Paco Erhard is intimately familiar with misconceptions about Germans – they're stern, humorless, etc. Well, the 49-year-old comedian has long been on a mission to bust those assumptions up, and will make his Iowa debut in his standup show 5-Step Guide to Being German, taking place on Saturday, March 29 at 7:30 p.m. at Davenport’s Adler Theatre.
On display through April 6 at Davenport's German American Heritage Center, the sensitive and touching exhibit With You I Am Myself / Mit Dir bin ich ich finds Israeli artist and photographer Oranit Ben Zimra portraying 12 pairs of friends from Norderstedt, Germany, in words and pictures, the collection forming a beautiful mosaic of German-Israeli friendships.
An Augustana College graduate, former Moline teacher/coach, and Superintendent of Rock Island-Milan Public Schools takes part in a conversation about his recent memoir in From Dubuque to Selma & Beyond, an April 7 book talk with Dave Markward that finds the author, at the Rock Island Public Library Watts-Midtown Branch, sharing his personal journey of understanding racism in America.
A wildly popular presence on TikTok and Instagram, and the 2022 winner of the inaugural James Beard Award for Best Social Media Account. Alexis Nikole Nelson serves as the latest virtual guest in the Illinois Libraries Present series, her April 10 program The Act of Foraging, co-presented by the Rock Island and Silvis Public Libraries, designed to celebrate all the edible plants hiding in plain sight.
Sponsored in part by Arconic and developed by the Museum of Discovery in Little Rock, Arkansas, the Putnam Museum & Science Center's new traveling exhibition Mystery of the Mayan Medallion will, through June 1, take visiting explorers through a multitude of archaeological dig sites, prompting them to gather clues and learn what happened to a group of lost scientists and a prized jade medallion.
On February 11, 2025, more than 75 concerned citizens gathered in room 102 at the Iowa state capital for the House Environmental Protection Sub-Committee hearing regarding House File 191 proposed legislation from Iowa District 87 (Van Buren County) State Representative Jeff Shipley.
Two major proposals backed by Governor JB Pritzker did not advance out of legislative committees before last week’s passage deadline. Senator Suzy Glowiak Hilton confirmed that she won’t be advancing her legislation supported by the governor that would dissolve townships with populations below 5,000 (SB2217), and eventually abolish townships with populations below 50,000 and lower the petition threshold to five percent from ten percent to put a township abolition on the ballot.
I don't know anyone who isn't touched by the compassion and trust between human and animal that bonds us together for life, while simultaneously becoming thoroughly disgusted with government regulatory abuse that interferes with the best part of human-animal interaction, after learning the story of Peanut the squirrel.
Nature’s Treatment of Illinois (NTI) has done so well in Milan that it wants to fly the coop and a build a bigger nest in Rock Island. Local environmentalists are keeping an eagle eye on a $12-million-plus development plan next to Bally’s Quad Cities Casino & Hotel to ensure that wildlife and wetlands are protected.
Representative Marty Moylan (D-Des Plaines) recently told me he was “astonished” by some Chicago Transit Authority employee paychecks. Representative Moylan, the Chair of the House Transportation: Rail Systems, Roads, and Bridges Committee, is heading into the transit-funding discussions armed with an inch-and-a-half-thick binder filled with CTA salary data. The agency’s gross payroll for all employees in 2024 was close to a billion dollars.
A Tony Award-winning drama and the seventh play in author August Wilson's legendary 10-part series The Pittsburgh Cycle, Two Trains Running will enjoy a national-tour stop at Galesburg's Orpheum Theatre on March 26, this lauded production by The Acting Company and director Lili-Anne Brown treating audiences to the 1990 stage classic that was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for Drama.
For those those who "aaaarrrrrr" ready for some hilarious, musical fun on the high seas, the Circa '21 Dinner Playhouse will be staging the eagerly awaited return of the family comedy How I Became a Pirate from March 25 through April 19, this sublimely silly show adapted from the beloved children's book written by Melinda Long with illustrations by David Shannon.
The 19th-century author of some of history's creepiest stories will serve as the inspiration for mistaken-identity hilarity when Geneseo's Richmond Barn Theatre opens its 2025 season with The Tell-Tale Farce, playwright Don Zolidis' witty and wacky comedy slapstick that enjoys an area engagement April 3 through 13.
With its delightful assemblage of songs including “Fins,” “Volcano,” “Cheeseburger in Paradise,” and the iconic "Margaritaville," the Jimmy Buffett celebration Escape to Margaritaville enjoys an April 4 through 13 run at Moline's Prospect Park Auditorium, Quad City Music Guild's 2025 season-opener lauded by the Hollywood Reporter as "the theatrical equivalent of sipping on a frozen drink while lying on a beach chair in the blazing sun."
