Lincoln, Booth, and a gun. What could go wrong? As you will come to find out in the latest QC Theatre Workshop presentation Topdog/Underdog, pretty much everything. This production is dark and riveting, even if you can see the inevitable end from the get-go.

Life is full of many different highs and lows that make up the human experience. We may have trials and tribulations, unexpected loss, unforeseen disappointment, and sadness, but we also have happiness, joy, and love. Memories are stored in our brains that, over time, can fade or become distorted. Now what would it be like if we downloaded those memories into a computerized holograph? So goes this science-fiction play by Jordan Harrison, called Marjorie Prime.

Thirty-five years ago, as her birthday present, I took my wife out for our first “classy” date to the Circa '21 Dinner Playhouse. I had arranged for a dear friend (shout-out to Bill Sensenbrenner) to be our Bootlegger, and wanted to treat my wife to the thrill of seeing Circa '21 produce the musical Annie for the very first time. It was an elegant evening boasting a topnotch performance that we both remember to this day. Fast forward 35 years, and we found ourselves doing the exact same thing on November 9 by enjoying an elegant evening of food, friends, and Circa '21’s latest extraordinary production of – what else? – Annie!

Governor-elect JB Pritzker has taken the prospect of an immediate income-tax hike off the table, telling the Sun-Times that he won’t pursue an “artificial” progressive income tax during the coming spring legislative session.

Best known for their hit TruTV series Impractical Jokers – a reality/comedy program that the New York Post's Linda Stasi called “possibly the funniest, most ridiculous show I’ve seen in years” – the touring comedians of The Tenderloins bring their senses of humor and camaraderie to Moline's TaxSlayer Center on November 19, treating fans to the verbal wit, sketch comedy, and slapstic antics of “The Cranjis McBasketball World Comedy Tour.”

Lauded by Elmore magazine as “particularly adept at a smooth, funky, groove-laden type of blues that requires a mastery of both musical timing and on-stage rapport,” the Texas-based Peterson Brothers Band plays a local concert co-presented by the Mississippi Valley Blues Society, their November 15 engagement at the Moline Viking Club sure to prove why The Examiner called them “the new rising stars on the Austin music scene.”

Labeled “one of the most distinctive and expressive vocalists to come around in a while” by the Pheonix Blues Society, Davina Lozier and her band of Vagabonds returns to Davenport's Redstone Room for a concert of blues and jazz on November 16, sharing the signature stylings of a lead vocalist who, according to the Minneapolis Star-Tribune, “has a sort of hard-mattress comfort to it that’s part Bonnie Raitt, part Etta James, and a little Amy Winehouse.”

Following last year's hugely successful presentations of Harry Potter & the Sorcerer's Stone with musical accompaniment by the Quad City Symphony Orchestra, the ensemble returns to the Adler Theatre on November 17 with two performances of Harry Potter & the Chamber of Secrets in Concert – live-scored versions of the second film adapted from J.K. Rowling's iconic series of fantasy/adventure novels.

A masterful jazz musician and Bettendorf native headlines the latest event in Polyrhythms' Third Sunday Jazz Workshop & Matinée Series, with the award-winning pianist and trombone player Mike Conrad performing a November 18 concert alongside his esteemed bandmates Alexander Pershounin on bass and Tim Crumley on drums.