that the new generation has been craving but hadn't even noticed," the rockers of Shallow Side headline a May 28 concert event at Moline's Rascals Live, demonstrating why the quartet was lauded by Veracious magazine as "a force to be reckoned with."
No fewer than four superlative Midwestern singer/songwriters will team up for a special May 28 concert event at the Codfish Hollow Barn, with the Maquoketa venue proudly hosting a quartet of acclaimed talents in the genres of folk, country, rock, Americana, spoken-word, and more: David Huckfelt, Pieta Brown, Erik Koskinen, and Ray Young Bear.
Described by Rolling Stone as performing “heartland rock in the vein of working-class heroes John Mellencamp and Tom Petty, but distinguished by a power-pop sheen,” the Cerny Brothers – Sherrard, Illinois natives Robert and Scott – play Davenport's Raccoon Motel on May 27 and 28 in support of their most recent album Looking for the Good Land, a work No Depression called “an artifact in realism and artistic translation of all the feelings that there are no words for.”
One of the most popular and beloved music acts in American history will make its long-awaited touring stop at Moline's TaxSlayer Center on June 3 when the venue hosts an evening with Frankie Valli & the Four Seasons, the legendary pop group whose smash singles include “Big Girls Don't Cry” and “Walk Like a Man,” and whose headliner has been performing with the group for a remarkable 62 years.
Performing in support of their EP Pretty Lies, a quartet of gifted young area musicians headline a June 4 concert event at the Redstone Room, with the Davenport venue treating patrons to the rock and power-pop talents of an ensemble that bills itself as the Quad Cities' only all-female rock band: Been There Done That.
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, May 26: They're back! Discussion of Downton Abbey: A New Era, Men, Family Camp, Firestarter, The Survivor, and Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness.
The experience of director Simon Curtis' Downton Abbey: A New Era is nothing if not exceedingly comfortable, even if there's little that's remotely New about it.
Damned if I didn't grin and giggle at Family Camp from the very start, and damned if I didn't get misty-eyed on a couple of occasions – though given the film's leanings, I should probably be saying “darned." I'll try to remember that if, or more hopefully when, we get a sequel.
A watershed moment in the history of LGBTQ rights will be explored in a June 3 Gay Pride Month event at the Rock Island Public Library's Main Branch, with the venue hosting a screening of the American Experience episode Stonewall Uprising: The Year That Changed Everything, a Peabody Award-winning work that the Philadelphia Inquirer deemed “an important documentary – and a passionate and compassionate reconstruction.”
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 May 26 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 from May 28 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 from May 28 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.
With the venue presenting its first exhibition of visual art since 2020, Rock Island's Rozz-Tox houses a collection of colorful and evocative new and small paintings in Leslie Bell: Little Theaters, an exhibit (on display through May 29) boasting the talents of the beloved, retired professor of art at Davenport's St. Ambrose University.
With the exhibit's title taken from Psalm 19 and its sacred celebration of the sun and the life that flourishes under its radiant light, painter William Havlicek's The Sanctuary of the Sun: Seasons & Time will be on display at the historic house of the Muscatine Art Center June 2 through September 11, its series selections described by the artist as "a poetic eulogy to Iowa’s seasonal changes, ochre harvests, russet woods, and silent streams.”
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