A New York Times-bestselling author of 26 mysteries and thrillers for teens and adults who, as she has stated, "makes up for a peaceful childhood in an intact home by killing off fictional characters," April Henry will be the special guest in a September 28 presentation at the Bettendorf Public Library, her recent novels including 2019's Run, Hide, Fight Back, 2020's The Girl in the White Van, and the 2021 two-fer of Playing with Fire and Eyes of the Forest.
An evening of jaw-dropping illusions curated by a legendary comedy-and-magic team, Penn & Teller Present The Foolers brings its national tour to Davenport's Adler Theatre on September 29, this interactive and irreverent evening presenting audiences to the Fool Us alumni – master magicians Matt Donnelly, Vinny Grosso, Jessica Jane, and Alex Ramon – who share the distinction of being among few who have impressed the pair with mystifying mind magic and hilarious comedic routines.
With our nation’s animal shelters currently in crisis due to increased owner surrenders and stray intakes, spiking post-pandemic euthanasia rates across the country, Davenport's Humane Society Of Scott County will join more than 345 organizations from 42 states in taking part in the BISSELL Pet Foundation's "Empty the Shelters" Reduced-Fee Adoption Event, a nationwide program taking place from October 1 through 15.
In a special evening featuring the First African-American Steinway International Recording Artist from the state of Iowa, the Davenport Public Library program My Journey: Ivory Towers, A True Story": A Conversation with B. K. Davis will be held at the Eastern Avenue branch on October 2, with the author/musician sharing tales from his new autobiography, his experiences within the music business, and his path toward sharing his unique story.
Participating in a special virtual program co-presented by the Rock Island Public Library and Illinois Libraries Present, a bestselling writer will tackle a seasonally appropriate genre in the October 4 online event Horror with Stephen Graham Jones, a conversation with the Blackfoot Native American fiction author whose most widely known works include the horror novels The Only Good Indians, My Heart Is a Chainsaw, and Night of the Mannequins.
Hannah Meisel’s recent report for Capitol News Illinois included a line that jumped out at me: “Per state law - which hasn’t been updated since 1949 - only counties with 35,000 or more residents are required to set up offices of public defender.”
Among other things, sitting Illinois judges are prohibited by Illinois Supreme Court Rule 4.1 from making “speeches on behalf of a political organization,” or “solicit funds” for a political organization or candidate, except when they’re up for election or retention. So, you might ask, what the heck was Illinois Supreme Court Justice Elizabeth Rochford thinking when she decided to accept an invitation to be the keynote speaker at the Lake County Democratic Women annual fundraising gala on September 9?
The last two Chicago mayors took some news media heat for not sending their kids to public schools, as did Chicagoan Barack Obama when he pushed for education reforms. So, this particular issue is obviously not out of bounds in that city and nobody in public life there should expect otherwise. Chicago Teachers Union President Stacy Davis Gates has, in the past, pointed with pride to the fact that all three of her kids attended public schools. While others often chafed at reporters’ questions about their children, Davis Gates did just the opposite, centering her children as part of who she is as a progressive activist.
Just four-and-a-half months since President Biden declared an end to the COVID “emergency,” the media is suddenly full of stories about the return of COVID. This time a new “variant” is being rolled out, and the media, in collusion with Big Pharma and the fear-industrial complex, are churning out stories about how forced masking is making a comeback.
There are few in the Freedom Movement whose names command as much respect, admiration, and prestige as G. Edward Griffin. When the Red Pill Expo, an event created by the man himself, was coming to Iowa and he would be there, it was a no-brainer.
Delivering what The Hollywood Reporter described as “a joyous blast of defiant analog vitality in a manufactured digital world,” Moline's Spotlight Theatre and the QC Rock Academy team up from September 29 through October 8 for the area premiere of School of Rock: The Musical, the Tony-nominated stage sensation based on the beloved film comedy starring Jack Black, and a work lauded by Broadway World as “a big, beautiful blast of musical comedy from start to finish.”
One of the most beloved stage musicals in American history, as well as a Tony Award nominee whose iconic show tune "Day by Day" reached number 13 on the Billboard pop singles chart, composer Stephen Schwartz's timeless Godspell serves as this year's fundraising performance by Muscatine's New Era Dinner Theatre, its September 29 through October 1 run finding its proceeds benefiting Lutheran World Relief, the Muscatine Chapter of the Salvation Army, and New Era Lutheran Church.
A Tony and Olivier Award-winning drama lauded by The Guardian as "sparkling and suspenseful," acclaimed author Conor McPherson's The Seafarer makes its area debut at Geneseo's Richmond Hill Barn Theatre during the play's October 5 through 15 run, this genre-melding 2006 work inspiring the New York Times to rave that "as unlikely as it sounds, The Seafarer may just be the pick-me-up play of the season."
A Tony Award nominee and Olivier Award winner widely considered one of legendary author Harold Pinter's finest stage achievements, the romantic drama Betrayal serves as the first student-produced presentation in Augustana College's 2023-24 theatre season, its October 5 through 8 run sure to demonstrate why this chronologically inventive drama was praised by the New York Times as a work that "balances surface elegance with an aching profundity."
A 2022 Tony Award winner that Variety magazine praised as "filled with depth and relatable characters," author Dominique Morisseau's drama Skeleton Crew enjoys its Quad Cities premiere at Moline's Playcrafters Barn Theatre from October 6 through 15, the lauded work also praised by the New Yor Times as "a swift, well-crafted look at factory workers trapped in an economic 'dumpster fire," and by the New Yorker as a work "bristling and jumping and speeding forward with skillful talk."
