With his album Stever Fever named one of its year's top-10 comedy albums by Comedy-Reviews.com, and his latest recording Alive on State a number-one smash on iTunes, standup comedian Steve Gillespie brings his touring act to Davenport's Raccoon Motel on May 29, the evening of laughter held in support of his new album Liminal Bliss and boasting sets by Donny Townsend and Maggie Driscal.

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.

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.

From May 29 through June 8, one of the most endearing and enduring of all dramatic comedies enjoys a run at Geneseo's Richmond Hill Barn Theatre with the venue's presentation of Steel Magnolias, playwright Robert Harling's charming, riotous, and moving tale of mothers, daughters, and best friends that inspired the 1989 movie classic and led Drama-Logue to call it "a skillfully crafted, lovingly evoked picture of eccentricity in the small-town South."

Conceived by the revered artistic team of Craig Lucas and Norman René, and boasting nearly two dozen songs by the composing legend that is Stephen Sondheim, the two-character musical Marry Me a Little makes its Quad Cities debut at the Playcrafters Barn Theatre, its May 23 through June 1 sure to demonstrate why The Guardian hailed the show as "a carousel of regrets and rapture."

Formed in 2015, based in central Iowa, and drawing influence from such legendary artists as Merle Haggard, Charlie Daniels, and Hank Williams Jr., the country ensemble Tyler Richton & the High Bank Boys enjoy a May 23 headlining engagement at Davenport's Capitol Theatre, the group boasting more than 50 years of combined experience and shared stages with the likes of Tracy Byrd, John Michael Montgomeru, and Craig Morgan.

With their most recent album Death by Rock and Roll lauded by Classic Rock as "brilliant" and by Kerrang! as "made by people who have suffered for their art and whose art will in turn soothe their suffering," lead vocalist Taylor Momsen and her outfit The Pretty Reckless headline a May 25 concert at East Moline venue The Rust Belt, the group winners of the Alternative Press Music Award for Best Hard Rock Band and the iHeart Radio Music Award for Rock Artist of the Year.

youbet, May 23

With Radio Free Brooklyn praising the artist's 2024 album Way to Be for music that's "as strange as it is familiar" and "as dark as it is playful," Nick Llobet's indie-rock outfit youbet headlines a May 23 concert at Davenport's Raccoon Motel, Femmusic Magazine adding that last year's release is "filled with playful, kinetic arrangements" and "a bridge into the entrancing world of youbet."

Touring in support of their latest album Chosen at Random, and lauded by Medium.com for their "energetic instrumentation and stunning vocal performances," the Colorado-based alt-rock duo of INTHEWHALE headline a May 24 concert at Davenport's Raccoon Motel, the Web site adding that the artists' latest recording "shows how passionate the band is with their music."

Delivering what Pitchfork called "militantly adventurous heavy metal" that runs the gamut "from stoner metal to psychedelic rock, free jazz to electric blues," The Chicago rockers of The Atlas Moth headline a May 28 concert at Davenport's Raccoon Motel, Angry Metal Guy raving that their most recent EP Coma Noir is " an inventive, addictive and fun extreme-metal album with a burly, beer swilling rock soul, loaded with a bounty of killer riffs, memorable songs, and daring experimentation."

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