A surreal thriller and pitch-black comedy that will enjoy four performances in the days before Halloween, the student-produced The Pitchfork Disney will run October 27 through 30 in Augustana College's Honkamp Myhre Black Box Theatre, author Philip Ridley's work lauded by London Theatre as a play “for those who completely and wholly enjoy confrontational and edgy theatre. If you’re looking for a chilling play that will haunt you for the next 24 hours in the best possible way, then you’d better pick up some tickets."

In the Figge Art Museum's current Film at the Figge series, the Davenport venue is screening international, award-winning works that deal with death, loss, and grief in unexpected ways, and the affecting and arresting lineup continues on October 27 with Foxtrot, the internationally co-produced 2017 drama that received the Grand Jury Prize Silver Lion at the74th Venice International Film Festival.

A gifted blues, funk, and soul saxophonist/singer/songwriter who has won two Blues Music Awards from seven nominations, Vanessa Collier plays Rock Island's Hauberg Civic Center Mansion in an October 26 concert co-presented by the Mississippi Valley Blues Society, her most recent album Heart on the Line a work in which, according to Rock and Blues Muse, the artist "stamps her own mark with bright and breezy production and, of course, a healthy dose of sax."

With its unforgettable songs including "Lucy in the Sky with the Diamonds," "With a Little Help from My Friends," "When I'm Sixty-Four," and the iconic title tune, the Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band will be celebrated in an October 28 concert event at Moline's Spotlight Theatre, as nearly a dozen gifted local musicians perform the classic LP cover to cover in Act I, and treat guests to other, additionally beloved Beatles hits in Act II.

Lauded by Roots World as a group dedicated to “vaunting empowerment and liberation on their own terms,” the Latin alternative band LADAMA will, from October 24 through 27, deliver five public performances as Quad City Arts Visiting Artists, their music fusing sounds from South America and the Caribbean with soul, R&B, and pop.

Touring in support of his acclaimed 2022 album Strange Time to Be Alive – a work in which, according to No Depression, its singer/songwriter "delivers each phrase with a mischievous glint in his eye" – country and alternative rock musician Early James headlines an October 30 concert at Davenport's Raccoon Motel, with Tinnitist adding that the artist's sophomore release "serves up more scintillating sounds from someplace midway between the cabaret, the juke joint, and the junkshop."

Held in conjunction with the venue's exhibition Witness to the Holocaust: The Mattes Family Letters, Davenport's German American Heritage Center will, on October 28, host the in-person concert program Selections from Jewish Composers: Music from the Holocaust, an intimate recital that finds two members of the Mattes family – Daniel and Debbi – performing a selection of music from the Holocaust on cello and piano.

A lauded contemporary R&B, soul, and pop musician also nominated for a Grammy Award for his work on Beyoncé's instantly iconic album Lemonade, singer/songwriter Kevin Garrett headlines an October 28 concert at Davenport's Raccoon Motel, the artist's debut recording Hoax leading Atwood magazine to rave, "Garrett's voice remains instantly captivating, perfectly complementing the album's fascinatingly gripping production, to effortlessly engross the listener into the sentiment of his beautifully-penned tracks."

Held in conjunction with the German American Heritage Center's current exhibition The White Rose: The Student Resistance Against Hitler, Munich 1942-1943, noted scholar and speaker Dr. Jud Newborn will deliver the October 21 presentation Speaking Truth to Power: The White Rose, recounting how Sophie Scholl and her brother Hans – formerly fanatical Hitler Youth leaders – transformed to become icons of civil courage and the greatest heroes of the German anti-Nazi resistance.

An homage to country-music variety shows such as Grand Ole Opry presented with an extraterrestrial-psychedelic twist, Cosmic Country Showcase enjoys a headlining set at Davenport's Raccoon Motel on October 26, the group's "interstellar revue" sure to provide, as stated in Time Out Chicago, "twangy tunes delivered with campy, psychedelic flair."

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