Events will be more magical than usual in the Quad City Symphony Orchestra's annual Holiday Pops presentations, as this year's concerts find the area musicians performing accompaniment to Adler Theatre screenings of Harry Potter & the Sorcerer's Store – the first film adapted from J.K. Rowing's iconic series of fantasy/adventure novels.

Last fall's Doctor Strange showed that there were vast, unexplored opportunities in terms of shaking up presentation, with its battle sequences thrilling precisely because they were so unpredictable. This summer's marvelous Spider-Man: Homecoming demonstrated the enormous benefits of going smaller, simpler, and more human. Ragnarok, by contrast, never stops feeling familiar, and even its more out-there flourishes, such as the priceless eccentricity of Jeff Goldbum, don't have long-term impact – they're distractions that momentarily amuse and vanish into the ether.

Representative Ives told the Daily Herald not long ago that she had commitments for “hundreds of thousands of dollars” in contributions. But she’s gonna need a whole lot more than that because almost nobody knows who she is.

Performing in their first Midwestern concert following a Southern tour through Louisiana and Texas, the four-piece ensemble Shallow Side plays RIBCO in support of the band's 2017 One, a six-song EP that inspired NationalRockReview.com to write, “If you want a little variety in your rock, the Southern-rock-infused One might be the gem you have been waiting to hear.”

A Miracle on 34th Street will soon be transformed into a stage entertainment on 35th Avenue, as the Playcrafters Barn Theatre presents the theatrical version of 1947's beloved holiday movie – a play based on a novella based on a story that inspired the film's Oscar-winning script.

A Rock Island native, Vietnam veteran, and retired Secret Service officer will deliver a November 13 presentation at Black Hawk College when William Albracht discusses his experiences both writing and living his latest book Abandoned in Hell: The Fight for Vietnam's Firebase Kate.

While the works themselves are from years, decades, and centuries past, their recent procurement has inspired the title for the Figge Art Museum's latest exhibition New Photography in the Lewis Gallery, a first-ever display of artistic images on view from November 11 through February 4.

Appearing locally in support of her latest album Sorry Is Gone, singer/songwriter Jessica Lea Mayfield headlines a Moeller Nights concert on November 14, showcasing the alt-folk talents that led Rolling Stone to rave, “Mayfield's echo-laden bluegrass vocals mesh with scorching electric guitar lines to render remarkable results.”