The Quad-Cities theater company Genesius Guild was wearing masks in performance for decades before it was fashionable or medically recommended. After it had to cancel its 2020 summer season at Rock Island’s Lincoln Park Classic Theatre due to Covid, Genesius will be back this summer, with three scaled-back productions in June and July, including an ancient Greek tragedy in mask to close the abbreviated season – ensuring it will all be safe for cast, crew and audiences. The 2021 season will consist of: June 19, 20, 26 and 27: William Shakespeare’s “Measure for Measure,” adapted and abridged... Read More

BREAKING NEWS: In a surprisingly clean-fought yet vigorously challenged campaign, Mike Thoms has won re-election for Mayor of Rock Island over energetic and impressive challenger Thurgood Brooks. According to official results, Thoms won 52-48 percent with a little over 5,000 votes cast. This is Thoms’ second term. He won over a number of challengers in an open field in 2017 after then-mayor Dennis Pauley decided not to run for a third term. The Thoms/Brooks contest was marked by its vigorous intellectual and political debate, with the more centrist Thoms facing off against a decidedly more... Read More

BREAKING: Organizers for the Dawn and On has announced plans to return to Rock Island’s Schwiebert Park for their 6th Annual Music Festival on Saturday July 10.  Last summer’s festival was ultimately cancelled due to COVID-19.  This will mark the fest’s second year at Schwiebert after the previous 4 years in Moline. Festival Co-founder and Marketing Director Mike Mathews is excited to be able to move forward with a 2021 event. “It’s great to get back to some normalcy.  Our first year at Schwiebert was amazing so we’re looking forward to picking up where we left off.  The park is... Read More

Ryan Wille, a former marketing manager of Quad City Botanical Center, has been chosen next executive director of the Rock Island-based nonprofit, succeeding Ami Porter. A 2009 graduate of Bradley University in Peoria, Wille was the marketing manager at QCBC (2525 4th Ave., Rock Island) from March 2016 to October 2018, and since then has been development manager of the Humane Society of Scott County. “Ryan, he is a great leader. He is a wonderful person,” Porter said Tuesday morning. “He is very passionate about the gardens. He cares very much about the success of the gardens and he’s... Read More

I got two election fliers in the mail the other day. Being that we’re only a few days away from the April 6 election, and the mayoral race in Rock Island is, from most reports, closely contested between incumbent Mike Thoms and challenger Thurgood Brooks, this is not surprising. But what has been pleasantly surprising is the positive nature of this campaign. While the Moline mayoral race slides around in the mud, with a bunch of slanderous and poorly spelled fliers by a dark money group peddling lies about Stephanie Acri’s challenger, Sangeetha Rayapati, the two men vying for Rock Island’s... Read More

Manscape Burlesque Quad-Cities will be holding a dance party April 23 at the Speakeasy in downtown Rock Island! Doors open at 7 p.m., show starts at 8! Come and dance with the Sexy Peeps from Manscape Burlesque in this All-New Show Call (309) 786 7733 ext 2 for tickets!  Read More

Two icons of the Quad-Cities indie scene celebrate birthdays today, as 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 26 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 to get anything... Read More

Quad City Arts presents the 44th-annual High School Art Invitational at Quad City Arts Gallery in Rock Island, from Saturday, March 27 through April 29, 2021. The exhibition is free and open to the public. The gallery (1715 2nd Ave., Rock Island) will be open extended hours — until 8 p.m. — on April 1 and 29th.  A virtual award presentation will go live on Quad City Arts Facebook page on April 1st, along with an online gallery where all of the entries can be viewed at www.quadcityarts.com/hs-invitational.html, This exhibition features exemplary works of art selected by each high... Read More

Quad City Arts presents the 44th Annual High School Art Invitational at Quad City Arts Gallery in Rock Island, from March 27-April 29, 2021. The exhibition is free and open to the public. The gallery will be open extended hours-until 8 pm-on April 1 and 29th.  A virtual award presentation will go live on Quad City Arts Facebook page on April 1st, along with an online gallery where all of the entries can be viewed: https://www.quadcityarts.com/hs-invitational.html This exhibition features exemplary works of art selected by each high school art teacher in the region. On the average, 16 schools,... Read More

Charlotte Boyer, a 17-year-old junior at Rock Island High School, made her national television debut Monday night on the final rounds of blind auditions for Season 20 of NBC’s “The Voice” singing competition, which began Monday, March 1. She was featured singing a minute-long rendition of Amy Winehouse’s “Love Is a Losing Game,” and didn’t get the response she hoped for from celebrity judges John Legend, Kelly Clarkson, Blake Shelton and Nick Jonas. None turned their chair for her. “I am so sorry we don’t have better news for you today,” Legend told Charlotte on the show. “I... Read More