THE WEEKENDER
Your weekly editor-curated arts compendium
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April is National Poetry Month, and you can get in the spirit of verse this weekend as the Iowa Poetry Association takes over Mainframe Studios and Franklin Jr High Event Center for workshops, performances and competitions. No time to rhyme? Music, comedy, theater and more await your attention throughout the weekend. Top pick: xBk hosts the album release party for new work from Abbie & the Sawyers!
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The Weekender is sponsored by:
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Mainframe Studios
Poetry Palooza | Iowa Poetry Association Poetry Slam Finals
Apr 6 – Apr 8 –
Inspired by an educational and entertainment event of nearly 20 years ago, this creative experience – Poetry Palooza! – has been a long time in the making. Now, the time is right.
More info >>
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Hoyt Sherman Place
Grant Wood Exhibit
Apr 6 –
Grant Wood lithographs, paintings and illustrations.
More info >>
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Des Moines Botanical Garden
Family Workshop: Botanical Egg Dyeing
Apr 6 – 5:30pm
Family Workshop: Botanical Egg Dyeing
More info >>
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Wooly’s
Chase Matthew w/Hayden Coffman
Apr 6 – 6:00pm
Since releasing his debut album, Born For This, earlier this year, Matthew has been busy selling out venues across the nation on his headline ‘Born For This’ Tour.
More info >>
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Platform
Commodo
Apr 6 – 9:00pm
An artist with minimal online presence and who keeps himself to himself, Commodo is one of an increasingly rare few who make waves through the strength of their music alone.
More info >>
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Des Moines Art Center
Firat Erdim: Field Harp Soundings + Q & A with the Artist (Performance 1)
Apr 7 – 6:00pm
A performance-based commission by Des Moines-based artist Firat Erdim, in which volunteer performers will “play the weather” with instruments devised by Erdim.
More info >>
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The Weekender is sponsored by:
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Noce
Reinventing The Standards w/ Vocalist Aviana Gedler & Co.
Apr 7 – 7:00pm
Up-and-coming vocalist Aviana Gedler presents an evening full of new arrangements of some of her most beloved standards alongside an elite 6 piece band.
More info >>
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xBk Live
Dazy
Apr 7 – 8:00pm
xBk presents Dazy with Bigby Woods and Dirty Blonde
More info >>
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Teehee’s Comedy Club
Dwight Simmons | Stand-Up Comedy
Apr 7 – 9:30pm
In January 2023, Dwight filmed his first comedy special at The Comedy Attic in Bloomington, where he started comedy many moons ago.
More info >>
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Gas Lamp Des Moines
Nothing Special and The Savage Freds at Gas Lamp
Apr 8 – 7:00pm
Nothing Special and The Savage Freds are going to be kicking out your favorite jams at the world renowned Gas Lamp.
More info >>
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Teehee’s Comedy Club
Matty Ryan | Stand-Up Comedy
Apr 8 – 7:00pm
Born and raised in an Irish neighborhood on Chicago’s South Side, Matty Ryan has been touring and performing throughout the country for years.
More info >>
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xBk Live
Abbie and the Sawyers Album Release
Apr 8 – 7:00pm
Iowa Women-Led Folk
More info >>
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Wooly’s
Taylor Fest at Wooly’s
Apr 8 – 8:00pm
TAYLOR FEST IS BACK! Come dance with us on April 8th at Wooly’s as we take you on a journey through Taylor Swift’s extensive discography.
More info >>
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Platform
Love is Love
Apr 8 – 9:00pm
Join Capital City Pride at Platform for an evening celebrating love and honoring marriage equality and the anniversary of it’s establishment on April 3, 2009.
More info >>
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Christian Petersen Museum, Morrill Hall
Words Meet Art Part 2: Public Reading
Apr 9 – 2:00pm
Writers who participated in Words Meet Art Part 1 will present their flash fiction, poems, creative nonfiction, a monologue, and/or perform music in response to the exhibition Harriet Bart.
More info >>
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Des Moines Civic Center
The Lion King
Apr 9 – 6:30pm
Giraffes strut. Birds swoop. Gazelles leap. The entire Serengeti comes to life as never before.
More info >>
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Video premiere: Extravision, ‘Every Fear’
by Isaac Hamlet, Apr 4
Ryan Stier has been making music with his band, Extravision, for roughly a decade now. The five-person group often mixes ambient, psychedelic sounds with folk lyrics and instrumentation.
Extravision will appear at Mission Creek 2023 — Iowa City’s annual three-day music and literature festival — on Friday, marking the third time Extravision has played at the festival, having opened for Esmé Patterson in 2016 and S. Carey in 2018. |
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Camonghne Felix on calculating love and prose in her new book, ‘I want Black women to feel empowered by it’
by Sarah Elgatian, Apr 5
Reading Camonghne Felix’s 2023 memoir Dyscalculia: A Love Story of Epic Miscalculation is a gut punch over and over and over again. It’s one of those books I had to put down every couple of pages to catch my breath. Felix’s innate ability to create empathy in her readers is unparalleled. I want to emphasize this: one does not need to have shared Felix’s experiences for her work to impact them.
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