Hosted by the Quad Cities Bicycle Club and beginning at 9 a.m., an eagerly anticipated Memorial Day tradition returns for its 54th year in the May 27 Quad Cities Kwik Star Criterium – a Village of East Davenport event featuring hundreds of adult and youth cyclists participating in 12 bicycle races, with over $10,000 in cash prizes awarded throughout the day.
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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.
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Wildlife, history, geology, and more will be explored when River Action hosts presentations in this year's Channel Cat Talks and Riverine Walks – “Explore the River Series” celebrations of the Quad Cities' unique culture and landscape taking place four times weekly from May 28 through August 31.
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Race is an issue that, in daily life, can feel like a daunting one to approach. Yet Davenport's Putnam Museum & Science Center is addressing the subject head-on in its new, interactive, and accessible traveling exhibition RACE: Are We So Different? Open to museum guests from January 26 through June 15, RACE aims to help visitors of all ages better understand the origins and manifestations of race and racism in everyday life by investigating race and challenging its misconceptions through the framework of science. And as Putnam President and CEO Kim Findlay says, it's an exhibit designed “to explore race through history, science, and culture – which happen to be the three things the Putnam focuses on.”
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Held in conjunction with the German American Heritage Center's current exhibition Enter the Bauhaus: Philosophy of Modern Design and the centenary of its origins, the Davenport venue will host the May 18 presentation The Bauhaus: An Experiment in Art and Design Education, with Friends of Vander Veer president Wynne Schafer giving guests an in-depth look at the many facets of this historically notable artistic style.
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If you want to see how times have changed this legislative session, take a quick look at Senate Bill 1591.
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Ever noticed, whenever someone inconveniences the dominant western power structure, the entire political/media class rapidly becomes very, very interested in letting us know how evil and disgusting that person is? It’s true of the leader of every nation which refuses to allow itself to be absorbed into the blob of the U.S.-centralized power alliance, it’s true of anti-establishment political candidates, and it’s true of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange.
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If you listen closely to what Democratic state Representatives Sam Yingling and Jonathan Carroll are saying in public about their opposition to Governor JB Pritzker's graduated-income-tax proposal, they appear to believe that Pritzker's proposed tax rates aren't high enough.
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The Chicago Police Department reported last week that the number of people murdered in the city fell 10 percent during the first four months of 2019 compared to last year during the same period.
While that's good news and part of a two-year downward trend, lost in much of the coverage was a worrisome murder spike in the month of April.
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There's probably never a good time for a news story about how a source claims you, your wife, and your brother-in-law are under federal investigation. But when that report is aired just days before what is likely the most consequential five weeks of your entire governorship, that's definitely not an opportune moment.
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Brace(let) Yourself: New Ground Theatre’s “American La Ronde,” at the Village Theatre through May 26It’s an unfortunate tale you’ve heard a lot lately: The Village Theatre, home of New Ground Theatre, wound up with water in the basement this past month. But “The show must go on!” is a cliché for a reason, and Friday's opening-night performance of American La Ronde, indeed, went on as planned to recap the romantic journey of a single silver bracelet.
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A thrillingly Americanized version of a controversial German classic serves as the latest presentation by Davenport's New Ground Theatre, with the May 17 through 26 run of author Steven Dietz's American La Ronde the area premiere of a fierce, compelling work in which, according to the Austin Chronicle, “Desire and resentment battle it out in every scene but never in the same way.”
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Don’t let the title of the Circa '21 Dinner Playhouse's Grumpy Old Men: The Musical fool you. I was expecting much yelling at young-'uns and kvetching over chessboards. It’s actually a colorful, fast-paced feast containing no young-'uns (but, yes, one chessboard).
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Though it expresses both the highs and lows of life, the Playcrafters Barn Theatre's Avenue Q – the three-time Tony winner with music and lyrics by Robert Lopez and Jeff Marx and book by Jeff Whitty – is an uplifting treat overall, packed with superb performances.
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In author Aaron Randolph III’s brand-new adaptation of Antoine de Saint-Exupéry’s classic tale The Little Prince, we’re immediately introduced to Aviator (Randolph) as he tells us a tale from his past, in which he crashed his plane and met a boy, Little Prince (Daniel Rairdin-Hale), who is traveling from planet to planet. Aviator and Little Prince have a lot to learn from each other, and this charming production serves up many life lessons.
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Delivering what American Songwriter calls a “frantic, thrilling, roller-coaster ride of a live show,” the California-based musicians of The Devil Makes Three play East Moline's The Rust Belt as Moeller Nights headliners on May 20, showcasing the bluegrass, country, folk, blues, jazz, and ragtime talents that made PopMatters call the group “one of the most exciting American bands in the business.”
