Daniel Boscaljon, Author at Little Village

Festival whiteness: Hinterland was a success — but for whom?

Posted on Aug 13, 2018 by Daniel Boscaljon

By almost every metric, the 2018 Hinterland Music Festival was an incredible success. It drew in 9,300 people for Friday and 11,500 for Saturday. As a reference, in 2010, Madison County (home of St. Charles, Iowa, where the festival is held) had a total population of 15,753. Even if the total for Saturday included event staff, volunteers, roadies, band members, etc., the gathering at Hinterland would still constitute a population larger than 35 of the counties in Iowa. […]

Compassion drives Bo Burnham’s ‘Eighth Grade’

Posted on Aug 6, 2018 by Daniel Boscaljon

I had never heard of Bo Burnham, who wrote and directed ‘Eighth Grade’ (currently screening at both FilmScene and Marcus Cinemas in Iowa City and Cedar Rapids), but found it fitting that my child — who just completed that educational milestone — was quite familiar with his work. […]

Refining and redefining home: ‘Leave No Trace’ strips contemporary notions bare

Posted on Jul 25, 2018 by Daniel Boscaljon

Debra Granik’s newest movie ‘Leave No Trace’ is a poignant meditation on the meaning of family and home in an all-too-familiar America where well-meaning officials create the problems that they want to resolve. […]

Interview: Esmé Patterson goes sci-fi

Posted on Jul 18, 2018 by Daniel Boscaljon

Trumpet Blossom Café will host a formidable tripleheader on July 22, 2018. Headliner Esmé Patterson is making her first appearance in Iowa City since Mission Creek 2016, bringing a shift in song style from angry protest rock to a more energizing dance vibe. She’ll be joined by two talented local artists: Brooks Strause and Elizabeth Moen. Tickets are $10-12; doors open at 9 p.m. Patterson took a few moments from her studio time to talk to me on the phone on a hot day in mid-July. […]

‘Hearts Beat Loud’ intertwines musical and human connections

Posted on Jul 16, 2018 by Daniel Boscaljon

The newest movie from Brett Haley (I’ll See You In My Dreams, The Hero) offers audiences an opportunity to explore the complications of modern life, especially through the lens of family dynamics, and ways that art — music in particular — can provide balms of consolation without needing to fix or solve situations. […]

Five questions with: Rennie Sparks of the Handsome Family

Posted on Jul 16, 2018 by Daniel Boscaljon

The Handsome Family will be returning to Iowa City, performing at the Mill on July 19 at 8 p.m. (tickets $20). The band, a longtime favorite of artists and musicians, catapulted to the awareness of the American public through the inclusion of their song “Far From Any Road” as the opening credits for the HBO show True Detective. […]

‘Won’t You Be My Neighbor?’ brings heart and light to FilmScene

Posted on Jul 4, 2018 by Daniel Boscaljon

I left this movie feeling like it was one of the most important, most beautiful and most inspiring pieces of art I had ever witnessed. […]

Five questions with: Old Crow Medicine Show’s Ketch Secor

Posted on Jun 27, 2018 by Daniel Boscaljon

Old Crow Medicine Show will be bringing their Grammy winning presentation of traditional American music to the Paramount Theatre in Cedar Rapids on June 30, 2018, starting at 8 p.m. Tickets are $29.50-47.50. […]

Take a trip to the ‘Dark Side’ with the 8th annual MusicIC Festival

Posted on Jun 18, 2018 by Daniel Boscaljon

The culmination of the 2018 festival will be the Solera Quartet’s June 22 performance of ‘Dark Side of the Moon’ at the Englert Theatre (tickets $10-18), arranged by Solera cellist Andrew Janss. In addition, the audience at that performance (the festival’s sole ticketed event) will be treated to original literary work that muses on money, madness and mortality. […]

Five questions with: Ryan Young, fiddle player for Trampled by Turtles

Posted on May 30, 2018 by Daniel Boscaljon

Trampled by Turtles, a folk-rock/bluegrass band with Minnesota roots, are headlining this year’s Iowa Arts Festival. They perform in downtown Iowa City at 9 p.m. on Saturday, June 2. Currently, the band is touring in support of their new album, Life is Good on the Open Road, their first record in four years. […]

Joan Osborne, ’90s chanteuse, will perform for Iowa Arts Fest

Posted on May 16, 2018 by Daniel Boscaljon

Iowa Arts Festival: Joan Osborne Downtown Iowa City — Friday, June 1 at 9 p.m. Among an excellently curated set of local gems and national talent, the Iowa Arts Festival’s featured performer for Friday night, June 1 is Joan Osborne, who claimed notoriety with her 1995 song “One of Us.” The biggest single off her […]

Members of Modest Mouse never quite in sync at McGrath

Posted on May 15, 2018 by Daniel Boscaljon

Brock’s banjo work was enjoyable as always, and the trademark discordant pep of the guitars reminded the audience that they were, indeed, watching Modest Mouse. That said, sometimes the watching proved challenging. […]