Works by a trio of Midwestern artists will bid adieu to the winter and welcome the spring at the Quad City Arts International Airport Gallery, with Moline's airport, from March 4 through April 30, housing encaustic paintings by McHenry, Illinois' Cindy Lesperance, color-reduction woodcuts by Peoria's Cathie Crawford, and mixed-media sculptural work by Bettendorf's Dawn Wohlford.

Hosting two concert sets with the Grammy-nominated comedian famed for his tenure with the Blue Collar Comedy group, the Rhythm City Casino Resort Event Center brings TV and recording sensation Bill Engvall to its Davenport stage on March 6, the actor/comedian currently traveling the country on his acclaimed “Just Sell Him for Parts” standup tour.

Delivering a special area presentation on the criminal-justice system and his own personal journey following a wrongful conviction, inspirational speaker Yusef Salaam visits Augustana College on March 7, his Centennial Hall lecture covering the man's experiences as an accused member of “The Central Park Five” and his long road to a new identity as one of “The Exonerated Five.”

Appearing locally in a special presentation hosted by United Way of the Quad Cities, singer, composer, and New York Times bestselling author Peter Buffett brings his touring event “Life Is What You Make It: A Concert & Conversation with Peter Buffet” to Augustana College's Centennial Hall on March 5, an event blending live music, narrative insights and audience participation on topics related to human rights, civil rights and individual legacy-building.

Written in memory of Italian poet and novelist Alessandro Manzoni, composer Giuseppe Verdi's powerful, emotional, and deeply religious Messa da Requiem serves as the entire repertoire for the Quad City Symphony Orchestra's latest Masterworks presentation Requiem, its March 7 and 8 performances at Davenport's Adler Theatre and Augustana College's Centennial Hall graced by a full chorus led by Augustana professor Jon Hurty and the vocals of four exceptional guest soloists: soprano Alexandria Shiner, mezzo-soprano Daryl Freedman, tenor Robert Stahley, and bass Steven Humes.

One of the most enduring and successful rock bands in music history makes a long-awaited appearance at the Adler Theatre on March 10 with the Davenport venue's hosting of Foreigner, the chart-topping, multi-platinum-selling musicians responsible for such iconic hits as “Waiting for a Girl Like You,” “Hot Blooded,” and the number-one smash “I Want to Know What Love Is.”

Former Governor Rod Blagojevich emerged from prison just like he went in: Defiantly proclaiming his innocence and ostentatiously displaying his carefully-coiffed victimhood.

If you were too young to know about Blagojevich or your memory is hazy, you're now getting a lesson in Rod 101. He knows what reporters want and he's more than happy to give it to them if it serves his purposes. He will say anything, literally anything, to stay in the public eye, no matter how far from the truth it may be. And reporters are eagerly obliging him.

Described by Talkin' Broadway as a family entertainment that provides both “plenty of humor” and “simple yet incredibly effective lessons for younger children to learn,” playwright Allison Gregory's Junie B. Jones Is Not a Crook enjoys an Augustana College presentation on February 29 and March 1, delivering what Arizona Central declared “a wonderfully fun production” that's “clever enough to charm all ages.”