In the latest exhibition at Davenport's German American Heritage Center, guests are invited to explore how German immigrant traditions transformed local musical life through Play On! German Immigrants & the Quad Cities' Musical Legacy, this showcase of ingenuity celebrating the enduring organizations, venues, and rich riverfront behind area-wide music culture.
Returning to the area for its incredible 106th year, an eagerly awaited six-day festival boasting games, competitions, vendors, and concert sets by more than two dozen national and local acts returns with the 2026 Mississippi Valley Fair, its August 4 through 9 engagement at Davenport's Mississippi Valley Fairgrounds boasting, as always, grandstand performances by chart-toppers, multi-platinum sellers, and multiple-award winners.
Delivering a blend of local history, environmental issues, education, entertainment, and fresh air, Davenport's River Action concludes its 2026 series of outdoor presentations in the annual Channel Cat Talks and Riverine Walks – weekly "Explore the River Series" programs that, from August 4 through 29, will address such topics as the Mississippi River landscape, the Kreiter Tree Farm, local barrio communities, and the Quad Cities' 3,500 acre wetland ecosystem.
Boasting thrilling auctions, a bustling swap meet, and an atmosphere steeped in Americana charm, the Rust Belt Americana Antique Swap & Auction takes place at East Moline's Bend XPO from August 6 through 8, the event hosted hy Rob Wolfe of American Pickers fame, and promising rare items and unforgettable moments on the beautiful bank of the Mississippi River.
The latest event in the German American Heritage Center's popular “Kaffee und Kuchen” series, Cornbelt Camouflage Experts: The Untold Role of Iowans in Modern Camouflage will be presented on August 9, Dr. Roy Behrens delivering a richly illustrated slide talk about the little-known involvement in modern camouflage by artists, architects, stage designers, and scientists, a surprising number of whom were originally from Iowa.
By now, you’ve probably read at least something about the scandals surrounding former state Representative Harry Benton, D-Plainfield. In a nutshell, a young female district office staffer alleged Representative Benton sexually harassed her in 2023.
On July 4, 1776, the Declaration of Independence was unanimously adopted by the second Continental Congress of the 13 united states, and soon after sent to King George III to serve as notice of the 13 former colonies' separation from Great Britain, including future jurisdiction and all subsequent authorities of the Crown.
The Illinois Republican Party filed its quarterly campaign finance report on the July 15 deadline. The party reported having just $223,000 in the bank. The next day, the party sent a letter to the Illinois State Board of Elections saying they were “reconciling” their records after a leadership change, and then noted that their actual end balance was $101,000 higher than it had reported the day before. But that bit of found money was basically the end of the “good news” for the GOP last week.
Chemical Trespassing on Iowa's State Tree Cannot Be Punished
Tony Singh's 20-Year Quest to Address Pesticide Damage in His Oak Savanna
In 1996, Tony Singh began rewilding a plot of land in LeClaire, hoping to restore its oak savanna, native prairie, woodlands, and wetlands. Fewer than five years later, he noticed the leaves on his oak trees were in tatters.
In our enlightened age, the public seems tirelessly bombarded with warnings of existential threat from infectious disease. Another distant outbreak is spreading, this time it could be Disease X – “…and there is no vaccine!” How, one might ask, is our species still extant?
Director Michael Callahan is credited as writer, but as he explained before Saturday’s opening performance, the script evolved with a workshop-style model, with the whole cast participating in the writing. That’s likely why this production is one of the funniest season-enders I’ve seen.
Featuring lyrics by Nell Benjamin, a book by Tina Fey, and music by Jeff Richmond (Fey’s husband), and boasting the exemplary direction (plus choreography and costume design) by Ashley Becher, Mean Girls is sure to put a smile on your face and give you a reason to beat the heat.
Make no mistake: Bonnie & Clyde is not a feel-good musical.
Having first seen the musical in New York with the original Broadway cast, I came in with extremely high expectations. Director/choreographer Chaz Wolcott’s production more than rose to the challenge and made for a truly fantastic night at the theatre.
Praised by Metro as "hilariously heartfelt" and by the New York Times as "a fast-paced romp" that "exudes a jovial, winking fondness for all things Harry," author Matt Cox's stage comedy Puffs enjoys an August 6 through 15 run at Moline's Black Box Theatre, this riotous and touching tale about the hangers-on of a certain boy wizard a show that, according to Nerdist, "never goes more than a minute without a laugh."
![Rodney Shaw, River Shaw, Matt Friesz, and Joe Friesz of Burnt McMelba Toast [Photo by Laura Heath]](https://www.rcreader.com/sites/default/files/styles/medium_2__600x325_/public/field/image/2026-07/burnttodd1.jpg?itok=B_hdGxD3)
Rod had invited us to hang out with his co-founder Matt Friesz and each of their sons who had joined the [Burnt McMelba] Toast band this year to hear them rehearse for two gigs in August. He wanted us to learn more about how Toast was not having a reunion. The band was having a revival with second-generation blood and new variations on past themes.
