Representative Marty Moylan (D-Des Plaines) recently told me he was “astonished” by some Chicago Transit Authority employee paychecks. Representative Moylan, the Chair of the House Transportation: Rail Systems, Roads, and Bridges Committee, is heading into the transit-funding discussions armed with an inch-and-a-half-thick binder filled with CTA salary data. The agency’s gross payroll for all employees in 2024 was close to a billion dollars.

A fascinating exploration of both a well-known German-American blacksmith and a revolutionary addition to the transportation industry, Immigrant Innovators: The Fruehauf Trailer Company will be on display at Davenport's German American Heritage Center through June 29, the exhibit offering insight into the company’s origins, its development over the decades, and its ultimate downfall after the Fruehauf family’s involvement.

Praised by AllMusic for their “intriguing and quite effective blend of hard melodic rock with progressive rock tendencies and awesome vocal arrangements,” the musicians of the iconic rock ensemble Head East bring their "Flat as a Pancake 50th Anniversary Tour" to Davenport's Adler Theatre on March 21, performing cuts from their 1975 album debut 14 years after being inducted into the Iowa Rock 'n' Roll Music Association's Hall of Fame.

A thrilling night of high-energy blues is guaranteed at the Davenport RiverCenter on March 22 when the venue hosts a shared headlining event with two masterful blues outfits: the Madison, Wisconsin-based touring artists of The Jimmys, and the homegrown talents of the Avey Grouws Band.

Touring in support of his September release Get Outta Your Mind, and known by many as a playable character in the video game Kelly Slater's Pro Surfer, surf-rock singer/songwriter Donavon Frankenreiter headlines a March 22 engagement at Davenport's Raccoon Motel, AllMusic raving that the artist "has a good-natured stoned drawl of a voice that delivers his light and breezy lyrics perfectly and with slacker soul."

Praised by Downbeat magazine as a trio that "expresses both its melodic rigor and appetite for adventure" and by Radio New Zealand as an outfit that makes "melodies and rhythms move like single primitive organisms," the Chicago-based musicians of Twin Talk play Rock Island's Rozz-Tox on March 22 in support of their September release Twin Talk Live, which inspired Chicago Jazz to rave, "Twin Talk has established itself as a marker of postmodern jazz creativity, where composition and improvisation ... meet in resounding and refreshing ways."

With TJPL News raving that the duo's vocals are "totally gorgeous, expressing different vocal ranges with catchy lyrics," the Montana-based indie-pop outfit Desperate Electric headlines a March 26 concert at Davenport's Raccoon Motel, the Billings Gazette stating that the bold bounce of the musician's music proves that "Desperate Electric aren't just a band. They’re a vibe."

For those those who "aaaarrrrrr" ready for some hilarious, musical fun on the high seas, the Circa '21 Dinner Playhouse will be staging the eagerly awaited return of the family comedy How I Became a Pirate from March 25 through April 19, this sublimely silly show adapted from the beloved children's book written by Melinda Long with illustrations by David Shannon.

Winner of five Tony Awards and one of the most memorable, iconic, and popular musicals of the last several decades, legendary composer Stephen Sondheim's Assassins enjoys a March 21 through 23 staging at the University of Dubuque's Heritage Center, a production performed by students in the university's Department of Fine and Performing Arts. A twisty, tuneful tale of famed and obscure killers (and would-be killers), the show was lauded by the New York Times for its “astonishing score” in which “sly distortions of familiar musical tropes approximate the skewed ways in which these characters hear everyday melodies.”