Opening the 2022-23 Live at Heritage Center Performing Arts Series with an eclectic showcase of their formidable talents, the sibling musicians of B2wins return to the University of Dubuque on September 1, with Walter and Wagner Caldas demonstrating their gifts on lead electric violin and ukulele, and joined by additional musicians playing piano and drum.

Evocative works by a pair of gifted central-Illinois artists will have their talents showcased at the Quad City Arts Center through October 7, with the Rock Island venue housing beautiful color-field paintings by John Nelson of Quincy, as well as arresting mixed-media portrait paintings in the Dictators & Dreamers exhibition by Jennifer Lynn Bates.

With the genre-spanning band hailed by Rolling Stone as “brutally honest and purposely vulnerable,” the indie-rock, -country, and Americana talents of Futurebirds headline an August 26 concert at Maquoketa's Codfish Hollow Barn, their most recent album Teamwork lauded by American Songwriter as “a culmination of nonstop roadwork and the band’s finest effort yet.”

Appearing locally in a special fundraiser co-hosted by the Mississippi Valley Blues Society, singer/guitarist Ivan Singh headlines an August 25 Summer Concert Series event in Rock Island's Schwiebert Riverfront Park, the 28-year-old Argentinian praised by Chicago's WGN radio as "one of the most-known blues guitar players in his country who has a unique can-box guitar and a particular way of playing it."

Performing blues, folk, country, and Americana music that, according to NPR, “evokes the old-timey spirit of a thousand crackling 78 RPM records” whose “energy makes them feel new and alive,” Midwestern singer/songwriter Pokey LaFarge headlines an August 25 concert at Galesburg's Orpheum Theatre, the artist's most recent album In the Blossom of Their Shade described by PopMatters as "vintage stuff that never sounds old as much as ripe and ready for cruising."

Performing from a repertoire boasting such iconic hits as “Raspberry Beret.” “1999,” “When Doves Cry,” “U Got the Look,” and the title song for the Oscar-winning Purple Rain, frontman DaVaughn Weber and the touring tribute artists of the Prince Project take the stage at Rock Island's Circa '21 Dinner Playhouse, their August 25 concert offering a thrilling “Kiss” in celebration of the legendary rocker.

A country-music singing/songwriting legend with 14 Grammy nominations to her name, Martina McBride brings her eagerly awaited national tour to Davenport's Rhythm City Casino Resort Event Center on August 25, the neo-traditionalist talent beloved for smash hits including "Independence Day," "Blessed," and "Concrete Angel."

Held in conjunction with the venue's current exhibition Anne Lindberg: think like the river with poet Ginny Threefoot, Davenport's Figge Art Museum with host a special Scholar Talk on August 25 with Dr. David Cunning – professor and chair of the philosophy department at the University of Iowa – as he explores themes from the exhibit in relation to the work of 17th-century notable Margaret Cavendish.

Taking place in two cities, two states, and nearly 36 venues combined, the popular summertime traveling festival Alternating Currents returns to Davenport and Rock Island from August 18 through 21, a Quad Cities celebration of music, film, comedy, and visual arts boasting panel discussions, Q&A events, children's happenings, and more than 100 collective movies (including 36 unreleased Stephen King adaptations), comedians, music acts, and interviews.

The literary gifts of more than a dozen area teens will be both celebrated and showcased in a special outdoor event on August 18, with the Rock Island venue Rozz-Tox hosting a release party for the Midwest Writing Center's 17th edition of literary journal THE ATLAS, an evening boasting performances of original work by 14 gifted and burgeoning talents.

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