I got two election fliers in the mail the other day. Being that we’re only a few days away from the April 6 election, and the mayoral race in Rock Island is, from most reports, closely contested between incumbent Mike Thoms and challenger Thurgood Brooks, this is not surprising. But what has been pleasantly surprising is the positive nature of this campaign. While the Moline mayoral race slides around in the mud, with a bunch of slanderous and poorly spelled fliers by a dark money group peddling lies about Stephanie Acri’s challenger, Sangeetha Rayapati, the two men vying for Rock Island’s... Read More

It’s Sunday, and QuadCities.com proudly presents Fun10, a list of the top 10 things to do in the Quad Cities this week, and every week! Every Sunday, we drop a new FUN10, to give you a head start on your week and a heads up on what’s going on over the coming seven days. Check out FUN10 every Sunday for the details on ten awesome events happening around town. It’s a cool read, and a great way to get started planning your entertainment for the week. FUN10 — ten ways for you to have fun in the Quad-Cities, this week and every week, running every Sunday, only on your site for fun, free, local... Read More

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! Especially after this past year, we could all use more joy, color, light and life in our lives, and backers of a new public art plan for Moline want that all for downtown. This past week, Moline Mayor Stephanie Acri and the City Council heard a presentation on the new 102-page Public Art and Placemaking Plan, commissioned by Renew Moline and the city. A nine-member Public... Read More

It’s an odd trend in entertainment and pop culture, but strangely, there are a lot of creative, imaginative and cool creators named John and David. Think about it. Think of all the popular and/or pop culturally influential Johns. John Lennon. John Lydon (aka Johnny Rotten). John Belushi. John Cusack. Johnny Depp. John Steinbeck. John Hiatt. John Waters. Johnny Carson. John Mayer. John Grisham. John Fogerty. John Legend. John Mellencamp. Etc. Etc. And then there are the many Davids: David Letterman. Dave Chappelle. Dave Barry. David Mamet. David Lynch. David Fincher. David Byrne. David Sedaris. David... Read More

Stephanie Acri apparently has a very short memory. It was just four years ago, that previous Moline mayor Scott Raes was set to pretty much cruise to re-election. He’d done a pretty good job as mayor, voters seemed to like him, and there didn’t seem to be much reason to switch leadership for the city. Then Raes made the monumentally huge mistake of contesting the candidacy of one of the most popular men in the Quad-Cities, “Mr. Thanksgiving,” Bob Vogelbaugh (as well as Acri’s candidacy) over a ridiculous technicality that they didn’t number the pages in their... Read More

Two icons of the Quad-Cities indie scene celebrate birthdays today, as Moline’s CoOp Records and Rock Island’s Rozz Tox are both blowing out the candles (Rozz Tox’ are probably on cupcakes), and although they’re both suffused with a spirit of fun, their success is serious testament to hard work and an example of how to do local business right. It was 26 years ago that music scene fixture and die-hard Replacements fan Reid Robinson decided to take the leap and open up CoOp at 3727 Avenue of the Cities, Moline. Little did he know he was getting in when the getting was about to get anything... Read More

So, the latest ridiculous pop cultural controversy out there is over the Lil Nas X “Montero” video, which has right wing conservative social media throwing holy water, exorcisms, and epithets in equal measure at the singer who shot to fame with “Old Town Road.” As one person cried on Twitter, Lil Nas X has completely disappointed them because their kids loved “Old Town Road,” which also featured Billy Ray Cyrus, whose daughter, Miley, has been the target of some of these same holy rollers trying to condemn pop cultural provocateurs. Which is…... Read More

It’s Sunday, and QuadCities.com proudly presents Fun10, a list of the top 10 things to do in the Quad Cities this week, and every week! Every Sunday, we drop a new FUN10, to give you a head start on your week and a heads up on what’s going on over the coming seven days. Check out FUN10 every Sunday for the details on ten awesome events happening around town. It’s a cool read, and a great way to get started planning your entertainment for the week. FUN10 — ten ways for you to have fun in the Quad-Cities, this week and every week, running every Sunday, only on your site for fun, free, local... Read More

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! You could easily say that Aimee Ford is as cool, friendly and talented AF. The veteran artist, former waitress, and children’s art instructor owns AF Studio on the ground floor of the LeClaire Apartments building, 421 19th St., Moline, and since May 2019 the driven Ford has focused her beautiful visual eye on a new body of work – tattooing the human body. “I’m crazy... Read More

It seems like only yesterday when I turned 13. I remember it distinctly, from my party with my friends to some of the gifts I most cherished (a Converse All-Stars Magic Johnson t-shirt, a Duran Duran album, and other things which would certainly date me as a child of the ’80s.) This week, my own son, Jackson, turns 13. And it’s a much, much, different world from when I entered my teen years. I didn’t have cell phones, or the internet, or anywhere near the entertainment or virtual reality options my son does now. I spent most of my time playing outside, my mom was working most... Read More