When the Covid pandemic shut life down in mid-March, Davenport singer-songwriter Jordan Danielsen was shocked to find his full-time work gone. For years, he’s performed within a two-hour radius of the Quad-Cities, at casinos, wineries, bars, breweries, and senior-citizen homes — all places that closed. Like  other artists, Danielsen shifted his focus to online and outdoor performing, and he’s survived. “August and September is usually my busiest time, and it was this year too,” he said this week. “A lot of private parties, stuff like that. It’s still nice enough to be out on... Read More

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. Tom Vaccaro is seven years older than the beloved TV/film actor Michael J. Fox, but it was just a year ago that the Davenporter was diagnosed with the disease that’s long affected Fox – Parkinson’s. The veteran actor-musician-illustrator (who was featured in the Black Box Theatre’s radio play in August) thinks he had symptoms of Parkinson’s disease (PD) before he was diagnosed... Read More

MACOMB, IL – Two Western Illinois University professors, who are members of the McDonough County League of Women Voters, are bringing voter registration information to the WIU community. Anthropology Professor Heather McIlvaine-Newsad and Political Science Professor Julia Albarracin are teaching students how to register to vote. They are also working with a group of students, organized by Erbin Zejnuloski and University Television, to create a video encouraging voter registration. “In 2020, Millennials and Generation Z students will compose the largest share of eligible voters, and we want... Read More

Are Netflix executives reading our minds? There’s been an eerie pattern throughout the pandemic, in regard to the most popular programming emerging on the streaming platform. In an uncanny way, it’s mirrored the attitudes and zeitgeist of society at that time, especially over the past year during the time of covid. Certainly, some of it can be chalked up to unconscious needs and preferences being manifested in viewing choices — of people being attracted to certain programs at certain times and them becoming popular because the vast majority of us are feeling a certain thing at... Read More

MACOMB, IL — This year’s annual visit to the corn maze at Western Illinois University’s Horn Field Campus will be administered in a new way to follow the University’s event protocol. The maze will be open Saturdays and Sundays in October, beginning Oct. 10. Reservations will be required to attend the activity this fall. Planning and preparation take on a whole new scenario as we want to do our best to maintain the safety of our participants. The event is limited to 50 attendees at one time, so reservations will be taken in one hour blocks on Saturdays and Sundays in October. Social... Read More

We’re falling into fall, and looking at some of the good news and positive things going on around the Quad-Cities, as we HAVE DONE (foreshadowing there) every month in What’s The Good News, Quad-Cities? Every month around this time, we’ve dropped this column on QuadCities.com and I appear on our media partner show, “Paula Sands Live” on KWQC-TV6 to give you a rundown of some of the cool things going on in and around the area. It’s all good news, all the time. AND… because this has been such a popular feature since it debuted three years ago, we’ve decided to give you... Read More

Kelly and Tammy Rundle of Fourth Wall Films have been busy doing outdoor shooting at a restored Bettendorf schoolhouse. The footage will be used in the Forest Grove School’s new museum film and their new documentary feature, Resurrecting Forest Grove. The Rundles’ are in post-production on the schoolhouse museum film and hope to have it wrapped in November. Resurrecting Forest Grove’s release date has been pushed back to early 2022 due to the Covid pandemic. “We are in fundraising mode again for the documentary,” producer Tammy Rundle said recently. “The pandemic has... Read More

MACOMB, IL — The local nonprofit Western Illinois Dreamers offers up to $2,000 in rent/housing and utilities assistance for immigrant students (does not include international students) who lost income or suffered a hardship during the COVID-19 pandemic, such us increased health care costs. The information students provide is confidential. For more information, contact students Anthony Gomez, a-gomez6@wiu.edu and Alondra Lavariega, A-Lavariega@wiu.edu, or Professor Julia Albarracin. J-albarracin@wiu.edu at (309) 836-5202, or apply directly at forms.gle/Myg6URSKEhMqgcBs7.  Read More

Ten years ago, when Davenport jazz drummer Josh Duffee first performed with jazz singer Cecile McLorin Salvant in England, he knew he was in the presence of some kind of genius. This week, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation agreed, awarding the 31-year-old from Brooklyn, N.Y. one of its 21 “genius grants.” The foundation – which “supports creative people, effective institutions, and influential networks building a more just, verdant, and peaceful world” — each year hands out the MacArthur Fellowship, a $625,000, no-strings-attached grant for individuals who have shown... Read More

MACOMB/MOLINE, IL – Western Illinois University is waiving the $30 application fee for undergraduate, graduate, and international students who apply to WIU (wiu.edu/apply) between Oct. 1-31. Graduating high school seniors and transfer students, dual enrollment students, graduate students and international students, as well as those applying through the Bachelor of General Studies (BGS) program, who apply for admission to Western for the Spring 2021 and Fall 2021 semesters, will have the application fee waived during the fee waiver month beginning at 12 a.m. Thursday, Oct. 1 through 11:59 p.m.... Read More