Designed for all ages interested in health, fitness, and athletic performance, the 2023 Quad City Fit Fest will be held at East Moline's Bend XPO on February 18 and 19, the eagerly anticipated event boasting more than 40 vendors, activities, demonstrations, a weight-lifting competition hosted by Richmond Elite Performance, a self-defense class led by UFC Hall of Famer Pat Miletich, and seminars with kickboxing phenomenon Don "The Dragon" Wilson and Dance It Out founder Billy Banks. Jr.

An entertaining, illuminating program of three short stage pieces connected to a famous yet still frequently neglected Pulitzer Prize-winning writer from Davenport, the debuting theatre company the New Athens Players presents Spotlight on Susan Glaspell at Davenport's Village Theatre, its February 24 through March 5 run showcasing two premiering works and the celebrated playwright's lauded one-act Trifles.

Screening at Davenport's Figge Art Museum on February 26 and lauded by Gripped magazine as "full of purpose and powerful storytelling," the 35-minute documentary Black Ice serves as the fifth presentation in River Action's annual QC Environmental Film Series, with Gripped adding that the work "brings together a group of amazing characters" and "helps to restore the belief in a better world.”

Touring in support of his 2022 album Frayed at Both Ends that hit the top-five on the Billboard charts, outlaw-county singer/songwriter Aaron Lewis headlines a February 10 concert at Bettendorf's Quad-Cities Waterfront Convention Center, treating fans to a repertoire that inspired Saving Country Music to rave, “Aaron's voice comes with a familiarity and richness of tone that endears itself to the songs he writes.”

A pair of award-winning, multi-platinum-selling rock outfits will share the stage at East Moline venue The Rust Belt on February 19 with the arrival of the national “Rock Resurrection Tour,” an eagerly anticipated event boasting the Grammy-nominated Wisconsin artists of Skillet and the Canadian alt-rockers of Theory of a Deadman.

Presented as the first in a series of groundbreaking feature-length films that celebrate the remarkable achievements women have made in the cinematic arts, director Ava DuVernay's Academy Award-winning Selma enjoys a February 16 screening at Davenport's Figge Art Museum, this 2014 historical drama a work that the New York Times deemed "a triumph of efficient, emphatic cinematic storytelling."

A lauded painter, a noted art therapist, and an award-winning photojournalist will share their histories and thoughts at the Figge Art Museum on February 23 when the Davenport venue hosts In Conversation: Zaiga Minka Thorson, Dana Keeton, & Ryan Vizzions, an informal and enriching conversation about how artists address personal trauma through their artistic practices.

Presented on February 16 as part of the Davenport Public Library's 3rd Thursday at Hoover's Presidential Library & Museum series, the virtual program Lincoln & Hoover: Comparisons & Contrasts will find Herbert Hoover Presidential Library & Museum director Dr. Thomas Schwartz discussing the U.S. presidents driven to succeed in spite of the lowly circumstances of their births, and men who were never quite content with their enormous successes.

With RG magazine stating that his "music keeps you on your feet and not wanting to miss a single moment of magic," award-winning jazz pianist and accordionist Ben Rosenblum headlines a February 24 concert at Common Chord's Redstone Room in Davenport, the New York City-based artist a significant talent who, according to DownBeat magazine, "caresses [the music] with the reverence it merits."

Having traveled the world performing their energetic, original, and soulful music in 47 states and 24 countries to date, the joyful musicians of Doreen's Jazz New Orleans bring their lauded talents to two area venues just in time for Mardi Gras week: on February 21 (Mardi Gras Day itself) at the University of Dubuque's Heritage Center, and on February 23 at Maquoketa's Ohnward Fine Arts Center.

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