Lauded by Midwest Writing Center founder and executive director Ryan Collins as "vivid in both its danger and humor," author and St. Ambrose University professor Emily Kingery's new chapbook Invasives will enjoy a reading and release party at Rock Island venue Rozz-Tox, the March 31 event also featuring readings by Kingery's fellow poets Melissa Estes, Lexi Birks, and Lola Nakashima Brooke.
A Midwestern comedian, New York Times bestselling author, Emmy-winning journalist, and musician whose content for his various social platforms has amassed more than five million followers, Charlie Berens brings his "Midwest Survival Guide Tour" to the University of Dubuque's Heritage Center on March 31, the Wisconsin native famed for his appearances on Comedy Central, Funny or Die, and MTV News.
A delightful evening of laughter, music, and support is sure to be delivered in the April 1 fundraiser hosted by Gilda's Club of the Quad Cities, with Davenport's Rhythm City Casino Resort Event Center housing bestselling author and Impractical Jokers comedian James "Murr" Murray and the gifted musicians of the Quad Cities' Soul Storm in the second-annual Live from QC … It's Saturday Nite!
Offering a presentation in the Archway Reading and Lecture Series, award-winning poets and fellowship recipients Chessy Normile and Steven Espada Dawson will speak at the University of Dubuque on April 3, the thoughtful and arresting punlic event sponsored by UD’s Department of English and UD’s Office of Academic Affairs.
A gifted and familiar film presence famed for roles in such seminal cinematic works as Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy, Heat, Quentin Tarantino's Grindhouse, and the From Dusk Til Dawn series, the star of Machete takes part in the virtual presentation Danny Trejo Talks Tacos, Hollywood, & Redemption, an April 4 event offered by Illinois Libraries Present and co-hosted by the Rock Island and Moline Public Libraries.
Could the 2022 massacre during Highland Park’s July 4th parade have been prevented with a small change to state law?
The “Twitter Files” are explosive revelations of political censorship by a social-media giant colluding with the federal government and certain activist groups.
ComEd has long been a source of political patronage. The company’s Deferred Prosecution Agreement with federal prosecutors even references how former House Speaker Michael Madigan’s “old-fashioned patronage system” obtained ComEd meter-reader jobs for its precinct workers.
Governor JB Pritzker declared last week when announcing the formation of the Behavioral Health Workforce Education Center that the state was building “the best behavioral health system in the nation.” It was quite a bold thing to say. So, my associate Isabel Miller and I asked a couple of follow-up questions: How long will this take and how much will it cost?
Described by the New York Times as "effervescent and entertaining," and by Online America as an all-ages show that delivered "fresh bursts of energy," Rock Island's Circa '21 Dinner Playhouse opens its 2023 season of high-spirited family musicals with Junie B.'s Essential Survival Guide to School, an adaptation of Barbara Park's beloved children's-book series about the riotous and winning young Junie B. Jones.
I’ll be honest: The crazy, early-spring, heavy snowstorm that knocked out power to my house earlier in my Saturday soured my mood, and I was not really looking forward to going out to see playwright Bradley Robert Jensen's Anywhere But Here. This, though, made it all the better that this workshop production turned out to be such a gem – Jensen's slice-of-life piece is heartfelt and laugh-out-loud funny while still broaching some heady topics.
The beginning of spring will also be a season of love at Moline's Prospect Park Auditorium when Quad City Music Guild opens its 2023 lineup with the modern classic Rent, creator Jonathan Larson's unforgettable rock opera that earned four Tony Awards, the Pulitzer Prize, and the hearts of countless millions of stage fans the world over.
Lauded by Rolling Stone as “absolutely incredible” and Broadway World as “an eye-popping display of storytelling that's like nothing else you've ever seen,” the electrified talents of Lightwire Theater bring their touring smash The Adventures of Tortoise & Hare: The Next Gen to the University of Dubuque's Heritage Center on April 1, an unforgettable event by the America's Got Talent competitors whom judge Sharon Osbourne declared “spectacular in every sense of the word.”
Lauded by the San Francisco Chronicle as “audacious,” “ambitious,” and “welcoming, playful, and imaginative,” the thrillingly experimental, all-female dramatic comedy Fefu & Her Friends enjoys a rare area staging at Iowa City's Riverside Theatre from March 10 through April 2, with the works of its playwright Mariá Irene Fornés described by Vulture as “so glittering and various and powerful that it deserves cases of books.”
