With smash pop and rock hits performed by the intensely gifted tribute artist Brian Harris and his five-piece ensemble The Mad Hatters Band, the repertoires of two iconic artists will be celebrated at Mt. Carroll's Timber Lake Playhouse on October 5, with the stage event The Piano Men: Simply Billy & Simply Elton delivering a night of incredible music and showmanship by two of history's most venerable and beloved talents.

Lauded by The Spokesman-Review as a "throwback who is silly, sassy, and smart" as well as "inventive, unpredictable, and uncompromising," touring comedian and TikTok favorite Becky Robinson brings her "The Entitled Housewife" tour to Davenport's Capitol Theatre on October 5, the Spokesman-Review adding that "no punches are pulled at Robinson’s shows, which are spirited and obscene."

With her bestseller Remarkably Bright Creatures lauded by Book Marks as “a truly tender masterpiece” that is “whimsical, immersive, and vibrantly written,” acclaimed author Shelby Van Pelt will take part in the Moline Public Library's in-person, October 9 author visit at Moline's Bartlett Performing Arts Center, van Pelt's debut novel noted for selling more than 1.4 million copies and reappearing on the New York Times bestseller list a year-and-a-half after its initial release.

With the Chicago Tribune calling their performances “politically incorrect and funny” and the Charleston City Paper adding that the cast “has funny going on before they even open their mouths,” the Chicago-based comedians of Pimprov bring their sketch-comedy skills, acting talent, and significant bling to the Circa '21 Speakeasy on October 4, demonstrating why the Los Angeles Times calls their set “not your traditional improv.”

An intimidating ogre, a feisty princess, a wisecracking donkey, a diminutive tyrant, an ambulatory gingerbread man, and other fantastical figures take over Davenport's Adler Theatre on October 10 with the nationally touring arrival of Shrek: The Musical, the Tony-winning fairytale slapstick based on the Oscar-winning animated smash, and a show that Variety called a work of “irreverent charm” that “never stints on spectacle or laughs."

A three-time Tony Award nominee also cited among the 2022 Drama League Award contenders for Outstanding Production of a Play, author Selina Fillinger's uproarious satire POTUS: Or, Behind Every Great Dumbass Are Seven Women Trying to Keep Him Alive enjoys its area debut at Iowa City's Riverside Theatre, its October 4 through 20 run sure to demonstrate why the New York Times' Jesse Green said the work "lets us experience the double-bind of exceptional women unmediated by the men who depend on their complicity."

Lauded by The Independent as "both sweeping and intimate" and by The Upcoming as "a remarkable tale of companionship that hits in all the right spots," Chinese writer/director Guan Hu's Black Dog enjoys an October 10 screening at Davenport's Figge Art Museum, the film's world premiere at this past May's 77th Cannes Film Festival earning it the prestigious Un Certain Regard prize, as well as, for a canine named Xin, the Palm Dog Award last won by Anatomy of a Fall's unforgettable pup Messi.

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As I’ve been telling Statehouse types for a long while, lobbyists and legislators need to be paying very close attention to what’s happening in the corruption trials relating to and involving former House Speaker Michael Madigan.