Saturday In The Arts is a weekly look at a personality, place, trend or topic of interest to the Quad-Cities. It runs every Saturday morning on your site for fun, free, local entertainment and features, QuadCities.com. Already, 2020 has been an American horror story like no other, but apparently some people still long to be scared some more – during a haunted house season like no other. The Covid-19 crisis also has upended many other traditional Halloween activities. Coronavirus – which has caused 9,663 deaths in Illinois and 1,617 in Iowa (as of Oct. 23) — has led Illinois to become... Read More

Have you heard about the Quad-Cities’ own serial killer? The tale of an angry brothel owner in Bucktown? What about Davenport’s connection to the Barrow gang (of “Bonnie and Clyde” fame)? You can learn about these urban legends and historic Davenport’s dark past in a virtual program presented Sunday by Kelly Lao, executive director of the German American Heritage Center & Museum. The free 2 p.m. Zoom lecture includes Davenport artist Bruce Walters’s famous Halloween inspired photography and ominous art works. Milan serial killer Henry Bastian was a German immigrant farmer,... Read More

Next time you hop on Amazon to buy something online, consider keeping your money in the Quad-Cities. That’s the thrust of a new campaign from the Quad Cities Chamber of Commerce, which has launched “Keep It QC,” to bring awareness to the power of doing business locally. According to Chamber representatives, buying local has many tangible economic benefits for the region, in addition to helping area businesses rebound faster from the financial impact of Covid-19. “Keep It QC is about educating members of our community about why buying local should be the first choice every time,” Erin... Read More

MOLINE – Brandon Nees squinted into the sun Wednesday morning at the dilapidated, vacant Spiegel building, and all he saw was bright, boundless possibility. That’s partly because the 25-year-old Davenport artist, who graduated from Moline High School, painted the word “possibility” in big turquoise block letters across seven plywood panels – among nine colorful 7.6-foot-by-6.75 feet panels he created for a $10,000 public mural on the boarded-up ground floor of the city-owned Spiegel building off River Drive (200 20th St.) in downtown Moline. “It’s amazing,” Nees said of the finished... Read More

The 1953 Samuel Beckett classic “Waiting for Godot” has had a long wait for its premiere Thursday at Moline’s Black Box Theatre. But it’s perfect for a pandemic-plagued 2020. Directed by local theater veteran Mike Schulz (an Augustana College alum), he started rehearsals in May, originally as a partnership between QC Theatre Workshop and Mississippi Bend Players. A plan to do the mainly two-person play outside at a pavilion behind Brunner Theatre Center was later shelved, and it’s now going up independently at the small Black Box with a maximum audience of 26 – masks are required –... Read More

What year is it? There are scores of protests over racial injustice and civil rights. There’s rioting and police brutality. A global pandemic kills tens of thousands of Americans. A bitter presidential election featuring a former vice president. Debates over law and order and the limits of free speech. Of course, you could be talking about this year, with its collision of cataclysmic crises. But that also summarized 1968, which also featured the shocking assassinations of Martin Luther King, Jr., and Robert F. Kennedy, which fed into the massive violence in Chicago during the August Democratic... Read More

A new exhibit at Quad City Arts’ Rock Island Gallery through Dec. 11, is called “Extraordinary Women,” large-scale paintings by Jaclyn Garlock. Garlock’s paintings depict life-sized women engaging in non-salaried work — from cooking to laundry to volunteering — and enjoying themselves as they do it. The titles of her paintings are borrowed from song lyrics, which is appropriate since she lives in Clear Lake, Iowa, home of the Surf Ballroom, where some say, “the music died.” That line (from Don McLean’s immortal “American Pie”) memorializes the 22-year-old rock pioneer... Read More

There’s no place like the Raven’s Grin Inn, about an hour north of the Quad-Cities, and Joshua Bentley of East Moline is helping make sure that the unique 19th-century mansion stays open in the future. The leader of the goth rock band Pitch Black Manor, Bentley is assisting the closed year-found attraction with fundraising. If you donate at least $5 on Raven’s Grin Inn’s Paypal, get a free download of the band’s Halloween-themed album “Monster Classics,” which was released over the summer. “This is a culturally relevant experience near the Q-C that needs to stay in business,”... Read More

The Putnam Museum & Science Center’s virtual Mad Scientist Ball, on Saturday, Oct. 17, raised $26,735, with donations still coming in. “I am THRILLED with the success of the event,” Nisha Ladlee, the Putnam’s vice president of development, said Monday by e-mail. “Everyone really seemed to enjoy themselves. Eric Sorenson was a phenomenal emcee and Emily Calandrelli was wonderful as our celebrity guest. This was the Putnam’s first time holding a virtual fundraiser and we are grateful for the support from our community locally, but also to those who tuned in and supported from different... Read More

We’re all hungry for some peace, calm and normalcy. The recent announcement of the 2020 Nobel Peace Prize rang true to regional artist Cecile Houel, who is passionate about diversity and justice. Her portraits of Nobel Peace Prize laureates have been extended at the Beréskin Art Gallery & Academy, 2967 State St., Bettendorf, through the end of the month. She will offer a free tour of her exhibit Friday, Oct. 23 at 2 p.m. Houel – who is based in Fort Madison, Iowa – will speak about her work on this collection, covering the following topics: Alfred Nobel and the Nobel Society, researches... Read More