Saddle up! Country music’s Cody Road will be ridin’ in to Billy Bobs in the District, downtown Rock Island! Show starts at 7 tonight, pard’ners!    Read More

Imagine it’s Super Bowl Sunday, pre-covid. You’re in your home, minding your own business, watching TV, having a couple beverages with a number of friends, having a good time. Across the street, you see lights on in your neighbors’ houses. You see cars out front. They have guests too, and all of you are enjoying a weekend night. Suddenly, the evening is split by the flashing lights and squeal of two police cars, and an ambulance in tow, roaring down your street and pulling up to your neighbor’s house. Everyone is looking out the windows to see what’s going on. You all see your neighbor... Read More

EXCLUSIVE: Controversy erupted with the ferocity of a barroom brawl on social media Monday night after the Rock Island City Council voted 4-3 to indefinitely maintain a 2 a.m. closing time for bars in the downtown Rock Island District area. It’s worth noting that one of the people voting against the measure was alderman Dylan Parker, whose ward includes the District. The other two were Ivory Clark and Dave Keenan. It’s also worth noting that Parker’s vote against the continued closure is representative of the opinions of his constituency, the bar owners, which were hoping that the council... Read More

As previously reported on QuadCities.com, thousands of businesses statewide including a large number of Quad-Cities businesses, benefited from over $275 million in grants given by the state of Illinois to small businesses negatively impacted by covid-19. According to the business grant website, the Business Interruption Grant (BIG) program was developed by Governor JB Pritzker and the Illinois General Assembly to provide $580 million in economic relief for small businesses hit hardest by COVID-19. BIG – the largest program of its kind in the nation – leverages federal funding provided by the... Read More

Hundreds of Quad-Cities arts, entertainment and leisure businesses and similar businesses statewide — including Rust Belt, Ballet Quad-Cities, RIBCO, Playcrafters, Black Box Theater and more — were given a helping hand today as Governor J.B. Pritzker announced more than $275 million for hard hit businesses across Illinois. Over 9,000 emergency assistance grants have been made to small businesses in over 600 cities and towns statewide through the Business Interruption Grants (BIG) program, according to the  Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity (DCEO), making it the... Read More

And on into the summer… We’re looking back at the year that was in arts and entertainment, 2020. Every day between now and New Year’s Eve, Dec. 31, we’ll be posting a story painting the big picture on the year, a couple months each day. We hope you enjoy the look back, and let’s all hope for a happy new year and a much, much, much, much better 2021! Here’s the latest installment, part five, months July and August. Iowa and Illinois were both opened up to the public in a limited capacity, and many venues opened to the public — some with social distancing restrictions,... Read More

EXCLUSIVE — Illinois Quad-Cities businesses have been notified by the state to begin preparing for a shutdown and covid mitigation procedures beginning Wednesday, multiple sources who asked not to be identified told QuadCities.com today. The sources are all local small business owners, and were notified last night so they could begin preparing. An official announcement from Illinois Governor JB Pritzker will be forthcoming Monday. According to the sources, there will be a number of mitigation actions put in place, including no indoor dining, limits to the number of people gathered in any... Read More

I’m sick of the politics. I’m sick of the politicians. With more people struggling than ever, with more businesses closing, with the covid numbers increasing yet again, just like the scientists predicted (amazing how you can listen to intelligent, learned people and get accurate predictions on what’s likely to happen, isn’t it?), IT’S TIME TO PASS ANOTHER STIMULUS BILL TO HELP PEOPLE STRUGGLING FROM COVID. I wrote another story today, one of probably over 100 this year, about a business closing down due to covid. This time it was Big Swing, in downtown Rock Island,... Read More

Today, negotiations are set to continue on another covid stimulus bill. Nancy Pelosi has said, to her credit, that she doesn’t want Congress to adjourn without another one. And, Steven Mnuchin, also to his credit, has seemed eager to likewise get a deal done. And make no doubt about it, there NEEDS to be another deal. And it NEEDS to get done before Congress goes home for a month for the window dressing of campaigning for votes during a time in which they should be earning them by actually doing something for the people whom they claim to represent. Recent numbers show as many as 60 percent... Read More

The party is ending. Billy Bob’s Redneck Party Bar, not that long ago a thriving business in Rock Island’s downtown strip, announced on Facebook that they were closing next week. Undoubtedly hit incredibly hard by covid-19 and lengthy closures and quarantines, the dance club owners posted the following tonight: It’s with a heavy heart that we have to make this post. Saturday October 3rd will be our last day open. We will be open Thursday, Friday , Saturday next week. 6pm-1am $1 wells and 12oz cans $2 tall boys and calls “jack, captain, etc…” $3 top shelf Drink... Read More