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A chart-topping country-music singer/songwriter described by RoughStock.com as “one of Nashville's most talented and loved artists,” Lindsay Ell headlines a May 25 concert at Davenport's Rhythm City Casino Resort Event Center, sharing the soulful talents that led Taste of Country to rave, “There's not another active female in country to compare her to.”
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Currently touring in support of their 2019 release Egowerk, the Kansas-based independent rockers of The Faint play Maquoketa's Codfish Hollow Barn in a May 26 co-presentation with Moeller Nights, their latest recording proving that, according to Riff magazine, “the band can still speak truth to power and culture through infectious melodies and electrifying rhythm.”
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Indie rock by a four-piece ensemble based in Massachusetts and a solo artist based in Washington will be on the May 26 bill at Davenport's Triple Crown Whiskey Bar & Raccoon Motel, with the venue hosting a Moeller Nights concert featuring the layered vocal harmonies of Dutch Tulips and the singularly thoughtful and soulful sound of Chris Otepka's solo project The Heligoats.
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Described by The Obelisk as “among the best in the world at what they do,” the doom-metal musicians of Japan's Church of Misery headline a special Memorial Day concert at the Rock Island Brewing Company, their May 27 set demonstrating why Metal-Archives.com calls the band “a fairly unique and contradictory example of how dark, disturbed, catchy, and even fun this type of music can be.”
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Coincidence is one thing. Yet what are we to make of the fact that, this past weekend, Hollywood released two sequels to movies released within 15 days of each other in 2017, both of which were about men almost slavishly devoted to their dogs? Last Sunday was Mother's Day, but was this most recent Sunday some kind of canine-centric holiday I was unaware of?
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It's nearly impossible to be excited by a movie that merely fulfills your expectations. It's also nearly impossible to be disappointed by one when your expectations are merely that it be lighthearted, fast-paced, and funny, and your expectations are met.
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On one night, over the course of roughly seven hours, Rozz-Tox patrons can witness back-to-back(-to-back-to-back) screenings of four of the greatest and most influential horror films of all time, with the Rock Island venue and 365 Horror Films hosting May 25's “The Classics” quadruple-feature of 1931's Dracula, 1931's Frankenstein, 1941's The Wolf Man, and 1954's Creature from the Black Lagoon.
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In many ways, Long Shot is a traditional rom-com to its teeth: there are slapstick antics and getting-to-know-you montages and familiar pop tunes aplenty; the supporting figures include sensible besties and backstabbing rivals and foolish authority figures; our heroine, when depressed, consumes a pint of Häagen-Daaz in her bathrobe. But it's been a long, time time since a Hollywood feature made me as thunderously happy as I was during director Jonathan Levine's showcase for Charlize Theron, Seth Rogen, and the nearly forgotten pleasure of old-school, grown-up screen romance. And yes: I just referenced “Seth Rogen” and “grown-up” in the same sentence. I also referenced “Seth Rogen” and “Charlize Theron” in the same sentence. We can argue later about which seemed less likely.
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The Reader's Mike Schulz and OurQuadCities.com's Ashe Simpson a
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One of the most renowned artisans in American history, and the beautiful works that bear his name, will be celebrated in a February 16 through May 19 traveling exhibition at the Figge Art Museum, with the Davenport venue showcasing sublime colors and the glorious fragility of glass in Louis Comfort Tiffany: Treasures from the Driehaus Collection.
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Rich oils and paints, vibrant colors, and four-legged majesty will be on display at the Beréskin Gallery & Art Academy from April 27 through May 30, with the Bettendorf venue hosting a showcase of numerous works by Texas artist Laurie Justus Pace in an equine celebration fittingly titled HorsePower.
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Representing a collective 238 years of service to the art programs in local schools and institutes of learning, the new exhibition CREATE: A Celebration of Davenport Community Schools Art Teachers will be on display at Davenport's MidCoast at Bucktown Gallery April 11 through May 31, treating visitors to a dynamic collection of paintings, drawings, sculptures, and works in other visual mediums.
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Sinuous plants, youthful maidens, venomous dragons, and other arresting sights will be on display from January 19 through June 16 at the Figge Art Museum in the Davenport venue's new exhibition Art Nouveau Amphora, a collection of magnificent works of artistic pottery from the late-19th and early-20th Centuries.
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Fascinating new works by a pair of Iowa artists will enjoy an Illinois showcase from May 10 through June 21, as Rock Island's Quad City Arts Center Gallery displays photographs by a Camanche talent in Karen Austin: Abandoned, and paintings by a gifted Cedar Rapids resident in Maureen Healy Mossman: Accidental Stories.
