Following suit with Governor JB Pritzker’s call for all restaurants and bars to shut their doors, Circa ’21 Dinner Playhouse in Rock Island is closing through March 31. Circa made the following announcement on their Facebook page today: CIRCA ’21 IS CLOSED THROUGH MARCH 31. Because of the state-mandated restrictions on restaurants & bars, Circa ’21 is closed for the next two weeks. We will call everyone who has tickets for March performances to reschedule. Please do not call the ticket office as phones will be off until Monday, March 23. We apologize for the inconvenience... Read More

Mike Rankins is putting the pep back in Pac Man, the thrills into Evel Knievel’s pinball machine and the spring back in Mario’s step. That’s because the Muscatine-born-and-raised 46-year-old is the mastermind behind The Land of Oz Arcade Restoration, 801 Oregon Street, Muscatine, a business dedicated to repairing any and all arcade games, personal video games, electronics and more. Rankins has been restoring video games and related ilk for over 25 years, mostly as a hobby, but after repairing over 200 games over the Christmas season two years ago and continuing to rake in the pixels, he decided... Read More

Two icons of the Quad-Cities indie scene celebrate birthdays today, on April Fools Day. Moline’s CoOp Records and Rock Island’s Rozz Tox are both blowing out the candles (Rozz Tox’ are probably on cupcakes), and although they’re both suffused with a spirit of fun, their success is serious testament to hard work and an example of how to do local business right. It was 24 years ago that music scene fixture and die-hard Replacements fan Reid Robinson decided to take the leap and open up CoOp at 3727 Avenue of the Cities, Moline. Little did he know he was getting in when the getting was about... Read More

To say Rock Islanders were a wee bit miffed about city officials blowing $15 million and getting stiffed by Walmart is like saying Bix Beiderbecke played around with music as a little hobby. The outrage has been justifiably hot. As I said in my last column, the city overspent by millions buying up decrepit properties on 11th street ostensibly to create space for a new Walmart which didn’t materialize. That money could’ve, and should’ve, gone to help already existing businesses owned by locals or to help local entrepreneurs looking to start up locally-owned businesses in the area. After all,... Read More