Celebrating more than five decades of professional performance with accomplishments including chart-topping success, tens of millions in album sales, and 2000 induction in the Vocal Group Hall of Fame, the rockers of Three Dog Night play Davenport's Adler Theatre on September 28, their repertoire including such timeless hits as “Mama Told Me (Not to Come),” “Black and White,” and the iconic “Joy to the World.”
Touring in support of their 2023 release Lighting Up the Sky that hit number one on Billboard's Top Hard Rock Albums chart, one of the millennium's most successful and acclaimed alternative-metal acts lands in Moline with the arrival of Godsmack, the Grammy Award winners – and inspirations for Boston, Massachusetts' annual "Godsmack Day" – who headline a Vibrant Arena at the MARK concert event on September 28.
Touring in support of his 2022 release Neon Blue, which Holler Country praised as "a crash course in pure country from one of the music university’s finest and most knowledgeable professors," singer/songwriter Joshua Hedley headlines a September 28 concert at Davenport's Raccoon Motel, the artist's latest also inspiring Pitchfork to rave that "the pleasure of Neon Blue is how Hedley subtly twists country conventions, making retro-minded songs and sounds seem both familiar and fresh."
On September 28, the chart-topping, Grammy-winning rockers of the Eagles will be celebrated when Rock Island's Circa '21 Dinner Playhouse hosts the return of 7 Bridges: The Ultimate Eagles Tribute, an evening of beloved, iconic hits sure to include such chart-toppers as "Best of My Love," "One of These Nights," "Heartache Tonight," and "Hotel California."
Praised by The Buffalo News as "fiery, passionate, and deeply musical," the collective musical talents of Organ Fairchild headline a September 29 concert event at Davenport's Redstone Room, their 40-plus years of professional experience inspiring the United Kingdom's Soul & Jazz & Funk to call the outfit "a veritable cocktail of flavours – no gimmicks, no hype."
Because the competition is so fierce, it's hard to say which scene in director Scott Waugh's action sequel Expend4bles is the most repellent. And for the sake of time and our collective sanity, I'm going to ignore every multitudinous instance of brains being splattered via gunfire, the effects for which look like they were added post-production with a red magic marker.
Going to the cineplex or staying in and streaming this weekend? Every Thursday morning at 8:15 a.m. you can listen to Mike Schulz dish on recent movie releases & talk smack about Hollywood celebs on Planet 93.9 FM with the fabulous Dave & Darren in the Morning team of Dave Levora and Darren Pitra. The morning crew previews upcoming releases, too.
Or you can check the Reader Web site and listen to their latest conversation by the warm glow of your electronic device. Never miss a pithy comment from these three scintillating pundits again.
Thursday, September 21: Discussion of A Haunting in Venice, The Inventor, and El Conde, and previews of Dumb Money, It Lives Inside, and the third sequel to Stallone's The Expendables, which we're apparently meant to pronounce as "Expendfourbles."
Is it possible that, regarding his previous Hercule Poirot mysteries, Kenneth Branagh not only read critiques of those films, but actively took their criticisms to heart?
Now playing at area theaters.
Lauded by Variety as "a tender, tactile, and just-sweet-enough story of hidden love, challenged faith, and unwittingly shared grief," writer/director Ofir Raul Grazier's The Cakemaker enjoys a special October 5 screening at Davenport's Figge Art Museum, the 2017 romantic drama also praised by the Los Angeles Times as a work in which "a most fascinating kind of tension results -- an unusual state of affairs that plays fair with the characters, and with us."
On display through September 29, Matthew Terry's fascinating photography exhibit Revisiting Past Exposures will be housed in the ArtSpace Gallery of Moline's Black Hawk College, boasting works by the contemporary photographer, author, and graduate of the Academy of Art University, where Terry earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts in photography with a focus in fine art photography in 2014.
Offering visitors the chance to experience what it's like being in the front row of Spartan athletics, the University of Dubuque's Bisignano Art Gallery will house Photo Finish: Sports Photography at UD through September 29, this special exhibit timed to coincide with the beginning of the new school year and, of course, the start of collegiate football season.
Through September 30, Dubuque's Voices Studios is pleased to present two solo exhibitions that entice the viewer to drawn on their experiences, ideals, memories, and glimpses from the past through Imagination, featuring the abstractions of Amy Carani, and Mural Microcosms, a collection of photographic works by Becky Sisco.
An impressively wide and beautiful variety of paintings by a trio of Midwestern talents will be on display at the Quad City Arts Center through October 6, with the Rock Island venue showcasing oil paintings by Barbara Curtis of Urbana, Illinois; sculptural paintings by Amanda Mulcahy of Chicago; and oil paintings by Tim Olson of Dubuque, Iowa.
On display at Davenport's Figge Art Museum from October 7 through January 8, the arresting historical exhibition Art & Activism at Tougaloo College will explore the inception of this distinctive collection at the intersection of modern art, education, and social justice, and in doing so, will highlight Tougaloo’s evolution as a center for vanguard European and American art shaped by interracial collaboration and the pursuit of civil rights.
You'll get both the current official narrative challenge and What's Happenin' in the Quad Cities.
(Did you know we publish a new Amy Alkon Advice Goddess, Real Astrology, Red Meat cartoon and RCR Crossword every week?)
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