Lauded by Rolling Stone as an artist who delivers “hardscrabble honkytonk at its best, nodding to Johnny Cash and Buck Owens in equal measure,” country-music singer/songwriter Jeremy Pinnell headlines a February 17 concert at Davenport's Raccoon Motel, the musician's 2017 album Ties of Blood & Affection, Rolling Stone continued, “a stellar collection that could earn Pinnell comparisons to Sturgill Simpson.”

Described by Glide magazine as “one of the most unflappably earnest musicians on the planet” and by Grammy-winning icon John Mayer as “the best live performer I've ever seen,” rock and Americana singer/songwriter/guitarist Martin Sexton headlines a March 2 concert at Davenport's Redstone Room, demonstrating why Billboard magazine calls him “a star with potential to permanently affect the musical landscape and keep us entertained for years to come.”

Appearing locally with familiar traveling companions such as Peanut, José Jalapeño, Bubba J., Sweet Daddy Dee, and Achmed the Dead Terrorist, comedian and ventriloquist Jeff Dunham brings his national “Seriously?!” tour to Moline's TaxSlayer Center on February 26, the performer's comic talent and audience rapport establishing why he holds the Guinness World Record for “Most Tickets Sold for a Stand-Up Comedy Tour.”

With his most recent album Change in Me described by Rootstime as “an enticing journey of jazz, blues, and rock” resulting in a “melting pot of sounds,” blues-guitar legend Eddie Turner headlines a special February 27 concert event at Davenport's Gypsy Highway Bar & Grill, with Blues Blast magazine saying that the artist “shines like a diamond” and Guitar Player magazine lauding Turner's “otherworldly, atmospheric guitar style.”

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I was a bit flabbergasted to see last week that Republican gubernatorial candidate Richard Irvin told a blatant falsehood on a southern Illinois radio station. But what came after that helps us see how the Republican primary will play out for the next four-and-a-half months.

A lauded selection in the 2021 Tribeca Film Festival, 2021's Reflection: A Walk with Water serves as the latest presentation in River Action's QC Environmental Film Series, its February 20 premiere at Davenport's Figge Art Museum sure to demonstrate why Framework said that the work “should be screened through every Internet portal, at every bus stop, on every subway line, and in every government office, school, university, and bar."

Winner of seven 1977 Tony Awards and one of the 25 longest-running musicals in Broadway history, the iconic comic-strip adaptation Annie will be brought to life – in abbreviated form – in Davenport Junior Theatre's February 12 through 20 run of Annie Jr., its iconic score by Thomas Meehan, Charles Strouse, and Martin Charnin boasting such timeless tunes as "It's the Hard-Knock Life," "Easy Street," "Maybe," and the unforgettable "Tomorrow."

In the Bettendorf Public Library's latest event in its "Community Connections" series, a true-life tale involving social reformer Frederick Douglass, iconic author Harriet Beecher Stowe, and the United States' first public discussions about abolition will be explored on February 17 through scenes from Sons & Daughters of Thunder, the locally produced 2019 drama boasting the talents of Fourth Wall Films' Kelly and Tammy Rundle and more than two dozen familiar area performers.