Nikki Gillette has always struck me as someone puzzlingly uncertain as to just how amazing she is. Gillette has been a regular on the performing arts scene in the Quad Cities for a while, as a standup comedian, musician, burlesque performer and actress. She teaches art to kids at Blue Grass Elementary, manages the traveling comedy troupe Show Us Your Pokeballs, models, haunts and does makeup at Terror at Skellington Manor, and is involved with other local groups such as Moonshine Misfits Burlesque and Open Source Improv. She’s also a columnist for this website. She’s smart, funny, beautiful... Read More

Ballet Quad-Cities will be performing the holiday classic, “The Nutcracker” this weekend, 2:30 and 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 8 and 2:30 Sunday, Dec. 9, at the Adler Theatre, 136 E. 3rd St., Davenport! The past several weeks they’ve been hard at working putting together this masterpiece, and here are some of the troupe’s pictures of rehearsals and dress performances! For tickets and more information, check out www.ticketmaster.com and www.balletquadcities.com!  Read More

On Saturday October 20th, Saint Ambrose University Library hosted a “Comics Gaming Entertainment” event (https://libguides.sau.edu/c.php?g=838240&p=5987350). I had friends setting up at the event, so I decided I’d pop over and see what was on offer. I’ve never been to Saint Ambrose before, even though a friend of mine spent his college years there. So after finding the library, mostly through luck. I walked into the Saint Ambrose library to see what was on offer that morning. After walking through the front doors the first thing I noticed was five tables set up in the main... Read More

There’s always plenty of positive news in the Quad-Cities, and we here at QuadCities.com are always happy to put a spotlight on it! Every month I present this column, What’s The Good News?, in which I highlight some of the awesome things going on in and around the area. I also talk about these things on my regular spot the first Wednesday of each month on KWQC-TV6’s “Paula Sands Live.” So, what’s the good news for this month? Let’s find out…   Ballet Quad Cities Goes Nuts For Helping Students Ballet Quad Cities is helping out Davenport third grade students in their goal of... Read More

In the last two weeks DC Comics has released two comics that have garnered a lot of attention. Just to be safe let’s establish both spoiler and mature content warnings. Two weeks ago was the release of Batman: Damned #1. Which included the first appearance of Batman’s penis, affectionately dubbed The Batawang (not in the comic itself, obviously).  This sparked some controversy, which should have been expected, but is so tiresome. Some retailers got angry that a book, heralded as DC’s first comic in their Black Label line of mature readers comics, but unlike Vertigo these comics... Read More

QuadCities.com’s Sean Leary checked out the exciting opening night win for the QS Storm! The Storm roared back from a 3-1 deficit with just seven minutes remaining to knot it at 3-3 and send it to overtime! Then with less than two minutes left they buried a penalty shot to win their team opener 4-3 and send fans into a frenzy! For more coverage always check out your official site for QC Storm coverage, QuadCities.com!  Read More

You like booze, you really like booze! Due to popular demand, and a whole lot of people reading my last food/beverage review of the Minty Mango brew at Radicle Effect, we at QuadCities.com have decided to start up a new feature, Let’s Have A Drink With Sean Leary, in which I’ll be going around to different brew pubs in the area and trying out various beers, the more unusual the better, and reporting back to you with my opinions and pithy comments. It’s a tough job, folks, but someone’s got to do it. And by someone, I mean me. But it’s not all fun and games, folks. Sometimes I have to... Read More

Let it be… on ice? A very strange rumor began to surface late this week that former Beatle Paul McCartney had accepted an invitation to be a VIP to the Quad City Storm’s home opening game this Saturday at 7 p.m. at the TaxSlayer Center, 1201 River Drive, Moline. According to various reports, hub-bub, gossip and chewing the fat, Paul McCartney is a big hockey fan, and, wanting to check out the TaxSlayer prior to his gig there next summer, he accepted an invitation, replete with many perks, including a nacho bar with a Velveeta cheese river, a case of Natty Light, a hoverboard with ground effects... Read More

So… let’s talk about season two of Iron Fist. And I don’t want you to think that’s a condemnation of season two. I would go so far as to say that season two of Iron Fist is the best show of all the second seasons of Marvel’s Netflix series. Which came as a big surprise to me, as I’m sure it did to most people. Not that I hated the first season, it just wasn’t the show I expected given the source material. I was definitely expecting more out of season two, mostly because the show runner for season one, Scott Buck, was placed in charge of Inhumans after he... Read More

There are millions of people around the world, every day, that do fantastic things for their communities, and thousands of those are right here in our Quad-Cities! People are helping others, coming up with charity shows and promotions, volunteering their time and efforts and talents, and doing things to make our community a terrific place to live. About a decade ago, I ran a website called www.getyourgoodnews.com, which featured nothing but all good news, all the time. When I joined up with www.quadcities.com, I brought that same ethic of journalism – reporting the good, the positive, offering... Read More