Like most musicians, Joe Nichols is just glad to be back playing live in front of a paying audience. The 43-year-old Arkansas native will bring his traditional country sound to Murphy Park at The Bend, East Moline, Saturday at 8 p.m. It’s an acoustic show with a few other accompanying performers, and two opening acts. This is the first concert at the park (next to The Hyatt, Bend Event Center, and near The Rust Belt) since Sept. 11, 2019, when Murphy Park concluded its 2019 summer concert series. “Any time we can play live, we look forward to it,” Nichols, who lives in Tyler, Tex., said in... Read More

“If you work in the media, you’re going to get fired.” My college Journalism 101 teacher said that to our eager group of 18-year-olds on my first day in his class. Great way to introduce us to his curriculum, and the business, right? He told us it wasn’t meant to be a cautionary statement, merely a pragmatic one. That’s the business. That’s media. Ownership changes, management changes, budgets get cut, formats and directions get shifted, and the people in the trenches are the ones who are usually set loose. You have to have a thick skin, a backup plan, and the ability not to take it... Read More

I want to give kudos to Rein Razer. In our story earlier this week on QuadCities.com on her upcoming burlesque show, Rein Razer’s Court of Royalty, coming to Village Theater tonight, she said the following:   “I got the idea from how the Speakeasy was doing their booking for shows.”   Seems simple, right? Just actually acknowledging that you got the idea for something from someone else on the local arts scene. But you’d be surprised at how little this is done. More often, much more often, people have an incredible selective amnesia about things others in the scene... Read More

QuadCities.com and WVIK reporter Jonathan Turner has won a prestigious honor! According to Turner’s Facebook announcement Wednesday night: “I am thrilled to announce that I will finally be able to use the word “Pulitzer” on my resume!!! No, I’m not getting a Pulitzer Prize anytime soon, but the Pulitzer Center for Crisis Reporting in Washington, D.C., is financially supporting the Prairie State Museums Project. “It’s a new collaborative effort of 16 journalists across Illinois (I’m the only one in the Quad-Cities) to compile two stories each on how... Read More

After 11 weeks being closed due to the coronavirus, the Putnam Museum & Science Center is taking longer to reopen than many other Iowa businesses and organizations, in order to present a new visitor experience. The 153-year-old Davenport institution, at 1717 W. 12th St., has been closed since March 16, and is planning to reopen for small summer camps July 6, for members July 8 to 12, and to the general public July 15, with new safety precautions. Putnam president/CEO Rachael Mullins says the summer camps July 6-8 will be limited to just 10 kids each, to allow for more social distancing. When... Read More

For the first time since 1949, the sweet sound of music will not play in Prospect Park. Quad City Music Guild became the latest arts organization to cancel its summer 2020 season, due to the Covid-19 pandemic, it announced Wednesday. Following a March 13 decision to cancel the planned spring show, “The Secret Garden,” at Music Guild’s April 21 board meeting, they decided to cancel the three summer productions (all already cast) – “Spamalot,” “Mamma Mia!,” and “Matilda.” “Our hope is to bring you these three shows, along with our previously canceled spring production, ‘The... Read More

DAVENPORT — Several nonprofits and donors in the area are banding together to help many in the Quad-Cities hurt by the coronavirus crisis. Last month, the Regional Development Authority canceled its spring grant cycle and instead is supporting a Quad Cities Community Foundation disaster relief fund and local nonprofits that serve the most vulnerable. Matt Mendenhall, president/CEO of RDA, said applications are normally due at the end of March for the spring; the board would approve grants in mid-May, and checks sent by late May or early June. “When we looked at what was going on, we realized... Read More

T.S. Eliot had it all wrong. In “The Waste Land,” the poet wrote “April is the cruelest month.” Well, five days before we can kick it into the dustbin of history, it’s safe to say that dishonor now belongs to March. At least March 2020, which has seen one bone-crushing loss after another for many around the world, me especially. Just one of the latest is from our beloved Quad-Cities theater community – of which I’ve been honored to share as longtime arts reporter for the Dispatch/Argus (and later Quad City Times), as well as piano accompanist and occasional stage performer. The singular... Read More

Facebook is intrinsically its own support group, albeit without donuts and coffee. Users routinely share (maybe too much) every aspect of their lives, and their friends respond in kind, with support, suggestions, challenge, or argument. Katie Young of Coal Valley — a married, homeschooling mom who’s already very busy juggling her nine kids — recently saw the need for another  group within Facebook, so she formed the QCA Love Thy Neighbor Coronavirus Support Group, to help others navigate these treacherous, uncharted waters in a surreal sea. Young, who’s homeschooled... Read More

Sunday, March 22, was an important day — and not only because it was the 90th birthday of legendary Broadway composer Stephen Sondheim, whose moving ballad “No One Is Alone” carries extra weight nowadays. In this crazy, continually changing time of Covid-19, this past Sunday was the first I can remember our church ever canceling its worship service. I have been piano accompanist at Davenport’s Zion Lutheran Church since 1999; performing each week and becoming close to many of its members have been highlights of my life. Among religious congregations nationwide that closed their doors,... Read More