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.
A beloved local tradition designed specifically for seniors continues into its 26th year when River Action, on September 3 and 4, hosts two days worth of self-guided Senior Citizen Golf Cart Tours, with his year’s event including a tour of the Arsenal Island taking place in the early evening, allowing for a normally unseen look at the Mississippi River and the historic island.
Featuring more than 24 large-scale, immersive kaleidoscopes created by world-renowned artist and Davenport native Tom Chouteau, the traveling exhibition Kaleidoscope Odyssey will be housed at Davenport's Putnam Museum & Science Center through September 7, this fascinating walk-through event designed to celebrate the intersection of visual art, science, and optics.
Over the past 250 years, German immigrants and their descendants, particularly in the Midwest, have helped develop, challenge, and improve the United States. The German American Heritage Center will consequently celebrate their history and accomplishments in Shaped by Immigrants: Celebrating 250 Years of the United States, on display in the Davenport venue through November 1.
Inspired by her upbringing at the turn of the 20th century and considered “Iowa’s first feminist writer,” Ruth Suckow was largely forgotten until researchers rediscovered her story in the 1980s. Consequently, the Ruth Suckow Memorial Association, with the support of Humanities Iowa, has developed a traveling exhibition celebrating the life and work of this Iowa novelist and short-story writer who lived from 1892 to 1960, the exhibit Everyday Lives, Extraordinary Voices: Ruth Suckow's Iowa on display at Davenport's German American Heritage Center from August 22 through November 15.
After Michael J Madigan’s 36 years as Illinois House Speaker, a ten-year term limit on current and future speakers doesn’t seem like a lot of time in the big chair. Except it is.
Yet another sexual harassment allegation has been made against an Illinois House Democrat. But this time, the House speaker’s operation is fully supporting its incumbent.
Illinois House Speaker Emanuel “Chris” Welch sat down for interviews with selected reporters last week. He told most of them that his office had conducted an “informal investigation” into sexual harassment allegations against former Representative Harry Benton, D-Plainfield, in 2023.
Senator Rand Paul recently revealed an interesting, albeit jarring, fact about Congressional oversight of the intelligence community in D.C. Senator Paul explained that only eight members of Congress, four from the House Permanent Select Intelligence Committee (HPSIC) and four from the Senate Select Intelligence Committee (SSIC), are privy to the activities of the CIA and the FBI.
House Speaker Emanuel “Chris” Welch promised the Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) last week that he will “lead” the effort to send more state money to Chicago Public Schools during the upcoming fall veto session.
Lauded by the New York Times as a "big bearhug of a musical" in which "even the most stalwart cynics may have trouble staying dry-eyed," the Tony Award-winning Come from Away enjoys an August 28 through September 12 run at Moline's Black Box Theatre. This deeply moving entertainment is being presented in honor of the 25th anniversary of 9/11, and was hailed by Broadway World as "inspiring, funny, and kick-ass beautiful.”
Self-referential meta-theatre ploys wage stealth attacks on the audience like mosquitoes. By the time you notice the tiny, piercing strike, it’s gone.
There are some scripts that can be like pulling teeth when not done right. Thankfully, no orthodontist is needed for director Tristan Tapscott's powerful production of Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman.
I can only imagine how honored Andy Bro would be to see his name attached to annual presentations of world premieres – shows boasting the exceptional talent, on- and off-stage, continually lured to his theatre in the woods. That being said, and having nothing but admiration and gratitude for Timber Lake's series, I think The Mermaids may have broken my brain.
Nostalgia has a funny way of raising the stakes. A mediocre presentation wouldn’t just be disappointing; it would feel like someone had replaced my ruby slippers with muddy boots and then trounced all over my childhood memories. Thankfully, director Tony Parise’s production bursts to life with color, imagination, and obvious affection for the material.
