Authors of fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and more will share their talents and help strengthen the talents of others during the Midwest Writing Center's 2025 David R. Collins Writers Conference at Augustana College's Sorensen Hall, a June 26 through 28 celebration of the written word boasting workshops, readings, book pitches, and more, with special events planned at several additional Quad Cities locales.
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With the author visiting the Davenport venue to discuss his new book Bridges as Structural Art that features the the Quad Cities' I-74 Bridge, Miguel Rosales takes part in a June 26 author talk at the Figge Art Museum, his conversation followed by a Q&A session with the audience and a book signing.
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Delivering a weekend of family fun that blends history with excitement, the city of LeClaire and its Buffalo Bill Museum are proud to treat guests to the outdoor delights of The Buffalo Bill Wild West Show, the June 28 and 29 celebration at LeClaire's Cody Elementary School boasting horse-riding events, children's activities, live music, food vendors, and much more.
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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-plus of the annual Channel Cat Talks and Riverine Walks: weekly programs that, through June 28, will address such topics as Brazil's Amazon River, invasive species, area raptors, and the home of the Quad City River Bandits.
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A fascinating exploration of both a well-known German-American blacksmith and a revolutionary addition to the transportation industry, Immigrant Innovators: The Fruehauf Trailer Company will be on display at Davenport's German American Heritage Center through June 29, the exhibit offering insight into the company’s origins, its development over the decades, and its ultimate downfall after the Fruehauf family’s involvement.
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I asked Illinois House Speaker Chris Welch last week about the failure to pass an omnibus energy bill (the Clean and Reliable Grid Affordability Act) during the just-ended spring legislative session.
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As I write this, multiple news outlets have reported that the Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency is preparing to deploy its Special Response Teams to five major U.S. cities, including Chicago, in the very near future. Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson’s chief of staff Cristina Pacione-Zayas told reporters last week: “There will be tactical teams, mini-tanks, other tools they use in which they plan to do raids, as we saw in Los Angeles.”
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I reached out last week to several members of the “19” – the Democratic House members who refused to vote to re-elect House Speaker Michael Madigan in 2021, thereby forcing him into retirement. I asked for their reaction to Madigan’s 90-month federal prison sentence handed down a few days earlier. Because it was a holiday (Father’s Day), I didn’t expect to hear much back.
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The watchers are no longer being watched by the people. At least in Scott County, Iowa, that is.
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Inexplicably, for decades, incurious American voters refuse to remove el
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There are three main villains from childhood fiction that still occasionally haunt my nightmares – my terror trifecta, if you will: the Child Catcher from Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, Barnaby from Babes in Toyland, and Miss Viola Swamp from Miss Nelson Is Missing! So naturally, I was both excited and terrified when I took my seat at the Playcrafters Barn Theatre.
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If it’s got over-ze-top German accents, banging rock music, and more questionable wigs than you can shake a Spirit Halloween store at, it must be Rock of Ages, now playing at the Timber Lake Playhouse. Directed with aplomb by James Beaudry, Timber Lake’s latest takes us back to a yester-decade when rock music was the culture and not something confined to specific frequencies of FM radio.
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T Green's and Calvin Vo's production hooked me from the start – the performers are lively, fully present, and engaged in their scenes, and usually moved and spoke naturally, with excellent projection and diction.
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A beloved biblical musical boasting seven Tony Award nominations and a chart-topping U.K. single in “Any Dream Will Do,” the Broadway smash Joseph & the Amazing Technical Dreamcoat enjoys a June 26 through July 6 run at the Clinton Area Showboat Theatre, this theatrical classic the first-ever publicly staged work by the legendary stage team of Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice.
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One of the most adored hits in the Disney/Pixar canon will be brought to delightful stage life at the Coralville Center for the Performing Arts from June 27 through 29 when the student talents of the Young Footliters present Finding Nemo Jr., a 60-minute adaptation of the Oscar-winning animated comedy boasting new music by the songwriting team of Kristen Anderson-Lopez and double EGOT winner Robert Lopez.
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With Distorted Sound magazine hailing the band as rockers who deliver "a flurry of technical flair that'll make the hairs on the back of your neck stand up," the Denver-based deathcore artists Crown Magnetar headline a June 24 concert at Davenport's Raccoon Motel, New Noise Magazine adding that when the band performs, "room for breathing is hard to come by."
