Appearing as the first musicians in the River Music Experience's “Guest List Series” of free concerts made possible with support from Davenport's Regional Development Authority, the blues rockers of the Kris Lager Band take the Redstone Room stage on June 1, sharing the talents that led Bandwagon magazine to praise the group's “brilliant” sound “that few other modern-day bands can offer.”

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Coincidence is one thing. Yet what are we to make of the fact that, this past weekend, Hollywood released two sequels to movies released within 15 days of each other in 2017, both of which were about men almost slavishly devoted to their dogs? Last Sunday was Mother's Day, but was this most recent Sunday some kind of canine-centric holiday I was unaware of?

Hosted by the Quad Cities Bicycle Club and beginning at 9 a.m., an eagerly anticipated Memorial Day tradition returns for its 54th year in the May 27 Quad Cities Kwik Star Criterium – a Village of East Davenport event featuring hundreds of adult and youth cyclists participating in 12 bicycle races, with over $10,000 in cash prizes awarded throughout the day.

A chart-topping country-music singer/songwriter described by RoughStock.com as “one of Nashville's most talented and loved artists,” Lindsay Ell headlines a May 25 concert at Davenport's Rhythm City Casino Resort Event Center, sharing the soulful talents that led Taste of Country to rave, “There's not another active female in country to compare her to.”

Indie rock by a four-piece ensemble based in Massachusetts and a solo artist based in Washington will be on the May 26 bill at Davenport's Triple Crown Whiskey Bar & Raccoon Motel, with the venue hosting a Moeller Nights concert featuring the layered vocal harmonies of Dutch Tulips and the singularly thoughtful and soulful sound of Chris Otepka's solo project The Heligoats.

An artist who, according to American Blues Scene magazine, “plays a head-spinning variety of styles … never failing to excite the listener,” the Florida-based J.P. Soars and his band The Red Hots play a May 28 concert presented by the Mississippi Valley Blues Society, their engagement at Rock Island's Riverfront Grille demonstrating why BluesSource.com wrote, “Soars can stroke, persuade, bend, and stretch notes from places other guitarists haven't even heard of.”

Though it expresses both the highs and lows of life, the Playcrafters Barn Theatre's Avenue Q – the three-time Tony winner with music and lyrics by Robert Lopez and Jeff Marx and book by Jeff Whitty – is an uplifting treat overall, packed with superb performances.