An eagerly awaited autumnal tradition will get the blood pumping on September 21 and 22, as the weekend brings with it the Vibrant Arena at the MARK's Active Endeavors Health & Fitness Expo on Saturday followed by the 27th Quad Cities Marathon, presented by TBK Bank, on Sunday, the latter a Boston Marathon qualifier and the only such event in the country to incorporate six races, four cities, three bridges, two states, and one island.

Held in conjunction with the September 22 through 28 Banned Books Week – a celebration of our collective freedom to read – the Midwest Writing Center's and Rock Island Public Library's annual Banned Books Read-In will take place on September 24, with more than a dozen participants gathering at the library's Watts-Midtown Branch to read from frequently challenged works and unite in the fight against censorship.

With his debut album Oh Me, Oh My released in 2022, country and Americana singer/songwriter will perform new and familiar numbers and deliver life tales in Songs & Stories with Forrest McCurren, a special September 26 event introducing audiences to the nascent artist's talents at the Rock Island Public Library's Watts-Midtown Branch.

Hard as it is to believe, the iconic TV sitcom Friends debuted its first-ever episode three decades ago this month, and in celebration, the East Moline Public Library will host a Friends 30th-Anniversary Party on September 20, demonstrating that they'll be there for you with crafts, trivia, fan-favorite episodes, and more.

Currently boasting a 96-percent "freshness" rating on review aggregate Rotten Tomatoes and hailed by legendary film critic Roger Ebert as "one of the best films I have ever seen," director Josef von Sternberg's The Blue Angel serves as the fourth presentation in the German American Heritage Center's German Expressionist Film Series, its September 25 screening at Davenport venue The Last Picture House sure to demonstrate why The Guardian lauded the classic as "a masterpiece of erotic obsession."

On September 21, fans of Christopher Nolan, Christian Bale, and award-winning, critically acclaimed superhero blockbusters will be in big-screen Heaven when Davenport's Putnam Museum & Science Center hosts its Batman Trilogy Marathon, an event featuring back-to-back showings of 2005's Batman Begins, 2008's The Dark Knight, and 2012's The Dark Knight Rises.

Nominated for more than a dozen Grammy Awards and winner of three Country Music Association (CMA) Awards, singing/songwriting superstar and Grand Ole Opry member Dierks Bentley brings his “Gravel & Gold Tour” to Moline's Vibrant Arena at the MARK on September 20, his 2023 Gravel & Gold inspiring AllMusic to rave that "when combined with the occasional barn burner, such as the jocular bluegrass closer 'High Note,'" the album "delivers a recipe for a good time."

Led by lead guitarist and vocalist Steve Brown, the band's co-founder who has been with his outfit for more than 40 years, the glam-metal rockers of Trixter headline a September 21 concert event at East Moline venue The Rust Belt, the group's hits including "Give It to Me Good," "Surrender," and "One in a Million," the latter a gold-certified Billboard smash and popular staple of early-'90s MTV.

Returning to the Moline venue in support of their new album Kinetica, Alice Cooper's daughter Calico Cooper and longtime bassist Chuck Garric bring their heavy-metal ensemble Beastö Blancö to Rascals Live on September 21, performing from a repertoire that includes the band's 2019 album We Are, a work that Metal-Temple.com called “Mötley Crüe meets White Zombie meets the heavy-metal period of Alice Cooper back in the 2000s."

A lauded pop/punk/comedy ensemble that has been performing professionally for nearly 50 years will headline a special concert event at Davenport's Raccoon Motel on September 22, with The Dickies playing an afternoon set at 2 p.m.

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