Welcome to the Quad-Cities! For all of those of you hitting town today for the John Deere Classic’s 50th golf tournament, thanks for checking out your best source for fun, entertainment and good news in the Quad-Cities, QuadCities.com! The tourney is rolling July 7-11 at TPC Deere Run, 15623 Coaltown Rd., East Moline. For more information on tickets and the event, see www.JohnDeereClassic.com. And if you’re in town for the JDC, you might be asking yourself, “What is this Quad-Cities place? Where do I go for a great pizza, or a cold beer, or to check out some entertainment?” Well,... Read More

Pulling upto COYA’S CAFE , I see a grown man in the parking lot sitting quietly in his work truck. He catches my attention because I see him with a half unwrapped burrito in his hand, and tears streaming down his face. I’m genuinely concerned, but I’ve yet to eat today and he looks like he wants to be left alone. Inside Coyas it’s like part candy store part kitchen of magical offerings. I ordered the Carne Asada Burrito and Carne Asada Tostadas. Monday’s for meat eaters. A glass bottle of Mexican Coke, and an order up later I’m back in the parking... Read More

I apologize for the late review. After picking up a couple of gummy bear edibles from Nature’s Treatment of Illinois, I made a mistake. After listening to many of my friends, especially the shady ones I was told to eat only a 1/2 or even a 1/4 of one to start. Being a big guy, whose in a quite a bit of pain i said hell with it and popped a handful. What could it hurt? LEARN FROM ME!. One hour after I said this isn’t “shiznit” I was sitting in the passenger side of my van talking to myself, who was in the driver’s seat about not driving while high. This conversation... Read More

There’s a moment when Countryside’s The Music Man sparks and crackles to life and it’s courtesy of tiny Grace Shinn (played by the sweet Mary Murphy). She single handedly puts the show in her pocket and runs away with it three different times. It’s heart-warming, downright adorable and makes you so happy theatre is back LIVE and off the SCREEN! It makes you wish more of the show was about HER. Unfortunately, it’s not and unfortunately, we rarely get that high from the rest of this production of The Music Man. The Music Man is a treasure. It is a tried and true old school chestnut that... Read More

You know when they say film versions of stage plays often “open them up” with exterior settings or other visual changes that are not possible or feasible in a theater? Well, two already remarkable stage shows at this month’s Mississippi Bend Players – the top-notch professional summer stock at Augustana College – have benefitted from that approach, both without leaving an indoor theater. Just a week after its first 2021 production, “Red” (which premiered in 2012 at QC Theatre Workshop), MBP again transformed the Brunner Theatre Center into a spacious, sophisticated cabaret with Shelley... Read More

Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day? More specifically, a summer evening spent watching a performance of Shakespeare as the sun shines golden on a stone amphitheater? Genesius Guild is showing “Measure for Measure (abridged)”, which will run for two more nights on June 26 and June 27 at 7pm in the Rock Island Lincoln Park “Measure for Measure” showcased a metatheatrical experience and began by introducing the actors to the stage as themselves. Throughout the play, the actors remained visible to the audience. Such a peculiar opening invites the audience to partake in... Read More

Imagine me sitting in a car like Brad Pitt in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood giving finger guns to Mike Schulz and saying, “You’re Mike F-ing Schulz! Don’t you forget it.” He deserves this level of hype, this level of praise, this level of Lets-Put-An-Actor-On-An-Unecessary- Pedastal-ness for Mississippi Bend Players’ new “Red.” All. Of . It. Schulz is pretending at new and frightening heights giving a performance that I found myself simultaneously getting lost in AND studying so I could get bring even a small percentage of this bloke’s grace, believability and sheer... Read More

Words and art are my business – as tools, objects of affection, contemplation and worship, ways to make sense and meaning of life – as they are for “Red,” the brilliant, caustic, literate John Logan play given a fantastic, thrilling new production by Mississippi Bend Players at Augustana College. Over an emotional 90-minute rollercoaster — in an action-packed, dialogue-dense one act, first-class director Cait Bodenbender and peerless actors Mike Schulz and Tristan Odenkirk grab your attention and never let go. It’s as riveting, passionate, thought-provoking – and deeply committed... Read More

“The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It” is streaming on HBO Max Much like life, franchises find a way. Sooner or later, they realize they can’t keep doing the same thing over and over, and they need to evolve. The Fast and the Furious began as a charmingly low rent ripoff of Point Break. With F9 being released a few weeks from now, we’ll see a series that took enormous chances and transformed into something entirely different. We’ve arrived at a point, not unlike the late 1960s, where studios don’t fully know what audiences want and are scared to death about it. Back then,... Read More

So there I am driving home with my sausage pizza from Gunchies Davenport. I’m jamming out to NWA rolling in my 2007 Honda Minivan, Pepto Bismol for my tummy ache that’s coming from my eventual encounter with too much pizza and dog treats for my husky Abrodog Lincoln, all in my reusable Hyvee bag #savetheearth sitting in the passenger seat. I’m loving the new air freshener from Yankee Candle my wife picked out, Vanilla bean ahhhhhh that’s my jam. The chorus starts playing and my extensive 90s gangsta rap lyrics knowledge takes over. Let’s make something clear.... Read More