With this year's weekend event held in conjunction with Rock Island's annual Family Fun Day and the area-wide Alternating Currents Festival, Polyrhythms is proud to host the 10th-annual Bill Bell Jazz & Heritage Festival, an August 16 through 18 celebration of cultural heritage in the Quad Cities named after the late musician, educator, and East Moline native lovingly known as “The Jazz Professor.”

With Living Blues hailing their self-titled 2022 debut recording as a work that "hums with vitality, spontaneity, and spice," the gifted Chicago-blues musicians of The Dig 3 perform an August 18 Mississippi Valley Blues Society concert at Davenport's Gypsy Highway Bar & Grill, their 2023 album Damn the Rent leading the Chicago Blues Guide to rave, "There is no letdown whatsoever in song variety, inventiveness, and individual and collective capabilities."

Their 2020 recording The Preserving Machine lauded by MXDWN.com as “an incredible record,” and the band itself described as “the scene’s best-kept secret,” the alternative rockers of Ultimate Fakebook headline an August 17 concert at Davenport's Raccoon Motel, Dig Me Out adding that on the group's first collection of new songs since 2003, “There is no hint of rust or slowing down as the band expertly navigates 37 minutes of Cheap Trick-influenced power pop.”

His 2023 recording Capricorn praised by Americana Highways as “something authentic, and genuine, in the spirit of an exciting era,” blues rocker Eddie 9V serves as headliner for an August 21 concert at Davenport's Raccoon Motel, the artist also hailed by Blues Rock Review as “a rising star in the modern blues rock scene,” and by Blues Blast Magazine as “one of the most distinctive voices in the world of soul-blues.”

A high-energy ensemble boasting some of the sharpest musical talents the area has to offer, 10 of Soul headlines an August 16 SkyBridge Courtyard concert in Common Chord's popular “Live at Five” series, their Davenport set sure to boast classic tunes from the genres of soul, funk, and blues, as well as a few funky arrangements of their own.

Offering a stage salute to beloved recording artists including Hank Williams, Loretta Lynn, Kenny Rogers, Dolly Parton, and more than a dozen other icons, the popular vocal duo Gordy & Debby bring The Country Legends Show to Maquoketa's Ohnward Fine Arts Center on August 17, the married touring artists currently celebrating nearly 20 years as beloved Branson entertainers.

Trap may not be very good, but you gotta hand it to M. Night Shymalan: He does have a flair for the perverse.

M: Spencer Donovan’s set was truly amazing. I really liked the study, for example, tricked out with matching antique chairs and sofa, not to mention a spiral staircase that leads nowhere but was actually used very dramatically.

K: And the turntable also allowed for set adjustments to happen offstage, leading to some big reveals when a room came back into view. Seriously, I was in love with this set.

Ripcord, now playing at the Spotlight Theatre, is a hoot, as well as an all-too-relatable piece of storytelling for those with ornery parents or grandparents. Sharply directed by Jessica Taylor, and featuring an incredible cast, this show is a charming addition to a long summer season.