An acclaimed storyteller, musician, and 2018 Kresge Arts Fellow, blues-music great the Reverend Robert Jones Sr. performs a public concert on February 26 as a guest in the Mississippi Valley Blues Society's “Blues in the Schools” program, his performance at Rock Island's Hauberg Civic Center Mansion coming amidst a week spent sharing his gifts with local students at Ridgewood Elementary, Jane Adams Elementary, Thomas Jefferson Elementary, and Pleasant Valley High School.

Multi-platinum-selling artists with three chart-topping albums to their credit, the country and Southern-rock sensations of the Zac Brown Band play Moline's TaxSlayer Center on February 28, treating fans to a repertoire that has thus far resulted in nine Grammy Award nominations, three wins, and more than a dozen number-one hits on the Billboard charts.

Gifted bluegrass and Cajun musicians who have been performing together for more than three decades, Vince Herman and Drew Emmitt – co-founders of popular touring act Leftover Salmon – bring their special acoustic-duo set to Davenport's Redstone Room on February 28, treating crowds to the toe-tapping talents that brought their band fame for albums including 1995's Ask the Fish, 1997's Euphoria, and 2018's Something Higher.

On February 29, audiences at the Rust Belt will see just what transpires when a Superstar meets up with A Giant Dog, as the East Moline venue delivers a night of doo-wop, electro dance, alternative pop, and more with the singular talents of Heart Bones – a unique collaboration between Sean Tillmann of Har Mar Superstar fame and Sabrina Ellis of the punk outfit A Giant Dog.

Iowa City-based sophisti-pop/New Wave crew Anthony Worden & the Illiterati bring their strain of baroque, '60s-influenced pop composition to Rozz-Tox on February 29.

Performing under the direction of Curtis Fischer-Oelschlaeger and accompanied by pianist Marcia Renaud, more than two dozen of the area's premier vocalists will celebrate beloved songs of the past in A Sunday in Tin Pan Alley – the March 1 concert event at Davenport's Modern Woodmen Park featuring iconic classics given beautiful new life by area ensemble the Quad City Singers.

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If you missed the perfectly timed Valentine’s Day opening of the Spotlight Theatre’s The Wedding Singer, don’t have a cow. There’s a second weekend of this righteous romantic-comedy musical if you’re in need of an extra opportunity to show your sweethearts how much you love them. The energetic cast, familiar storyline, and totally awesome music make for the perfect escape from reality back to the '80s for a few hours.

All six Democratic candidates vying to replace former State Representative Sara Feigenholtz (D-Chicago) gathered for a candidates' forum last week moderated by Laura Washington of the Sun-Times. Feigenholtz was recently appointed to the Illinois Senate.

Friday, February 14, 10:30 a.m.-ish: As I deeply love movies, and have been known to occasionally fall in love with movies, it feels appropriate that I'd spend a large chunk of this year's Valentine's Day at my first quadruple feature in 10 months. Yet while previous four-fers have started better, I'm not sure any of them have started weirder than this one, given that it begins with a reboot of television's Fantasy Island, that deliciously cheesy Aaron Spelling soap that demanded “Smiles, everyone, smiles!” from the start and almost couldn't help but deliver them.

More than 50 young participants from nine different Quad Cities communities will be “off to see the Wizard” from February 15 through 23, with Davenport Junior Theatre presenting its all-student production of the timeless adventure The Wizard of Oz as the second presentation in the venerable company's 68th season.

Nominated for a dozen 2015 Tony Awards and the winner of four including Best Choreography, a song-and-dance sensation high-steps into Davenport's Adler Theatre on February 20 with the arrival of An American in Paris – the celebration of iconic composers George and Ira Gershwin that, according to the New York Times, “weds music and movement, song and story with such exhilarating brio that you may find your … heart alight with a longing to be swept up in the dance.”

An iconic early project by a three-time Tony Award winner, composer Jason Robert Brown's cabaret-esque musical Songs for a New World enjoys a February 21 and 22 staging at Augustana College by eight student talents of the OperX ensemble, who will bring vocal life to this generational touchstone that led Theatre Mania to write, “Brown's score is filled with soul-stirring melodies, and his lyrics brim with emotion, hope, and soul.”

Touring the country with messages of equality, tolerance, and unity delivered with eye-popping theatrical flourish, the stage talents of Mexico Beyond Mariachi bring their presentation Trekking Mexico to St. Ambrose University on February 22, the final, family-themed engagement in the group's week-long residency as Quad City Arts Visiting Artists.

Boasting sketches, proposals, and objects on loan from John Deere Archives, the Cooper Hewitt Smithsonian Design Museum, the Albany Institute of History & Art, and the AT&T Archives and History Center, the Figge Art Museum's new exhibition Henry Dreyfuss: Designs for the Modern Age will, from April 13 through June 7, celebrate the legendary industrial designer whose firm styled the John Deere tractor, the Western Electric Model 500 telephone, and numerous other iconic products.

Famously described by Rolling Stone as “the greatest female country singer since Patsy Cline,” the legendary Wynonna Judd and her ensemble – collectively known as Wynonna & the Big Noise – make a special visit to East Moline venue the Rust Belt on February 21, its headliner having recently received this rave from NPR: “With her tight band right behind her after touring together for several years, she just sounds like she's home. … You can just feel the grin on her face.”

Chicago-based DJ, record-label impresario, and prolific podcaster Brenda continues Rozz-Tox’s ongoing Northern Parallels series, sharing the February 21 bill with the ever-reliable Mike Derer and Higgy.

The Shockingly Modern Saxophone Festival at Augustana College -- February 21 and 22.

A celebration of new and experimental works, Augustana College's Shockingly Modern Saxophone Festival, on February 21 and 22, will boast solo and chamber pieces that explore the sonic potential of the sax through improvisation, electronics, and multi-media, with festival founder and artistic director Dr. Randall Hall saying, “There are many saxophone festivals and many new music festivals, but as far as I know, this is the only event in the United States dedicated specifically to new music for saxophone.”

Longstanding Swedish stoner-rock shredders Truckfighters play RIBCO on February 22, offering up a rare chance to see their fuzz-drenched live set in the context of a relatively intimate venue.

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