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Touring in support of their latest forthcoming recording Gone for Good scheduled for release on July 18, the Midwestern musicians of The Last Revel headline a June 26 concert event at Davenport's Raccoon Motel, the ensemble lauded by Rift magazine as "a force to be reckoned with" for their "soaring vocal performance and powerfully stirring lyrics.”
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Delivering what The Daily Vault hailed as "old-school, full-bodied soul music with strong funk and gospel overtones," the touring artists of St. Paul & the Broken Bones headline a June 26 concert event at Maquoketa's Codfish Hollow Barn, treating audiences to an evening with the band that, according to Americana Highways, is "simply sensational, and on any given night one of the best in the business."
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Performing in Bettendorf as part of the venue's Summer Concert Series, the nationally known, Quad Cities-based power-pop artists of Einstein's Sister play The Tangled Wood on June 27, the outfit's previous singles “Begin Again / Standing Still" mastered by Abbey Road Studios' Miles Showell, who also mastered and cut vinyl for Paul McCartney, The Rolling Stones, Bob Marley, Queen, The Police, and The Beatles.
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Lauded by Album of the Year for his "vivid imagination and a strong sense of surrealism," Emperor X, the indie-rock project of Chad Matheny, headlines a June 27 concert at Davenport's Raccoon Motel, his talents inspiring Echoes & Dust to label him "one of the most subversive American songwriters" who "is f---ing on fire now."
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No one can singlehandedly revive the fading genre of the swoony big-screen romance. Yet with only two features under her belt to date, Celine Song is certainly giving it a good shot.
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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, June 19: Discussion of How to Train Your Dragon, Materialists, and The Life of Chuck; a review scoop on the debuting Elio; and previews of 28 Years Later and Bride Hard, the latter an action comedy set at a wedding reception. You know someone's gonna wind up dead in the punch bowl.
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Although the movie isn't very funny until it begins hitting us with its really creative gory deaths, there was a moment not long into director Len Wiseman's Ballerina – a continuation being helpfully marketed as From the World of John Wick: Ballerina – that made me and others among our Thursday-afternoon crowd laugh out loud.
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Originally presented by Francis Ford Coppola and hailed by the Los Angeles Times as "a remarkable film event," director Godfrey Reggio's Koyaanisqatsi enjoys a special June 25 screening as part of Rozz-Tox's community series Filmosofia, this evening in Rock Island also boasting a reading discussion on the movie's philosophical themes hosted by Augustana College's Dr. Deke Gould.
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Now playing at area theaters.
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Highlighting the importance of sustainability in the arts and encouraging their audience to see the beauty of Earth’s resources and ecosystem, a trio of Illinois and Iowa talents enjoy a collective exhibition at the Quad City Arts International Airport Gallery through June 30, Olson, Stampfli, & Sunderman showcasing a beautiful assemblage of quilted art by Lindsay Olson and Jessie Stampfli and sculpture by Robert Sunderman.
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Located on the north bank of the Mississippi River in Davenport, boasting an encyclopedic collection, and serving as the major art museum for the eastern Iowa and western Illinois region, the Figge Art Museum celebrates the 20th anniversary of its opening on August 6. And from July 1 through August 31, this landmark cultural center will be celebrated in the venue's Model Museum, an exhibition saluting what was among British architect David Chipperfield's first architectural commissions in the United States.
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Bringing together the compelling works of mother and daughter artists Sandra Louise Dyas and Jamie Elizabeth Hudrlik, the arresting exhibition Double Vision will be on display at Dubuque's Voices Studios through July 26, this showcase of talent a powerful visual dialogue that spans generations, mediums, and personal histories.
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A celebration of work completed by graduating seniors in the Department of Digital Art and Design, the DART '25 Senior Thesis Show will be on display at the University of Dubuque's Bisignano Art Gallery through August 1, the exhibit boasting a variety of pieces in illustration, animation, digital painting, motion graphics, and digital artwork, and displaying the wide range of skills students cultivated during their time at UD.
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Davenport's Figge Art Museum is delivering some extra-special kick with its colorful and arresting exhibit on display through August 24, as the footwear-themed exhibit Future Now: Virtual Sneakers to Cutting-Edge Kicks enjoys a stay in the venue's fourth-floor gallery, the exhibition co-organized by the American Federation of Arts and the Bata Shoe Museum, and curated by he latter's director and senior curator Elizabeth Semmelhack.
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