News

  • Jun 30, 2020
    River Action's Channel Cat Talks and Riverine Walks, July 7 through August 1

    In a continuation of the annually popular outdoor programs that have provided Quad Citians with entertainment and education for years, topics such as sustainability, the Mississippi River, and jazz greats Bix Beiderbecke and Louie Bellson will be explored when River Action hosts its midsummer presentations of Channel Cat Talks and Riverine Walks – “Explore the River Series” celebrations of the Quad Cities' unique culture and landscape taking place several times weekly from July 7 through August 1.

  • Jul 05, 2020
    QCA Today: July 5, 2020

    This feature collects articles published online by Quad Cities-area media outlets and by CapitolFax.com and the state-politics sections of the Des Moines Register and the State Journal-Register.

  • Jun 03, 2020
    “Curious George: Let's Get Curious!,” June 6 through September 13

    With the Bettendorf venue again open to the public and welcoming children of all ages, the Family Museum will house the interactive touring exhibition Curious George: Let's Get Curious! from June 6 through September 13, leading visitors on a fun math-, science-, and engineering-based adventure while emphasizing the central roles played by parents and caregivers.

  • Jun 03, 2020
    River Action's Channel Cat Talks and Riverine Walks, June 4 through 27

    For those seeking outdoor education and entertainment after many months spent indoors, topics such as Mississippi River history, hydropower, native bird species, and more will be explored when River Action begins its annual presentations of Channel Cat Talks and Riverine Walks – “Explore the River Series” celebrations of the Quad Cities' unique culture and landscape taking place several times weekly from June 4 through 27.

  • Mar 03, 2020
    “Liberated Voices/Changed Lives,” March 7 through August 31

    An original exhibition created specifically for the Davenport venue, the Putnam Museum & Science Center's Liberated Voices/Changed Lives will, from March 7 through August 31 celebrate the 100th anniversary of women's right to vote through displays, video presentations, and more, allowing visitors to travel back in time and investigate the roots of the women's-suffrage movement from the perspectives of local women and men from 1900 to 1920.

Commentary

  • Jun 29, 2020
    Illinois Rising Action Hits Pritzker in New Television Ads

    Illinois Rising Action, a dark-money super PAC, is running a TV ad against Governor JB Pritzker. The group is reportedly putting $1 million behind the spot on both cable and broadcast over two weeks.

  • Jun 22, 2020
    While Form Has Changed, Function of Paying for Political Access Has Not in Illinois

    As Illinois slowly begins the reopening process, some state legislators have decided to start hosting in-person fundraisers.

  • Jun 11, 2020
    An Unprecedented Experiment: “Sometimes you just gotta wear the stupid.”

    Sure, governors have statutory authority to declare emergencies and bypass the people's so-called representatives, but not on the say-so of foreign technocrats. Ask yourself how much will you comply with future emergency orders when your governor cites the World Health Organization again as its primary source for temporarily suspending your rights they swore an oath to protect?

  • Makes don't work to protect people from Covid19.
    Jun 11, 2020
    Masks Don’t Work: A Review of Science Relevant to COVID-19 Social Policy

    The present paper about masks illustrates the degree to which governments, the mainstream media, and institutional propagandists can decide to operate in a science vacuum, or select only incomplete science that serves their interests. Such recklessness is also certainly the case with the current global lockdown of over 1 billion people, an unprecedented experiment in medical and political history.

  • Jun 10, 2020
    Qualified Immunity and Police Unions: Removing the Easily Spotted Bad Apple Is Very Difficult

    It turns out that Derek Chauvin, the former Minneapolis police officer who was filmed killing George Floyd last week, has had 17 different complaints of serious misconduct during his career. That puts him among the 10-percent-worst offenders in the Minneapolis police department.

    The complaints vary from being named in a brutality lawsuit, to using demeaning, unprofessional language in public, to aiming his weapon at children. But Chauvin never got into any serious trouble.

Theatre

  • Jun 16, 2020
    Bottoms Up Quad City Burlesque, June 19 and 20

    A longstanding, beloved Quad Cities entertainment troupe will soon be delivering distinctly 2020 performances, with the striptease artists and comedians of Bottoms Up Quad City Burlesque, on June 19 and 20, hosting live-streaming presentations of their two latest productions.

  • May 21, 2020
    The State of Things: Timber Lake Playhouse

    Dan Danielowski, executive director of the Timber Lake Playhouse in Mt. Carroll, discusses the theatre's operations during this period of social distancing. We spoke on Wednesday, May 20.

  • May 07, 2020
    The State of Things: Circa ’21 Dinner Playhouse

    Brett Hitchcock, director of audience development at the Circa ’21 Dinner Playhouse in Rock Island, discusses the venue's operations during this period of social distancing. We spoke on Thursday, May 7.

  • Apr 15, 2020
    The State of Things: Davenport Junior Theatre

    Daniel DP Sheridan, Artistic Director and Performing Arts Supervisor for Davenport Junior Theatre (DJT), discusses the organization's operations during this period of social distancing. We spoke on Tuesday, April 14.

