Tonight I got two phone numbers. I wasn’t trying for either, however I guess I still have game. Not many BBQ ribs around here are suck-the-meat-off-the-bone good. But hot damn Smokey’s Country Diner in East Moline is a winner. There I was minding my own business, gnawing every morsel of deliciousness off the bone when I looked up and saw his face. At first I thought he was disgusted. He looked away quickly and I continued my vigorous method until the bone was clean. Shortly afterwards I even licked my plate clean. Now, at that time, the person who I thought was the man’s... Read More

Sixteen months after the Spotlight Theatre staged its last major musical, it’s provided the pitch-perfect, post-pandemic production – “You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown.” Simple, sweet, nostalgic – both exuberantly childlike and loaded with the weight of the world on its young shoulders – the beloved 1967 musical based on the classic “Peanuts” characters has deeply resonated with me my whole life. First, I’m sure like many socially awkward boys, I always closely identified with the title “Everyman” role. Charlie Brown is the cartoon reflection of “Mister Cellophane” (from... Read More

I really wanted to enjoy Quad-City Music Guild’s first complete musical in a year and a half, “Monty Python’s Spamalot,” which is available to be streamed online June 11 and 12 at 7:30 p.m., and June 13 at 2 p.m. But due more to its supremely silly, groan-inducing, seemingly unending source material than its eminently capable cast and crew, this two-hour-plus filmed version is disappointingly lifeless and unsatisfying. Despite opening on the day where the state of Illinois is allowing all theaters to open at full audience capacity, the Guild months ago decided to stage “Spamalot” with... Read More

Lora Adams. Wendy Czekalski. Matt Walsh. You already want a ticket, don’t you? You should. Go. Reserve those tickets. I’ll wait. Got ‘em? Great! Let’s talk! ‘Hate Mail.’ It’s You’ve Got Mail gone wrong, gone filthy and gone 2020. You need to add it to your weekend plans. You’ll thank me later. Written by Bill Corbett and Kira Obolensky, ‘Hate Mail’ is a bitchy, sardonic and bitingly romantic (?) comedy featuring two characters – Preston Dennis Jr. (the always incredible Matt Walsh) and Dahlia Markle (a super funny Wendy Czekalski) – who sit at individual tables... Read More

“Plan B” is streaming on Hulu A while back, Toni Morrison said, “All good art is political.” I think that’s about right, yet I’d take it a step further and say that all art is political — full stop. Does that mean that every movie you see and every book you read has an overt political agenda? No. What I would say is that to quote an interesting article from the American Psychological Association, “Politics is personal.”* “But why do movies have to be political? Why do they have to be so woke” I see people whining. These folks conveniently forget that movies have always... Read More

If you’ve ever met Don Faust you’d know he’s one of the nicest, funniest and most positive blokes on this planet. So it comes with some shock and awe that this not-quite-but-sort-of-autobiographical play dives into a not-so-cheery part of his life that under some circumstances would disavow a gleeful demeanor. Leave it to Faust to rise way, way above a troubled and rather tortured past to treat others the exact opposite. I think that’s why the play hit me the way it did. It was personal. On a few levels. I have known Don for … who knows … maybe close to 20 years now and though... Read More

While I had been inside Circa ’21 Dinner Playhouse a few times over the past year (for interviews and an audition), I had not been back before Wednesday to see an actual stage show since January 2020. Like a certain Dorothy once said, “There’s no place like home.” And even with what seems like the final phase of Covid restrictions (patrons seated every other table, no buffet, servers wearing masks), Circa still dependably seems like a comforting, familiar home away from home for me. In the capable hands of Bootlegger Kathryn Calhoun, I was simply overjoyed to be back for a tasty dinner... Read More

“The Dry” is streaming on Prime We all have secrets. From the smallest to the most squalid, everyone has a moment, a decision that they dearly wish the rest of the world would never discover. It’s part of being human, and the good news is that for the vast majority of us, our secrets don’t really matter all that much in the grand scheme of things. But here’s the thing about secrets — if you live in a big, bustling urban environment, you also live with a cloak of anonymity. You can be about your business with minimal worry of being discovered. Small towns, though? The kinds of... Read More

“Benny Loves You” is streaming on Prime Back in the day, the vast majority of scary cinema didn’t exactly knock themselves out in terms of a smart script, committed actors, or innovative directors. The feeling was that audiences wanted gore, gratuitous nudity, and jump scares, so why bother casting pearls before swine? You know what? I get it. During my first couple years of college, many of my friends would spend their Friday nights going to a game, checking out a party, going on a date, and in some vanishingly rare circumstances, getting schoolwork done. Baby Tim didn’t do much... Read More

“North Hollywood” is Streaming On Demand. A few years from now, my kid will graduate from high school. Before that happens, he’ll live in a world where his primary focus is getting good grades in school and spending enormous amounts of time online with his friends. The vast majority of decisions regarding his well-being are made by either his mother or me. Once graduation happens, he’ll enter a world that’s sometimes hostile and frequently irrational. He’ll have to take on the load of higher education, decide what his potential career path will be, juggle relationships, and... Read More