Saturday in the Arts is a weekly feature covering a trend, subject, event or personality of local interest. It runs every Saturday morning on your site for the best entertainment and arts coverage in the area, QuadCities.com! Billed as “Music City,” Nashville, Tenn., has long been a magnet for musicians around the world. That was especially true earlier this month for the Quad-Cities’ Avey Grouws Band, which spent a couple weeks in the area recording and mixing their latest album. Tentatively titled “Tell Tale Heart,” with an expected September 2021 release, the band’s second disc was mainly... Read More

As the Covid-19 vaccine becomes more readily available, UnityPoint Health – Trinity is welcoming new vaccine appointments for individuals according to state guidelines. You can schedule your vaccine appointment without having to hear from them first: New appointments are being accepted now for Express – Duck Creek in Bettendorf for anyone age 16 and older, and Express Care – North Port in Muscatine for anyone age 18 and older. Residents of Illinois or Iowa may register for either location. The Duck Creek clinic is at 1417 Kimberly Road. A new online scheduling tool at www.unitypoint.org/quadcities/covid-19-vaccine.aspx is... Read More

While last year’s Quad City Arts Chalk Art Fest was virtual, the fifth-annual event will be back live and in person June 26-27, at Schwiebert Riverfront Park, in downtown Rock Island, directly across the street from Quad City Arts headquarters and gallery. Last year’s event was spread out over two weeks in the second half of August, where 100 artists chalked up their driveways, porches and sidewalks, and the first-place winner was from southern California. Inspiring and engaging for people of all ages, this free, two-day street painting festival in June will bring together hundreds of local... Read More

After the year we’ve all had, we all could use a little peace, love and understanding. And as she’s done for years, Rita Melissano, Ph.D., has a new way of delivering those priceless commodities. A passionate Italian, Melissano is the former director of the holistic Satva Center in Rock Island, Trinity Enrichment Center in Davenport, and among her many roles, is a psychologist, marriage and family therapist, holistic psychotherapist, mindfulness teacher and trainer, meditation teacher, Reiki master teacher and ordained minister. After four years based in southern California, she recently moved... Read More

Isabel Dawson, a 2020 Augustana College graduate, wears many hats – which each reflect her many skills in theater and business. The bright, enthusiastic 23-year-old, who did a lot of theater in high school in Normal, Ill., is the new assistant executive director for Genesius Guild and is helping assemble this summer’s abridged schedule of three productions outside in Rock Island’s Lincoln Park. Doug Tschopp has been executive director for about 15 years, involved in Genesius for 25 years, and worked closely with Dawson at Augie, where she majored in theater and business management. “I just... Read More

Get an in-depth look at the latest traveling exhibit at the Figge Museum tonight! You can attend a virtual talk at 6:30 p.m. by American artist Ann Gale, who is featured in the traveling exhibit “For America,” through May 16. Gale is known for her complex and expressive oil paintings of individuals. Gale earned her BFA from Rhode Island College and her MFA from Yale University. She is a Professor of Fine Arts at the University of Washington, Seattle. Gale is an American figurative painter based in Seattle, Wash. Gale received her BFA from the Rhode Island College and her MFA from Yale University.... Read More

The Figge Café, featuring the culinary skills of Quad-City native Chef Jason Stewart, will reopen to the public on Thursday, April 22. It’s inside the Figge Art Museum, 225 W. 2nd St., Davenport. Stewart, who is also known as “Chef Stu” and owner of Zeke’s Island Café in Bettendorf, will be introducing a completely updated menu that will launch in conjunction with the Café’s reopening. Items include a variety of sandwiches — including the Rustic Burger, that is ground fresh and hand pressed daily, vegetable cheddar chowder soup, loaded Caesar and B.L.T. salads with homemade salad... Read More

March 2021 was the Quad Cities International Airport’s busiest month in a whole year, the airport announced Wednesday. Restored routes and additional spring break service gave the Q-C Airport in Moline an increase of nearly 12,000 passengers from the previous month. This improved traffic to a 46-percent decline over 2019, compared to the 56-60% decline that has been the norm for the past several months. “All indications have pointed toward a pent-up demand for travel and we’re seeing the evidence of that here,” QCIA executive director Benjamin Leischner said in the airport release. “The... Read More

The last time Angela Rathman performed on stage was over two years ago – in Prenzie Players’ “Macbeth,” in January 2019 – when she embodied a witch, a murderer, a thane and a doctor. The Prenzie veteran – who also co-starred in Genesius Guild’s “Taming of the Shrew” (as Kate) in 2011 – is making her debut at the four-year-old Black Box Theatre of the Quad Cities, 1623 5th Ave., Moline, in a familiar staged reading. Starting Thursday night, Rathman joins Susan Perrin-Sallak, Liz Coin, Joanna Mills, Kim Kurtenbach, and Kayla Jo Pulliam in Nora and Delia Ephron’s “Love, Loss... Read More

A year after being canceled because of Covid-19, the annual bi-state Red, White and Boom fireworks display in downtown Davenport and Rock Island will return this year and is scheduled for July 3, 2021. Red, White and Boom is the largest fireworks display in the Quad-Cities, shot from two barges in the middle of the Mississippi River. “We are thrilled to welcome people back to the riverfront for our regional celebration of America’s Independence Day,” said Mike Matson, Mayor of Davenport. “Our new Quinlan Court will be open, and activities in Modern Woodmen Park and LeClaire Park are being... Read More