Tucked away in a string of houses between the highway and the river somewhere north of the Quad Cities is an old river cabin, marvelously redone and modernized into a rock 'n' roll minimalist dream. There's no reason to believe that Burnt McMelba Toast are practicing here until I finally step out of the car, a few wrong turns finally pointing me to the rumble of a bass amp in the riverside seclusion.
Performing blues-rock that, according to Blues Blast Magazine, delivers a sound "loaded with explosive, steady-driving fretwork" and "a heavy beat and a voice to match," genre great Hughes Taylor performs an August 2 concert sponsored by the Mississippi Valley Blues Society, his Pour Bros. Craft Taproom set treating fans to what Creative Loafing called "a fiery brand of blues-rock whose power trio lineage stretches back to Stevie Ray Vaughan, Cream and Jimi Hendrix."
On August 2 a lauded singer/songwriter and gifted pianist/composer will combine their talents at the Orpheum Theatre when Pippi Ardennia and Daniel Leahy perform in a special fundraising concert for the Galesburg venue, their Pippi & Daniel Music jazz project delivering electrifying, emotionally-charged performances that fuse jazz, soul blues, gospel, and R&B into one unforgettable sound.
Performing a fusion of Venezuelan and Appalachian folk music on harp, banjo, cuatro, fiddle, maracas, guitar, upright bass, and whatever else they decide to throw in the van, the unlikely yet wildly successful duo Larry & Joe headlines an August 3 concert at Davenport's Raccoon Motel, their concert boasting a distinct blend of musical inheritances and traditions as well as storytelling about the ways that music and social movements coalesce.
It's not that the characters can't talk. They just don't, or do without our being able to hear them, and that makes many of the goings-on here silly to the point of absurdity.
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, July 30: Discussion of Motor City, Hadestown: The Musical, and Her Private Hell, and a preview of Spider-Man: Brand New Day. Between that title and The Odyssey, newlyweds Zendaya and Tom Holland will be on 13 of the Davenport cineplex's 18 screens this weekend. Haters are advised to stay home.
Christopher Nolan appears seriously invested in our enjoyment, and there are many, many sequences in this grandly scaled adventure as thrilling, juicy, and ticklish as any that 2026 has thus-far produced. Those demanding fidelity to Homer are likely gonna hate it.
Watching romantic relationships crack and crumble can be enormous, if nerve-racking, fun – just so long as those breakdowns are viewed from the perspective of an auditorium, and not a mirror.
Telling the story of Raven, an important trickster figure in Tlingit culture who transformed the world by bringing light to people via the stars, moon, and sun, Preston Singletary: Raven and the Box of Daylight will be viewable at Davenport's Figge Art Museum through August 2, with the tale of Raven releasing or "stealing" the daylight one of the most iconic stories of the Tlingit people of Southeast Alaska.
On August 6, Figge Art Museum Co-Senior Curator Vanessa Sage will lead a special tour celebrating the creativity, strength, and influence of women in art during the Davenport venue's Music & Makers Night event Celebrating All Wonder Women, allowing guests to explore rhe works and stories that highlight remarkable women artists and inspiring subjects throughout the galleries.
With the latest Quad City Arts Center exhibition taking on a very specific theme, and a seasonally appropriate one at that, a pair of Midwestern artists currently have beautiful works displayed in Bicycle Worlds, the Rock Island venue treating patrons, through August 7, to bike photography by Ken Urban and bike illustrations by Jeff C. Williams.
Taking as its inspiration a beloved television series starring Lynda Carter, visual artist Dara Birnbaum's Technology/Transformation: Wonder Woman will be on view in Davenport's Figge Art Museum through August 16, the video one of the best-known creations from the talent who borrowed imagery and sound to compose powerful, politically charged video works.
A fascinating collaborative art installation that invites viewers to return to a place before definition, Amniotic Ambiguity: Comparative Embryology to Queering a Space will be on display in Augustana College's Wallenberg Hall through August 20, artists Maggie Adams and Aykeem Spivey demonstrating how, in this period of incubation, black-or-white thinking is disrupted by a bold labor of love.
You'll get both the current official narrative challenge and What's Happenin' in the Quad Cities.
(Did you know we publish a new Real Astrology and RCR Crossword every week?)
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![Rodney Shaw, River Shaw, Matt Friesz, and Joe Friesz of Burnt McMelba Toast [Photo by Laura Heath]](https://www.rcreader.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/field/image/2026-07/burnttodd1.jpg?itok=BnlscVzy)
