02 Oct 2025

Quad Cities Haunt Actors Ready to Scare Up a Good, Creepy Time

By Jonathan Turner

Touring the haunted halls and dark crevices of Skellington Manor is scary enough, with its depraved permanent displays and figures. But add the colorful, creepy live performers during the haunted-house season of October 3 through November 2, and the fear factor is super-charged.

30 Sep 2025

Thirty Shows Later, and Still "Working": Muscatine’s New Era Dinner Theater Presents Its Latest Musical, October 10 through 12

By Jonathan Turner

Jenni Colbert, a 2002 Davenport Central alum, was born to play her part in the new October 10 through 12 production by Muscatine's New Era Dinner Theater.

28 Aug 2025

Access Meeting Inspiration: Classics and Premieres Are Part of the 2025-26 Quad City Symphony Orchestra Season

By Jonathan Turner

Two classic piano concertos, two world premieres by female composers, and the Quad Cities debut of a new saxophone concerto are among highlights of the Quad City Symphony Orchestra's (QCSO's) 111th season, which will formally begin with its first Masterworks program on October 4 and 5.

25 Aug 2025

"Secret Iowa" Offers Lots of Fun Spots to Visit, Including in the QC Area

By Jonathan Turner

Iowa gets unfairly maligned as “flyover country.” But the Hawkeye State also has been immortalized as “heaven” in the 1989 classic film Field of Dreams, which was shot in Dyersville. Megan Bannister is firmly in the latter camp, as the bubbly Chicago native turned willing Iowan has traversed our divine cornfields and assembled 84 quirky, fun places to stop in her 192-page paperback book Secret Iowa: A Guide to the Weird, Wonderful, & Obscure.

05 Aug 2025

Three New Races Added to the Mississippi's Largest All-Day Paddling Event: River Action’s Floatzilla, August 16

By Jonathan Turner

River Action’s fun Floatzilla event is roaring back for its 16th year, and it's bigger than ever.

31 Jul 2025

A Flawed Stage Mother Takes Over: Julie Funk Stars as “Momma” Rose in Quad City Music Guild’s “Gypsy," August 8 through 17

By Jonathan Turner

Julie Funk is both excited and terrified to take on one of the most iconic roles in musical theatre. The passionate 50-year-old Davenport mom is playing the monstrous Mama Rose in Quad City Music Guild's Gypsy, running August 8 through 17 at Moline's Prospect Park Auditorium (1584 34th Avenue).

31 Jul 2025

Art Is Work: Metro Arts Celebrates Creative Projects Across the Quad Cities

By Jonathan Turner

Run by Quad City Arts and open to youth ages 15 to 21, Metro Arts is a paid, five-week summer apprenticeship in which participants work side by side with professional artists on real, public-facing projects. From murals and mosaics to poetry, live performances, and digital storytelling, apprentices shape and improve the creative landscape of the Quad Cities while gaining invaluable professional experience.

03 Jul 2025

Instead of a Toothbrush, a Porcupine: ComedySportz Quad Cities to Host World Championship in Moline, July 9 through 12

By Jonathan Turner

For the first time in 10 years, ComedySportz (CSz) Quad Cities will host the world championship for the improvisational comedy group, and for the first time at Moline’s Spotlight Theatre (1800 Seventh Avenue, Moline IL).

03 Jul 2025

Music and Memories: Concert Organizer John Taylor Brings the World to Small Towns

By Jonathan Turner

John Taylor doesn’t have to go far to hear first-class live music. Since 2014, the friendly Iraq war veteran and computer programmer has hosted concerts at his home in tiny Cambridge, Illinois, 31 miles southeast of Moline.

10 Jun 2025

Risk and Reward for a Bettendorf Native: The Mike Conrad Trio, June 29 at the Redstone Room

By Jonathan Turner

Like many of us, Mike Conrad is just making it up as he goes along. Unlike most of us, however, the 37-year-old – a Bettendorf High School alum whose trio headlines a June 29 concert at Davenport's Redstone Room – has won international acclaim and several awards for his improvisational wizardry as a composer, arranger, pianist, and trombonist.

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