Touring in support of their acclaimed July 31 release Mirrors, Shapes, Objects, the multi-instrumentalist trio of veteran genre benders David McDonnell, Christopher Kalis, and Dylan Ryan bring their outfit Michael Columbia to Rock Island's Rozz-Tox on August 28, the musicians hailed for drifting effortlessly between the Soft Machine-style soprano saxophone leads, interlocking riffs of Discipline-era King Crimson, and psychedelic-hypno-funk rhythms of Can.
On August 28, patrons of the Coralville Center for the Performing Arts are invited to join award-winning Palestinian American composer and buzuq/oud player Wanees Zarour and his ensemble for the Middle Eastern Jazz Fundraiser, a special performance in support of Hope Foundation’s Gaza humanitarian relief efforts.
![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.
After Charlie Baty retired from touring in 2008, longtime frontman Rick Estrin brought in guitar virtuoso Kid Andersen and formed Rick Estrin & the Nightcats, an ensemble built around the bandleader's unmistakable harmonica work, vocals, and songwriting, and one performing a special Mississippi Valley Blues Society at Davenport's Gypsy Highway Bar & Grill on August 30.
Even if nothing entirely thrilled me, as least nothing this past weekend outright sucked – making this the perfect time for another quintet of 300-word reviews,
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, August 27: Duscussion of Insidious: Out of the Further, Tony, The Magic Faraway Tree, Mutiny, and Spa Weekend, and previews of (deep breath) Coyote vs. Acme, The Dog Stars, Finding Emily, It Ends, Teenage Sex & Death at Camp Miasma, Idiots, Legend of the White Dragon, Colony, and Buddy, the latter of which Mike was set to skip until Dave made it sound unmissable.
Until viewing The End of Oak Street, I had no idea how much my soul needed the sight of a feral Anne Hathaway protecting her kids with a shotgun, and a block-long eel slithering through a two-story home, and a Tyrannosaurus rex slurping from an above-ground pool like an enormous golden retriever at its proportional water bowl.
With Screen Anarchy declaring that his latest film “reinvents the classic horror anthology as a celebration of the landscapes and mythologies of his native Midwest,” writer/director Tim Connery's The Driftless enjoys a special September 1 screening at Davenport venue The Last Picture House, this quartet of terrifying tales the winner of the “Audience Favorite” award at the 2025 Nightmare in the Ozarks Festival and “Debut Feature” prize at the 2025 GrimmFest.
Now playing at area theaters.
Exploring how the artist used her body to engage with the landscape and create powerful works of art, the fascinating exhibition Ana Mendieta: Traces will be on view in the Figge Art Museum's Gallery 206 from August 29 through February 28, the displayed works generously lent to the Davenport venue by the University of Iowa Stanley Museum of Art.
An eagerly awaited tradition featuring dozens of recent and debuting works in a variety of artistic mediums, the 44th edition of the Rock Island Art Guild Fine Arts Exhibition will be on display at the Figge Art Museum from September 5 through January 10, with the Davenport venue housing paintings, sculptures, installations, and more by artists living within a 200-mile radius of the Quad Cities.
Bringing together contemporary artists responding to the themes and aesthetics explored in the Davenport venue's concurrent exhibition The Golden Age: Featuring Northern European Works from the National Gallery of Art, the Figge Art Museum's A Golden Age for Whom? will be on display through September 20, the two exhibitions' adjoining galleries allowing visitors to move directly between historic works and contemporary responses.
Visitors of the Bisignano Art Gallery are invited to experience the University of Dubuque in fresh and unexpected ways through the creative vision of the Plein Air Painters of Dubuque, the exhibition UD Expressions: Plein Air Painters of Dubuque on view through September 25.
Purchased in honor of the Figge Art Museum's late museum trustee, board president, and museum supporter Tom Gildehaus, the visitor favorite Corn Zone returns to the Davenport venue through September 27, its “corn field” installation of oversize blown-glass ears carefully suspended from the museum's ceiling with rope, and designed to explore the fragility of glass, the story of corn, and contemporary issues in farming.
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?)
Get the printed Reader edition mailed to you (or anyone you want) first-class for 12 months for $48.
$24 goes to postage and handling, $24 goes to keeping the doors open!
![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)