  • Mar 25, 2020
    The State of Things: The Spotlight Theatre

    Brent Tubbs, co-founder and -owner of The Spotlight Theatre in Moline, discusses the venue's operations during this period of social distancing. We spoke on Wednesday, March 25.

Music

  • Jul 06, 2020
    All Screwed Up: A Celebration of DJ Screw

    Robert Earl Davis Jr., better known to the world as DJ Screw, passed away nearly 20 years ago in the year 2000, but his legacy and the diaspora of his musical trademarks remain as strong as ever.

  • Jun 17, 2020
    Experiment Without Inhibition: A Celebration of Anthony Braxton

    Braxton’s work long ago shattered the divide between the gritty, atonal language of improvised free jazz performance and the typically cloistered world of academic classical and minimalist composition, and he continues to expand in unexpected directions with new works that emerge to this day.

  • Jun 20, 2020
    Chaircrusher, “DAY DAY”

    A new collection of music titled DAY DAY from Iowa City's electronic artist and composer Kent Williams, a.k.a. Chaircrusher, hit Bandcamp sometime in the recent past. Though the album has a release date of October 2020 listed, it’s available in full to stream and purchase now – perhaps a sign that Williams is, in fact, living in the future.

  • Jun 15, 2020
    Discrete Directions: Rina Sawayama’s "SAWAYAMA"

    In a sea of carbon-copied hits that sound like they were genetically engineered in a lab, alchemized into being with the same few ingredients and signifiers that topped the charts a couple weeks before, the best pop music to emerge from any given era stands out by surveying recent musical trends and streaking off in the completely opposite direction. More than a process of picking a sub-genre no one has heard in five years or so and hopping into it just for the sake of a novel juxtaposition, to shock fans for a moment before they keep scrolling down the feed, the artists who succeed at bucking trends and emerging with something unique do so by embracing the weirder or potentially more “uncool” aspects of their own musical interests.

  • Jun 10, 2020
    Wilhelm, "Sugarcane"

    A. Riggen, half of Quad Cities doom metal duo Murnau, has released Sugarcane, an album of indie-rock/dream-pop compositions under the moniker Wilhelm. Though the yearning, reverb-heavy vocal style he employs in Murnau remains intact here, his arrangements in the context of this project have shifted to the world of a more conventional “rock” band built around more relatively straightforward piano, guitar, bass, and organ lines.

Movies

Art

  • Jun 30, 2020
    Ralph Scott, Andrea Van Wyk, and Terry Rathje Exhibits, July 2 through August 31

    Thoughtful, fascinating, and beautiful works in a variety of artistic mediums will be on display in the latest exhibitions at the Quad City Arts International Airport Gallery, with the Moline airport, from July 2 through August 31, showcasing the talents of three gifted Miswestern artists: Ralph Scott of East Peoria, Illinois; Andrea Van Wyk of Pella, Iowa; and Terry Rathje of Long Grove, Iowa.

  • Jun 23, 2020
    “Susan Reinier: Shiny Objects,” June 27 through July 30

    Gorgeous new works by an Iowa-based artist will soon fill the Beréskin Gallery & Art Academy, with the Bettendorf venue showcasing colorful, evocative paintings by Susan Reinier in the exhibition Shiny Objects, on display from June 27 through July 30, and with the artist herself in attendance at the exhibit's opening reception on July 3.

  • May 08, 2020
    “QC Pride Photographs by Andy Abeyta,” through August 2

    People gather in celebration with friends and strangers alike on the streets of downtown Davenport while rainbow banners wave behind them. Taken during the 2019 Pridefest, these images by photojournalist Andy Abeyta document one of the many events planned by Quad Cities Unity Pride during its annual QC Unity Pride Week, and can currently be viewed online in the Figge Art Museum's virtual exhibition QC Pride Photographs by Andy Abeyta, on display through August 2.

  • Jun 23, 2020
    “David Van Allen: Assembled Portraits” and “Ron Meyer: Jazz Noir – Images from the Iowa City Jazz Festival,” June 26 through August 14

    From June 26 through August 14, two gifted photographers from Cedar Rapids, Iowa, will enjoy one shared venue in Rock Island, Illinois, when the Quad City Arts Center gallery hosts a pair of new fascinating new exhibitions: David Van Allen's Assembled Portraits, and Ron Meyer's Jazz Noir: Images from the Iowa City Jazz Festival.

  • Jun 03, 2020
    “Didier William: Lakou,” June 9 through August 23

    With its showcased talent acclaimed for his mixed-media paintings and prints that utilize a variety of techniques including woodcarving and collage, the exhibition Didier William: Lakou graces Davenport's Figge Art Museum from June 9 (the day of the museum's re-opening) through August 23, its artist drawing on Haitian history, mythology, and personal experience to explore significant themes of cultural identity.

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