With New York magazine calling their most recent album a showcase of "deliciously dark music" and "a mix of frantic, furious riffs, dour vocals, and existential poetry” and Pitchfork deeming it their “most expansive statement yet,” the critically lauded rockers of Protomartyr play Davenport's Raccoon Motel on March 30 in support of their latest release Ultimate Success Today, a recording that inspired NPR to rave of the musicians, “I don't think they needed to level up, but boy, did they.”
With the Quad City Symphony Orchestra's conclusions to its 2022-23 Masterworks season on April 1 and 2, the gifted classical musicians will not only celebrate one of history's greatest composers in Mahler One, but will extend their tribute to Gustav with a tribute to Sergei, as the concert's repertoire will also boast a ravishing performance of a Prokofiev violin concerto boasting featured soloist and QCSO concertmaster Naha Greenholtz.
A band whose whiskey vocals, masterful harmonica, and keen original songs were perfected by decades of house parties and honky tonks, The Dig 3 plays the Moline Viking Club on April 1 in a concert co-presented by the Mississippi Valley Blues Society, the group composed of blues and roots masters Andrew Duncanson on guitar and vocals, Ronnie Shellist on harp, and multi-instrumentalist Gerry Hundt.
On April 2, the Vibrant Arena at the MARK will be filled with the thrilling sounds of corridos, bandas, and romanticos when the Moline amphitheater presents a night with the touring artists of Los Dos Carnales, the norteño musicians whose prolific output includes the release of three studio albums and three EPs in 2021 alone.
Best known for his tenure with the Southern hip-hop ensemble Rehab, country rapper Demun Jones headlines an April 2 solo concert at East Moline venue The Rust Belt, the artist's songs on his album Jones Country lauded by The Front Row Report as "loaded with country lyrics with some insane rap beats and rap skills that can stand with the best of them."
It's not just that director Chad Strahelski's action thriller is great – that it is, for my money, the first legitimately great movie of 2023. But the laughs that I heard (and contributed to) during my weekday-afternoon showing were frequent and joyous, and our Keanu Reeves-inspired “Whoa!!!”s were boisterous and deserved … and there were only about 20 of us there. I can only imagine, with envy, the seismic fun of sharing this knockout experience with 100-plus others.
Everything that's wrong with the super-sequel Shazam! Fury of the Gods is effectively baked into the title. Because if there's one thing that fans of the 2019 film (myself among them) don't want, or at least shouldn't want, it's fury – not when the original's appeal was so firmly grounded in the goofy, amiable, touching, and refreshingly inconsequential.
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, March 23: After a week off, discussion of Shazam! Fury of the Gods, Champions, 65, and the 95th Oscars.
As a rule, horror sequels aren't supposed to be good. Fifth sequels in any genre aren't supposed to be good. Sequels whose basic M.O. is “Let's do what we've always done … but in a different city!” aren't supposed to be good. And yet, almost preposterously, Scream VI proves to be very, very good – though if that praise seems suspect, I'd be willing to amend it to “very, very entertaining.”
Participating in a Figge Art Museum Artist Talk on March 30, Mexican/Latinx multidisciplinary artist Tlisza Jaurique will discuss her inherited indigenous upbringing and aesthetics in conjunction with Decolonial Intervention, the Davenport venue's current exhibit in which Jaurique has created her own artistic intervention surrounding the Spanish Vice Regal collection, reexamining the art in this space and providing a different viewpoint that allows for a shared authority of the collection.
Eugene Walker Baker was born in Davenport on June 15, 1925. He attended Davenport High School, where he starred in basketball and track for the Blue Devils. In his senior year, he was an all-state basketball player. First team.
With spring in the air, it's time again for the River Cities’ Reader's annual Spring Photo Contest!
For 2023, we've decided on three new categories for your submissions: “Prairie,” “Oaks,” and “Ethanol.”
Entrants are welcome to interpret the categories however they wish. Click photo or headline for full list of rules.
Held in conjunction with the Figge Art Museum's popular exhibit Sporting Fashion: Outdoor Girls 1800 to 1960, noted dress Historian Nicole Rudolph, on April 1, will engage in the first of a two-part overview on the seismic shifts that transformed women’s clothing between 1800 and 1960, with an emphasis on developments in women’s athletic wear.
The winner of 50 awards on both national and regional levels, Midwestern artist Cathie Crawford is, though April 6, displaying her latest collection of beautiful and arresting works at Black Hawk College's ArtSpace Gallery, with her Luminous Layers, Woodcuts a showcase for the talent who has exhibited in 29 states as well as Bulgaria, France, Poland, Saudi Arabia, and the United Kingdom.
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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