Currently touring in support of his 2022 release Bad Reputation, a top-10 debut on Billboard's Top Current Album Sales chart, Grammy-nominated rock, hip-hop, and country artist Kid Rock serves as the opening headliner for the 2022 Mississippi Valley Fair, his August 2 performance treating fans to a repertoire of more than 30 years and his iconic number-one hit "All Summer Long."

Delivering a blend of local history, environmental issues, education, entertainment, and fresh air, Davenport's River Action is again presenting a series of outdoor presentations in the final month of the annual Channel Cat Talks and Riverine Walks: weekly programs that, from August 3 through September 1, will address such topics as improvements to the Lock & Dam 15, green rooftops, the area's German-American heritage, and jazz masters Bix Beiderbecke and Louie Bellson.

With the New York Music Daily lauding their “darkly inventive Americana” and The Sound praising their “infectious, foot-stomping Americana tunes,” the touring musicians of Muddy Ruckus – guitarist and Quad Cities native Ryan Flaherty and “suitcase drummer” Erika Stahl – headline a July 28 concert at Davenport's Raccoon Motel, the duo's 2018 album Bellows to Mend described by Evolvement Radio as “hands down their best work so far.”

With most presentations in the Davenport Public Library's 3rd Thursday at Hoover's Presidential Library & Museum series have focused on people, the virtual July 21 event will instead focus on a specific place, with participants invited to explore the possibilities that lie ahead in A Behind the Scenes Look at the Hoover Library Renovation.

Making a July 31 stop at Muscatine's Riverside Park as part of the group's six-city summertime showcase, the artists of Ballet Des Moines will showcase their full company of professional dancers in Gravity on Tour, an engaging and culturally enriching arts and education program co-presented by the Iowa Space Grant Consortium.

Nominated for five 2006 Tony Awards including Best Musical and described as a “fizzy confection” by Variety magazine, the musical version of Adam Sandler's film-comedy smash The Wedding Singer will entertain Clinton Area Showboat Theatre audiences from July 21 through 31, with composer Matthew Sklar and lyricist Chad Beguelin praised by New York Theatre Guide for their 1980s salute's “truly clever and often hilarious score.”

William Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream is one of those plays whose audiences are at least vaguely familiar with. Clearly, familiarity pays off, as Sunday’s performance was about as packed as I’ve ever seen at a Genesius Guild performance. And what a great night to come out and experience what the company had to offer, because director Jeremy Mahr and his cast delivered quite a lighthearted night.

I saw Playcrafters' A Raisin in the Sun on Saturday, and am happy to say that director Gaye Shannon Burnett's production does full justice to this gem.

During a sometimes-fiery interview last week, House Speaker Chris Welch pledged to tie House Republican candidates to the far-right top of their ticket and called House Republican Leader Jim Durkin a “failed leader.” A Durkin spokesperson, in turn, called Welch “unhinged.” It started when I asked Speaker Welch if he thought gun-law reform would play a major role in the fall campaign, which is basically just around the corner.