The Marvelous Wonderettes, directed by Ryan Scoble, is the closing production of the Clinton Area Showboat Theatre’s 2024 season, and what a sendoff! Featuring gorgeous vocals, fun choreography, and enough nostalgia to give you a toothache, this production is a must-see for those who grew up in the '50s and '60s, or anyone who’s a fan of those eras of music.

A global entrepreneur, philanthropist, and Humanitarian of the Year, as well as the frontman of one of the best-selling hard-rock acts of all time, Poison's Bret Michaels serves as the August 2 grandstand headliner at the Mississippi Valley Fair, his dizzying range of accomplishments including everything from being the winning contestant on Celebrity Apprentice 3 to scoring a chart-topping solo album with 2010's Custom Built.

Lauded by Country Swag as an artist who “knows how to perfectly mix fun with heart,” platinum-selling country-music star Scotty McCreery, on August 4, serves as the final grandstand headliner for the 2024 Mississippi Valley Fair, the 30-year-old singer/songwriter behind thee chart-topping albums also the ultimate victor during the tenth season of American Idol.

Touring in support of their June release Walk Thru Me, the musicians' first full-length album in more than 20 years, Lou Barlow and John Davis bring their alternative-rock outfit The Folk Implosion to Davenport's Raccoon Motel on August 8, the pair's latest recording inspiring PopMatters to rave that "Barlow and Davis exhibit new strengths and approaches that depart from their cavalier youth."

Touring in support of his 2024 album Critterland that Slate magazine hailed as "a worthy addition to the canon of country-folk classics," Arkansas-based singer/songwriter and guitarist Willi Carlisle headlines an August 6 concert at Davenport's Raccoon Motel, his music pulling from traditional American folk, punk, and country, and many of his songs containing themes of drug abuse, queer life, and rural America.

From August 8 through 10, an eagerly awaited summertime tradition returns both on and in between the LeClaire and Port Byron Levees, as the 2024 Great River Tug Fest delivers outdoor family fun with carnival attractions, live music, arts and crafts vendors, fireworks displays, and the hotly anticipated tug-of-war over the Mississippi River.

Co-hosted by the Midwest Writing Center and taking place at Rock Island venue Rozz-Tox on August 3, a popular literary event returns with a musical theme in the SPECTRA Reading Series' Books & Beats edition, a celebration of Chicago house music as well as the release of Chicago House Music: Culture & Community (forthcoming from Belt Publishing on August 13) by award-winning writer Marguerite L. Harrold.

An evocative and inspiring exhibit by esteemed artist Andrew Raeside, A Life Lived in Bright Light, on display at Dubuque's Voices Studio through September 28, will showcase a series of abstract paintings that celebrate the shared emotional experiences and connections between individuals, as well as reflect Raeside's lifelong journey of capturing the vibrancy and intensity of human emotions through art.

Featuring 200 layers, including clips of mugs breaking, splashing paint, unfurling tablecloths, and his dog and cat strolling through the frame, video artist Dave Greber's Stilllives II: Vignette is on display at Davenport's Figge Art Museum through January 12, this work inspired by the act of setting a dinner table projected on the floor as though you are looking down at a table that's being continuously reset.