Appearing locally as part of a July/August tour that will also take him to Louisiana, Missouri, Nebraska, Wisconsin, and Minnesota, the Austin-based singer/songwriter Walker Lukens plays a Daytrotter concert on July 6, the artist having been called “one of the best songwriters in Texas” by the Free Press Houston, “wonderfully inventive” by NPR World Cafe, and even, according to his hometown newspaper the Austin Chronicle, “a non-sexually-intimidating version of Prince.”

Lauded by PopMatters.com for their “trademark wry humor and ability to speak the truth about matters of the heart and the large disappointments and slender victories life offers,” the Americana, folk, and pop three-piece Bombadil headlines a Moeller Nights concert on July 7, the trio's most recent album Fences a work that, according to NoDepression.com, “provides an abundance of musical wealth with an economy of means.”

Bravo to the Mississippi Bend Players for magnificently transporting patrons back in time – back to when Huckleberry Finn (Quinn Rigg) and his humble slave companion Jim (LaRon Grant) traveled along the banks of the Mississippi River on a meager log raft – in the powerful musical Big River. Friday's opening-night performance at Augustana College's Brunner Theatre Center was simply stunning, with the entire cast reminding me why I love the fine arts.

Garson Kanin’s Born Yesterday was a Broadway hit in 1946, and while the subject matter holds up 72 years later, it isn’t strictly necessary that it does. While there are some parallels to be drawn from the Timber Lake Playhouse’s production and today’s society, the audience at Friday night’s performance didn’t seem to dwell on them, as director Chuck Smith put forth a straightforward comedy that elicited some chuckles but probably not intense political discussions.

Despite the movie topping the summer-of-2015 box-office charts and grossing some 1.67 billion worldwide, it appears that many of Jurassic World's salient details completely left my brain the moment I completed my review. I realized this after returning to said article in preparation for my Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom critique, and discovering that many of elements I was planning to diss this time around were elements I already knocked three years ago: the slavishness to Spielberg, the presentational sameness, the lack of genuine scares, the tired cliché of the first character killed off being a person of color. In fairness, the new film kills off a black guy and a white guy simultaneously, which I guess is this series' idea of progress, but still … . What was left to bitch about?

Quite a bit, actually. But in a not-unhappy surprise, very little of it matters, because while Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom may be stupider than its predecessor, it's also a lot more fun.

With his most recent release Big Bad Luv described by PopMatters.com as an album that “can hold its own next to any of the great Americana-tinged rock 'n' roll records of the past,” singer/songwriter and acoustic guitarist John Moreland and his full band perform a July 3 concert at Maquoketa's Codfish Hollow Barn, the Moeller Nights event showcasing an artist Farce the Music decreed “gloriously and joyfully heartbreaking.”

Described by Glide magazine as “a self-assured powerhouse” who “will knock your socks off with her smart, unpretentious rock and roll,” the Nashville-based Ruby Boots performs as the headliner in a June 29 Moeller Nights concert, demonstrating why LouderSound.net lauded her “artfully scruffed alt-country songwriting” and “powerful, versatile, wide-open voice.”

An iconic group of chart-topping, multi-platinum-selling rockers from England serve as headliners for the District of Rock Island's annual, outdoor Rock the District concert on June 29, with the late-June heat given extra sizzle by the post-grunge musicians of Bush led by founder, lead vocalist, and rhythm guitarist Gavin Rossdale.

Winners of two Grammy Awards, five Academy of Country Music Awards, and six Country Music Association Awards, the chart-topping Sugarland duo plays a June 29 TaxSlayer Center concert on the musicians' “Still the Same Tour,” treating fans to beloved hits – including “Baby Girl,” “All I Want to Do,” and “It Happens” – from more than a decade of recording and sold-out amphitheater events.