The 34th annual Mississippi Valley Blues Festival was held Friday and Saturday July 5th and 6th at Murphy Park at The Bend in East Moline, Illinois. If one went looking to a Blues festival for some sin, one would found little here that could be considered sinful, even in sentiment.

One of the most political of ancient-Greek comedies – and, in adapter Don Wooten's hands, one of the most nuttily satisfying – serves as Genesius Guild's traditional season-ending slapstick when the company presents Ecclesiazusae from July 27 through August 4, Aristophanes' one-act farce delivering laughs, commentary, and a madcap, Mack Sennett chase around Rock Island's Lincoln Park stage.

Two eagerly awaited outdoor events are set to take place in downtown Davenport July 26 and 27, with the 48th Annual Street Fest energizing crowds on Friday and Saturday, and Saturday morning bringing with it the 45th Annual Quad-City Times Bix 7, the challenging summertime foot race that has captivated runners from all over the world.

Described by The Huffington Post as “a heart-warming tale of human dignity and innovation,” and by the Hollywood Reporter as a work that “transcends the artist-doc format and has a broad emotional appeal,” the Oscar-nominated documentary Waste Land enjoys a special screening at Davenport's Figge Art Museum on August 1, serving as a companion event to the venue's current exhibition Vik Muniz: Hand Remade.

Cited as “Best Songwriter of 2008” by Rolling Stone and lauded as one of the millennium's premier indie-rock and Americana talents, former Bright Eyes musician Conor Oberst takes over Maquoketa's Codfish Hollow Barn stage as a Moeller Nights headliner on July 27, performing from an extensive repertoire that includes 2014's Upside Down Mountain, 2016's Ruminations, and its 2017 companion album Salutations.

Music lovers wouldn't necessarily consider the styles an ideal match. But on August 1, Blues Beatles will wow Rhythm City Casino Resort visitors by instilling the songs of John, Paul, George, and Ringo will distinct blues rhythms and phrasing – a blend that had On Stage Magazine raving that the group's Brazilian musicians “seamlessly and successfully melded classic Beatles tunes with deep-down Southern blues. These reinventions of familiar Beatles music lead a listener to wonder what would have happened if the Beatles had signed with Motown through some crazy twist of fate.”

For the second time this year, House Republican Leader Jim Durkin has stripped one of his Party members’ access to a House communications staffer.

Sure, it’s cliché. But of all the Shakespeare tragedies, Hamlet is my favorite, so I was excited to take in director Alaina Pascarella’s version in Lincoln Park on Saturday night. And Genesius Guild took this classic, trimmed it down, and kept it enjoyable for enthusiastic William Shakespeare fans and newcomers both.

Whenever I visit Geneseo's Richmond Hill Barn Theatre, I'm reminded of how wholesome, welcoming, and beautiful this location in the Midwest is, and how this unique venue is truly a lovely place to take in a show. The players’ latest production, author Jack Sharkey's Missing Link, is a marital comedy full of all kinds of twists and turns, mistaken identities, and romantic conundrums, and it gives patrons a lighthearted look at the things we do for love.