View all NaNoWriMo entries … By the time she finished breakfast we hadn’t said but 4 words, and they were all to the waitress. The whole way across the parking lot and back to our hotel room we said even less. Mom was back. She was walking a couple steps ahead of me, holding the […]
November 2010
Posted inArts & Entertainment
NaNo Thoughts 1/3 of the way through:
Okay, so last night was my turn again and I cut and pasted all the daily entries between my last one and yesterday’s so I could read them all together as one chunk of text leading up to what I would write to keep the story going. Also, this allowed me to read the stuff […]
Posted inArts & Entertainment
Little Village vs. NaNoWriMo: Day 11
View all NaNoWriMo entries … After the third time I had dialed Kevin’s number and gotten his goddamned annoying voice mail message I decided to call Carol: no dice, left her a message also. I had never bothered to pay a lot of attention to his personal life, such as it was, since he arrived […]
Posted inArts & Entertainment
Iowa City Weekender: November 11-15
A special long version of the Weekender. From Thursday to Monday.
Posted inArts & Entertainment
Little Village vs. NaNoWriMo: Day 10
View all NaNoWriMo entries … Shit can meet fan in plenty of ways. Sometimes it involves a lot of screaming. In this case, it involved a sinking feeling between Stan and I that we were well and truly fucked. I like things predictable, I like things slow. That’s not on account of my health, not […]
Posted inArts & Entertainment, Prairie Pop
Prairie Pop: Not Just Noise
The 1980s witnessed the height of the satanic ritual abuse scare, or the satanic panics. One of the greatest musical pranks that emerged from this milieu resulted in Helter Stupid, a record by the sound collage group Negativland. It was a concept album that thoughtfully reflected on the connections between rock music, violence, and media. […]
Posted inCommunity/News
Paint the Town
You may have noticed a small open space the size of a downtown building at the north end of the Pedestrian Mall in downtown Iowa City. People flow through this space day and night but few know that it is a city park. It’s called Black Hawk Mini Park and this is its story. After […]
Posted inArts & Entertainment
On the Beat: Rock
The organization Rock the Vote was founded back in 1992 with the goal of mobilizing young people to exercise their elective franchise, with a PSA campaign involving musicians like Madonna and Michael Stipe telling young folks to get out there. Some 18 years later, the very phrase “rock the vote” has implications for Iowa City’s music-going public, especially younger people, as the City Council’s current War on Alcohol has left music venues feeling like collateral damage.
Posted inAlbum Reviews
Album Review: The Lonelyhearts/Caleb Engstrom – Winter Club Split
The Lonelyhearts/Caleb Engstrom Winter Club Split Mission Creek Records A split single is usually a 7” record, but this is a CD whose music wouldn’t fit on a 7” and a CD…wait for it…only has one side. But Mission Creek Records is thinking conceptually. A split as a way for two bands/artists to–as they say […]
Posted inAlbum Reviews
Album Review: Dave Beck – Stranger Homes
Dave Beck Stranger Homes www.davebeckmusic.com Dave Beck grew up in Iowa and when he lived in IC he worked at Mickey’s, so I won’t hold his current residence in Brooklyn against him. He’s in good company; Brooklyn’s lousy with Iowa expats. And to the extent there’s a serious acoustic singer-songwriter scene in NYC, Beck is […]
Posted inFood & Drink
The Hops: Weizen Up
To me, November falls in a gap between seasonal beer styles. It does not fit as well within the autumn brewing tradition as October, and it’s too early for holiday/winter ales. However, colder weather brings the craving for dark beers full of roasted chocolate and coffee malts, so my November recommendation needed to be a balance between seasonal traits.
