Obsessives who passionately devoured every minute with the upstairs Crawleys and the downstairs help might very well be annoyed by how little everyone is given to do, and how little any of it matters. Those who never watched a second of the show might be utterly lost and left wondering what the big deal is. For my part, though, I found this feature-film exercise in unmitigated fan service a touching, entertaining reunion with half-forgotten friends, even though it doesn't resemble a movie so much as a highbrow Comic-Con panel in which those on the dais receive thunderous ovations merely for showing up.

Stunning examples of mixed-media artwork will be on display at Black Hawk College's ArtSpace Gallery from September 30 through November 1 as the venue houses Sarah Rehmer's A Tenuous Space, the latest exhibition by the lauded Illinois artist whose works have been showcased in such esteemed art magazines as Studio Visit, Encaustic Arts, and Shadow & Light.

Composed of of violinists Hyun Jeong Helen Lee and David Do, violist John Batchelder, and cellist Brooke Scholl, the award-winning Julius Quartet performs locally as part of Quad City Arts' Visiting Artists series, the musicians' September 23 through 27 engagements demonstrating why, according to a Collegiate Times concert review, “The group left the audience mesmerized by its resonant sound.”

A renowned country-music legend brings his signature talents, and his award-winning ensemble, to the Rhythm City Casino Resort Event Center on September 27 as the venue presents a night with the Charlie Daniels Band, with Daniels performing from a nearly 50-year repertoire crowned by the chart-topping, Grammy-winning smash “The Devil Went Down to Georgia.”

The beloved singer/songwriter and perennial underdog rocker Mark Mulcahy plays Maquoketa's Codfish Hollow Barn on September 27.

In addition to being adored for his rock, pop, blues, and seasonal hits, Elvis Presley was, of course, one of the world's most beloved interpreters of gospel, and much of The King's iconic output will be heard when the Circa '21 Dinner Playhouse hosts two October 3 performances of How Great Thou Art: The Gospel Music of Elvis Presley, a thrilling touring production boasting the talents of famed impersonator Robert Shaw and his Lonely Street Band.

The governor's top budget people sent a memo last week to agency directors giving them a heads-up about what will be required in their annual budget-request submissions. They are not easy-peasy asks.

The Circa '21 Dinner Playhouse's Singin' in the Rain will have you laughin' at clouds, no matter how dark the weather. The 1983 musical is based on the beloved 1952 film, with its screenplay (and the musical's book) by Betty Comden and Adolph Green, and Nacio Herb Brown and Arthur Freed writing music and lyrics for most of its tunes, many of which are borrowed from 1920s and 1930s films (by MGM, natch, which concocted this film). Thus, the show is in many ways a jukebox musical, and Circa '21's production uses the 2012 revival's script, which is a pared-down and shuffled version of the original.

Judging by reports from the 2019 Toronto International Film Festival, which wrapped on September 15, the true shocker of this year's fest wasn't that intimate chamber drama The Two Popes turned out to be a ton of fun (though apparently it was) or that the already-notorious Joker didn't receive nearly the acclaim that greeted its eight-minute-standing-ovation debut in Venice (though apparently it didn't) or that the Audience Award – which, last year, was awarded to eventual Best Picture Oscar winner Green Book – went to the wildly divisive Hitler comedy Jojo Rabbit. (Wha-a-a-a-a?!?) It was that the heftiest Oscar buzz went to Jennifer Lopez, of all people, for playing, of all things, a larcenous stripper in writer/director Lorene Scafaria's Hustlers.