A 2021 inductee into the Iowa Blues Hall of Fame who has participated as a leader in the River Music Experience’s Winter Blues Schools program and organized BlueSkools sessions at the Mississippi Valley Blues Festival, Hal Reed performs a free concert at Rock Island's Hauberg Civic Center Mansion on October 29, the artist enjoying a four-decade-long career in Southern gospel, soul, and blues music.

An arresting exhibition of sculptural works is on display at the University of Dubuque's Bisignano Gallery through December 17, with Nature's Faces: Crow Haven Ceramics and Mississippi Mud Studios treating visitors to the talents of Dean Wellman and Denise McCullough, as well as Mississippi Mud Studios' Gary Carstens.

Boasting more than 10,000 worldwide performances and featured on Entertainment Tonight and The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, touring tribute artist Jay White brings his Sweet Caroline Tour to Davenport's Adler Theatre on October 31, this stage celebration of Neil Diamond including thrilling renditions of such classics as "Cracklin’ Rosie," "Cherry, Cherry," "Kentucky Woman," "Shilo," "Solitary Man," "Brother Love’s Traveling Salvation Show," and "Forever in Blue Jeans."

Performing all of the artist's hits including "Como La Flor," "Amor Prohibido," "Si Una Vez," and "Bidi Bidi Bom Bom," the tribute talents of 512: The Selena Experience return to the Rhythm City Casino Resort Event Center on November 1, the group having played for the Chicago Bulls and United States Marine Corps in Okinawa, Japan, and the show a dynamic touring celebration of the legacy and dance-tastic hits of the late, great pop and Tejano chanteuse Selena.

Boasting a rich mix of classical and contemporary works that highlight the trombone’s expressive brilliance, the Quad City Symphony Orchestra opens its 2025-26 season of intimate Up Close performances with Up Close with Robert Parker, a November 1 event at Davenport's Figge Art Museum featuring the talents of the QCSO's Principal Trombonist and pianist Marian Lee.

Touring in support of his 2025 album Horror, a recording in which, according to Paste magazine "dynamic drums and deftly played guitar draw the listener to the dance floor," indie rockers Bartees Strange headlines a November 3 concert at Davenport's Raccoon Motel, Pitchfork adding that in the artist's latest release, "Strange’s heart and fierce desire for connection bleed through."

Currently touring in support of her third studio release When I Paint My Masterpiece, a work The Line of Best Fit called "an intimate record full of poetic and melodic turns," indie-folk singer/songwriter Ada Lea headlines a November 5 concert at Davenport's Raccoon Motel, the latest recording by the Montreal-based artist also hailed by Exclaim! as ""a vibrant, revelatory dispatch."

Touring in support of their most recent albums, the indie- and country-rock musicians of Neva Dinova and Ryan Davis & the Roadhouse Band play Davenport's Raccoon Motel on November 6, the former band's most recent LP Canary lauded by Tinnitist as "more urgent than anything they’ve created in the past," and the latter's New Threats from the Soul hailed by Rolling Stone as "teeming with unexpected musical detours and lyrical wonders."

With the special holiday event also boasting a performance by the talents of Illuminaughties Burlesque, Maquoketa's Codfish Hollow Barn presents its final Barn performance of 2025 with the October 31 treat Codfish Halloween, the night featuring performances by the musical talents of MoonShroom and Brooks Strause.

A legendary holiday-film perennial and thrilling song-and-dance showcase for Bing Crosby and Danny Kaye will be brought to theatrical life when Rock Island's Circa '21 Dinner Playhouse presents the eagerly awaited return of Irving Berlin's White Christmas, its November 5 through December 28 run treating audiences to a Tony-nominated treat featuring timeless Berlin hits in “Blue Skies,” “Happy Holiday,” “Let Me Sing and I'm Happy,” and “I've Got My Love to Keep Me Warm.”

The funny, moving, and profound stage version of one of literature's all-time classics enjoys a November 6 through 9 run at the University of Dubuque's Heritage Center when the Department of Fine and Performing Arts presents Of Mice & Men, John Steinbeck's adaptation of his revered 1937 novel included as one of Amazon's list of “The 100 Greatest Books Ever Written.”

With the show based on the multi-award-winning television series that thrills viewers nationwide, the stage spectacle Masters of Illusion comes to Davenport's Adler Theatre on November 5, this evening of jaw-dropping magic combining fantasy, fervor, and flair via headlining illusionists, colorful birds, beautiful dancers, and hysterical comedy.

With the event held in partnership with Lulac Council 10, Ascentra Credit Union, and Hola America, Davenport's Figge Art Museum will house a delightful Día de Los Muertos celebration in the November 2 Day of the Dead Family Fiesta, an afternoon-long tribute honoring the memories of passed loved ones through music, dance, food, and community.

A winner at the Iowa Independent Film Festival and Cedar Rapids Film Festival, as well as an official selection of the Archaeology Channel and Landlocked Film Festival, Fourth Wall Films' documentary Lost Nation: The Ioway and its sequel enjoy a special November 6 screening at Clinton Community College, this acclaimed work by area moviemakers Kelly and Tammy Rundle shining a light on a forgotten tale of American conquest and Native survival.

The Black Box Theatre's The Thanksgiving Play isn’t really about Thanksgiving at all. It's not a story of stuffed birds, mashed potatoes, and raucous family dinners. Instead, it focuses on the people who are trying to make sense of how to tell the first-Thanksgiving story, and in doing so, revealing just how tangled and hilarious the process of “getting it right” can be.

The Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights held a statehouse lobby day last week to push its far-reaching veto-session agenda. Included in the coalition’s agenda are things like putting strict limits on executing civil-immigration warrants in state courthouses. That would likely be challenged in court, but there is some common-law precedent going back to the English court system, so we’ll see.

Because the presentation is so confident and the film's look so distinctive, it might take a while to realize just how bad Black Phone 2 actually is.

With both artists hoping that viewers will take some time to look for meaning in their works and enjoy a diversion from the tensions of the day, talents from Iowa and Wisconsin will be showcased at the Quad City Arts International Airport Gallery, the Niebuhr & Ryan exhibit, through January 5, boasting arresting oil paintings by Michael S. Ryan and mixed-media works by Gary Warren Niebuhr.

On November 1, Muscatine Art Center invites families to celebrate an autumnal Mexican holiday through its Day of the Dead (Día de los Muertos) festivities, an afternoon of free, hands-on activities, artmaking, and bilingual performances that honor this vibrant Mexican tradition.

Any citizen of Davenport can tell you that our town was named after Colonel George Davenport. They might not know much else of the city's history, but that they are pretty sure of. Unfortunately, much of what they think they know is wrong.

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