Presented in partnership with the Figge Art Museum's current exhibition French Moderns: Monet to Matisse, 1850-1950, the Augustana College Teaching Museum of Art showcases artistic creations from the same 100-year period in Världen är Liten: The World is Small – Modern Swedish and Swedish American Works, a November 16 through February 9 exhibit highlighting works in the museum's collection made by Swedish and Swedish-American artists.

Its impending area engagement sure to be the next best thing to an actual No Doubt reunion, the California-based musicians of tribute band No Duh take over the Rhythm City Casino Resort Event Center on November 23, offering a salute to Gwen Stefani and company that led BeaconStreetOnline.net to call them “awesome” and rave, “We definitely recommend checking them out.”

“Ever wonder what a traditional lounge singer would sound like backed up by a punk band?” asked the Los Angeles Times. “The Smoking Popes take that concept one step further: They've created a unique kind of music that some listeneres are describing as 'hyperkinetic tear-jerkers.'” That description is as accurate today as it was during the band's early-'90s beginnings, as The Smoking Popes will prove when the pop-punk and alt-rock musicians play Davenport's Redstone Room on November 29 in support of their October release Into the Agony.

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.”