A masterful jazz musician and Bettendorf native headlines a July 16 concert event at the Grape Life Wine Store & Lounge, with the award-winning pianist and trombone player Mike Conrad performing at the Davenport venue alongside his esteemed bandmates Alexander Pershounin on bass and Tim Crumley on drums.

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You cannot on the one hand constantly harp about decades of Illinois credit-rating downgrades and then blithely dismiss the first bit of good Illinois rating news since George Ryan was governor. It’s okay to step away from the “Illinois is awful” screaming for a moment in the wake of last week’s upgrade of Illinois’ bond rating by Moody’s Investors Service. While not the end of our problems by any means, it signals yet another important fiscal turning-point.

It was great to be back at the Timber Lake Playhouse, a capacious space that somehow still has a cozy ambiance.

At the Quad City Arts International Airport Gallery, the second half of 2021 is being jump-started with vibrant explosions of color and varied artistic mediums that can be found in a trio of new exhibitions on display through August 30: exhibits of ceramic works by Will Van Dyke, paintings by Anne Kauf, and textiles by Kara Fedje.

Winners of two Loudwire Music Awards for Live Act of the Year, and one of the only groups to achieve top-five Billboard success on both the Hard Rock and Comedy charts, Steel Panther brings its unique blend of glam metal and hilarious lyrics to East Moline's The Rust Belt on July 10, the California musicians' outfit lauded by Blabbermouth.net as “a genuinely brilliant '80s-inspired heavy metal band.”

Making its eagerly awaited July 8 through 10 return after an unanticipated summer off, the 41st Walcott Truckers Jamboree at the Iowa 80 Truck Stop will showcase exhibits, displays, games, cookouts, fireworks, local and national country musicians, and even a beauty contest for trucks in celebration of America's big rigs and those who drive them.

Nominated for five 2001 Tony Awards and currently the ninth-longest-running Broadway musical of all time, the internationally beloved Mamma Mia! – running at Moline's Prospect Park Auditorium July 9 through 18 – becomes the first Quad City Music Guild production to enjoy live performances since 2019, with the show's collection of timeless ABBA tunes inspiring the New York Post to call the experience “one of those nights when you sit back and let a nutty kind of joy just sweep over you.”

A massively successful book that became a massively successful movie will be the subject of the latest evening of factoids at the Tangled Wood, with the Bettendorf venue, on July 6, inviting Hogwarts-minded Muggles to share their knowledge of All Things Potter during its Harry Potter & the Order of the Phoenix Trivia Night.