An evening of classic '80s rock is promised at Maquoketa's Ohnward Fine Arts Center on March 23 when the venue treats fans to a night with Bad Medicine, the exhilarating touring musicians who will deliver a first act of Bon Jovi hits and a second act of "Non Jovi" smashes, featuring favorites by the hard-rocking likes of Poison, Van Halen, and Guns N' Roses.

On March 22, the Adler Theatre invites audiences to “Come on down!” to the Davenport venue for the exciting touring event The Price Is Right Live – a stage version of the beloved TV game show with prizes for the competitors potentially including appliances, vacations, and even ... a new car!

With the live presentation boasting dozens of local maps, guide books, and atlases produced between 1882 and 1926, a fascinating facet of history and Iowan/German connection will be explored in Melchior Huebinger & the Making of the First Automobile Atlas of Iowa, a March program at Davenport's German American Heritage Center, and the latest afternoon event in the venue's popular "Kaffee und Kutchen" series.

Lauded by Talkin' Broadway as a family entertainment that "bounces onto the stage with confidence, energy, and goodwill to spare," the children's-book adaptation Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Musical enjoys a March 21 through May 18 engagement as Rock Island's Circa '21 Dinner Playhouse, this charming and hilarious song-and-dance extravaganza also hailed by the Minneapolis Star-Tribune as " a buoyant and kind show" in which "the script is funny" and "the pop-meets-Broadway songs are bouncy and clever."

“Mayors slam Pritzker’s proposal to eliminate grocery tax” was the Daily Herald’s headline above a story last week about several mayors of upper-income suburban communities complaining about a proposed tax cut. I don’t know if the mayors quite understand this, but headlines like that are basically an in-kind campaign contribution to the governor and the Democratic super-majority.

Almost no one, in retrospect, likes a misleading trailer, and I don't know anyone who enjoys a trailer that seems to give away a narrative's contents from points A to Z, making you feel like you've seen the movie months before you actually see it. (Ordinary Angels, anyone?) Yet I reserve a special kind of irritation for trailers that wind up almost exhaustively descriptive of the eventual experience simply through the predecessors they choose to plug.

Standing as the world’s only year-round, professional ensemble that specializes in the authentic recreation of “America’s Original Music," the Paragon Ragtime Orchestra plays a March 16 concert at Galesburg's Orpheum Theatre in celebration of the venue's centennial year, recreating the sounds of early theatre, vintage dance, and “silent” cinema in their program The Clown Princes: Chaplin, Keaton, & Lloyd.

Touring in support of 2023's Life Is But a Dream ... – an album in which, as stated by Classic Rock, the musicians have “transcended their metal peers for good” and “created their definitive artistic statement" – Avenged Sevenfold headlines a March 18 concert event at Moline's Vibrant Arena at the MARK, the band's latest also inspiring Karrang! to rave that the hard rockers "haven't just made an album that's more out-there than any they've put their name to before – they've delivered a set of songs that are simply far more fun."

Lauded by Taste of Country as an artist who "has captivated the nation with her unique yodeling vocals," country-music vocalist Ruby Leigh makes her debut at Davenport's Adler Theatre on March 16, her recent accomplishments including being the grand-prize winner of the Loretta Lynn So You Think You Can Sing Competition and being named first runner-up on the 24th season of TV's The Voice.