Colonastock is an outside concert series that will be held on a hay-rack in a front yard in Colona, Illinois. The brainchild of husband and wife team Tristan and Jessica Tapscott, Colonastock aims to present 2-3 outdoor concerts a year with focus on up and coming indie acts from across the nation. The first in this new series will be held Wednesday, August 16 and will feature local acts Old Darling and Lewis Knudsen and headliner Danielle Ate the Sandwich. Geneseo’s very own web celebrity Cory Scott (Holbrook) – of YouTube fame – will serve as the emcee for the evening. “It is legit... Read More

There’s something a little bit special about seeing the name of someone you know and love in print: a birth announcement, an honor roll, a play bill. Unfortunately, these recognitions are often fleeting, thrown away with the day’s newspaper or discarded when the curtain closes. What if you could honor someone or highlight a memory permanently, in public, for generations to remember and appreciate? “Prairie Players’ history with Galesburg started over 100 years ago and since 1959, has presented over 300 productions for the Galesburg and surrounding communities,” board member Judy Diemer... Read More

Prairie Players Civic Theatre has hired Tristan Tapscott as program administrator for the theatre. “Last year we opened our building at 160 South Seminary Street for productions and rentals,” says Heather Norman, president of Prairie Players. “Now that we are operational at this location, there was a need to create a position to help us manage and grow the programs we offer.” Through Prairie Players, hundreds of volunteers provide opportunities for community involvement in the performing arts, from productions at their facility at 160 South Seminary Street and other locations throughout... Read More

Vote for Hacker, He’s No Slacker When Khalil Hacker ran for class president his slogan was: “Vote for Hacker, he’s no Slacker”. As Hacker recalls, “The kids took that slogan and ran with it. In hallways, classes, buses, kids would chant “Vote for Hacker, he’s YOUR Slacker!” Khalil Slacker is the name he embraced and thus Slacker Productions was born. Slacker Productions is a YouTube channel which releases in-depth movie reviews, comical gaming videos, and miscellaneous videos related to films and the art of film-making. Hacker says, “It started as just... Read More

All hail Timothy Olyphant (and Netflix). Olyphant stars in a new Netflix original series called Santa Clarita Diet and it could not be more irreverent and at the same time appropriate. Irreverent because, in a time of intense turmoil, it’s nice to have something to turn to something that has absolutely nothing to do with anything. Appropriate because, in a time a time of intense turmoil, it’s nice to to turn to something that has absolutely nothing to do with anything. The story revolves around a Santa Clarita real estate couple: Olyphant’s pot-smoking, overly devoted, classic... Read More

You ever watch a performance and wonder, “why weren’t they nominated for that?” That’s how I felt after watching Michael Keaton’s explosive and dynamic performance as Ray Kroc in The Founder.  This dude becomes Ray Kroc and within seconds you forget you are watching an actor, you are just watching a person. Keaton falls into this role with reckless abandon and takes you one hell of a ride. The Founder follows the saga of how mega-hit fast food restaurant McDonald’s came to be.  Kroc, a milk machine salesman, heads to San Bernadino, California, to check out a client... Read More

A theatrical event can’t happen without an important component: the audience. And Paul DeWilde has spent years in the audience cheering on local shows and local talent. A regular at nearly every theater in town, he’s become a friend to many and supporter to far more. For Mr. DeWilde, his journey began at the now defunct Harrison Hilltop Theatre in Davenport when he went see a production of Oedipus that had been adapted by Hilltop company member Steve Quartell. DeWilde said, “What I came away with was the intimacy of the room and the feeling that I was really missing something important... Read More

P.T. Barnum once said, “Nothing draws a crowd quite like a crowd.” Sadly, the circus can no longer draw a crowd. On Saturday night, Feld Entertainment announced that the famed Ringling Brothers-Barnum & Bailey Circus would shutter forever in May. And while this is a merely drop in the bucket of things truly affecting our nation, it still broke me a little in a very unexpected way. This company provided employment for hundreds of specialty acts, technicians, musicians, clowns,  stunt performers and designers (and more) and this was their passion. They’ve lost more than their... Read More

By Tristan Tapscott The Golden Globes are well known for being, to quote Ricky Gervais, “a bit louder, a bit trashier, a bit drunker” and it typically lives up to the hype. This year? Not so much. The tone still had that air of who-the-fuck-cares but was low key, somber and all over the place. Here are some thoughts on the evening! FA FA FALLON Opening and Host The night started off with a bang featuring one of the best cold opens I’ve seen in years. Appropriately, Fallon led a star studded spoof of La La Land which included hysterical cameos from Tin Fey, Barb and the kids from Stranger... Read More

For the first presentation in the theatre’s 40th season of live entertainment,  Circa ’21 Dinner Playhouse will be the area’s go-to destination for holiday music, laughs, and warmth in its production of “Holly Jolly Christmas.” Opening this weekend and running through December 29, this joyous and funny musical revue last thrilled audiences in 2009, and those at the Rock Island dinner theatre are excited to have it back in a brand-new staging filled with merriment, wonder, and surprises for the whole family. “Holly Jolly Christmas” will be performed at Circa ’21... Read More