Lauded by American Theatre Magazine as "raw and hilarious," the wickedly funny revenge comedy Exit, Pursued by a Bear enjoys an April 10 through 13 run at Augustana College's Honkamp Myhre Black Box Theatre, its playwright Lauren Gunderson also famed for multiple shows that have recently played on Quad Cities stages, among them Silent Sky, The Revolutionists, and Natural Shocks.
With the 2024 release of If I Don't Make It, I Love U inspiring The Guardian to call its creators "the most vital band in Britain today," the London-based, experimental, post-punk, art-rock outfit Still House Plants brings their national tour to Rock Island's Rozz-Tox on March 26, The Guardian adding of last year's breakout hit, "We will be blessed indeed if we get a better album from these shores all year."
With TJPL News raving that the duo's vocals are "totally gorgeous, expressing different vocal ranges with catchy lyrics," the Montana-based indie-pop outfit Desperate Electric headlines a March 26 concert at Davenport's Raccoon Motel, the Billings Gazette stating that the bold bounce of the musician's music proves that "Desperate Electric aren't just a band. They’re a vibe."
Internationally acclaimed throat singers whose American credits include touring with Béla Fleck & the Flecktones to promote the Grammy-winning album Jingle All the Way that featured the Russian talents as guest artists, the musicians of Alash make an eagerly awaited return to Rock Island's Rozz-Tox on March 27, the trio noted for their subtle infusion of modern influences into traditional folk music.
Like the romantic sweep of a Rachmaninoff concerto, Marian Lee's passion for music is visionary, powerful, and awe-inspiring.
Lauded by WIRE as a tribute band that "has it all: the songs, the performances, the visuals, and the energy," the touring artists of In the Flesh: Echoes of Pink Floyd headline a March 29 concert at East Moline venue The Rust Belt, the seven-piece outfit delivering a mind-blowing laser show, costuming, and projections while performing from classics such as Dark Side of the Moon and The Wall.
For roughly two-thirds of its length, director David Yarovesky's largely stationary thriller Locked is like 127 Hours if the boulder were played by Anthony Hopkins.
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 20: Discussion of The Electric State, Black Bag, Novocaine, The Day the Earth Blew Up: A Looney Tunes Movie, Opus, and Omni Loop, and previews of Snow White, Locked, and The Alto Knights, the latter featuring Robert De Niro acting opposite a first-time co-star: Robert De Niro.
“You know which reviews of yours I really like?” asked a friend not long ago. “The short ones.” Taking that as a compliment for my more succinct pieces and not as the insult it almost certainly was, here are 300-word takes on the half-dozen movies I saw between Thursday and Sunday. They're presented in order of viewing, and preceded by five-word synopses that might, in effect, provide greater impetus to see or ignore said films than the subsequent wordage ever could.
An iconic title from Hong Kong's legendary writer/director Wong Kar-wai enjoys a special screening in the Figge Art Museum's springtime Free Film at the Figge series, with In the Mood for Love, on March 27, treating audiences to a work the New York Times called "breathtakingly gorgeous," and one that was included on Sight & Sound's esteemed list of the greatest motion pictures of all time.
Now playing at area theaters.
Nearly 200 works by gifted student artists will be on display at Rock Island's Quad City Arts Center from March 28 through May 1 in the expansive 48th High School Art Invitational, a glorious celebration of local talent featuring the Quad Cities’ most promising artists expressing themselves through paintings, drawings, sculpture, paper, recycled materials, and film.
With the gifted artist on hand to introduce her exhibition, artistic practice, and techniques, an exhibit celebration and artist talk for Louise Kames: I Don’t See Anything That’s Not Beautiful will take place at Davenport's Figge Art Museum on April 3. Focused on creating works that explore the beauty of natural decay, the line between life and death, and what remains after, Kames will reflect on both her career and her current Figge showcase, which boasts large woodcut prints and charcoal and pastel drawings of a dying willow tree from her yard in Dubuque,
Delivering intimate explorations of the human condition through drawing and printmaking, the exhibition Fresh Steele, by area talent Priscilla Steele, enjoys a showcase at Dubuque's Voices Studios April 4 through May 31, with the artist present for an opening celebration on April 4.
Offering a bold, provocative critique of societal structures through collaborative, resistance-driven prints, the exhibition Delusion of Choice, by the art collective Fatherless Print Posse, enjoys a showcase at Dubuque's Voices Studios April 4 through May 31, with the artists present for an opening celebration on April 4.
A fascinating and absorbing collection of abstract art is currently on view in the Black Hawk College ArtSpace Gallery, as gifted Midwestern artist Kent Broadbent showcases recent works in New & Improved, the fascinating pieces on display through April 4.
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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