Touch is widely considered to be the most intimate of the five senses, one that has been highly politicized and rationed through the COVID-19 pandemic. For a long time, the general public wasn’t able to be physically caring with many of their loved ones, regardless of the need: a hug, a backrub, a kiss, sitting […]
Elaine Irvine
Posted inCentral Iowa, Central Iowa Community/News, Community/News
Deep in a Des Moines golf course sits a haunted observatory with a far-out history
The Drake Municipal Observatory is probably the only scientific facility of its kind more familiar to local golfers than local school kids. Since 1921, it’s sat between the green on the 17th hole of Waveland Golf Course and the tee of the 18th. It’s an anomalous presence among the fairways and the nearby tennis courts, […]
Posted inArts & Entertainment
Urban Bush Women to explore issues of body image, race and gender in Hancher performance, dance workshop
“This process … really predates us all.” Chanon Judson, one of the artistic directors of Brooklyn, New York-based dance company Urban Bush Women, is speaking of the company’s practice of applying culture to dance. “We are all part of a lineage that has been doing that since the beginning of time.” Urban Bush Women was founded in 1984 by dancer and choreographer Jawole Willa Zollar, who still holds the title of Chief Visioning Partner of the group.
Posted inArts & Entertainment
Gabe’s gears up for a Rebel Rampage of social justice
Rebel Rampage is on a mission to put the political rage back in rock and roll. Rebel Rampage’s show, with special guest drummer Gabe Wallace sitting in for Balfour, at Gabe’s on Aug. 19 is free and open to anyone 19 and older.
Posted inArts & Entertainment
Raising a Muddy Ruckus at the Yacht Club
Muddy Ruckus, a Maine band comprised of Ryan Flaherty and Erika Stahl, will be returning to the Midwest for the sixth time, on tour with their newest single, “Perfectly Aligned.” Though they have come to the area many times before, this tour will bring the Americana-folk-punk-rock duo to Iowa City for the first time.
Posted inArts & Entertainment
Basketball Divorce Court making slam dunks all across town
Basketball Divorce Court starts their show with an excellent buildup. The guitars and the drums meet, sounding spontaneously flawless with long notes that shift in and out of harmonies. The Iowa City band can be seen July 21 at Gabe’s and July 31 at The Mill.
Posted inArts & Entertainment
Sasami brings raw emotion to The Mill
Sasami Ashworth, known professionally as Sasami, will be coming to the Mill on Sunday, July 21 at 7:30 p.m. as she tours to promote her debut, self-titled album, released earlier this year. Tickets are $15 ($18 at the door).
Posted inArts & Entertainment
Five questions with: Author Caite Dolan-Leach
Reading: Caite Dolan-Leach, We Went to the Woods Prairie Lights — Friday, July 19 at 7 p.m. Caite Dolan-Leach’s second novel, We Went to the Woods, focuses on the cyclicity of the young person’s desire to abandon all and run with those who share their beliefs. She will read from her newest work at Prairie […]
Posted inArts & Entertainment
Get ready to laugh with ‘The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged) [Revised]’ at the CRPL
The Cedar Rapids Public Library will put on a PG-13-rated play, The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged) [Revised], on July 20 and 21. The performance — full of local and mature humor — represents both the billowing theater community in Cedar Rapids and the need for programming for library-goers in between
Posted inCommunity/News
Lights for Liberty vigils planned in Iowa City, Cedar Rapids
On Friday, July 12, the Eastern Iowa Community Bond Project and El Trueque will host Iowa City’s Lights for Liberty: A Vigil to End Human Concentration Camps in College Green Park at 7 p.m. Cedar Rapids will also be holding a vigil, co-hosted by the Center for Worker Justice and Freedom for Immigrants Eastern Iowa, across from the Federal Courthouse.
Posted inCommunity/News
Monarch Fest lands again at Indian Creek Nature Center
Fortunately, any person can take small steps to aid monarchs and other native butterflies. “By planting native wildflowers and milkweed plants you will be helping not only the monarch but all local pollinators,” said Cossolotto. “Dandelions and clover are just a couple of plants that are great for pollinators.”
Posted inBook Reviews
Book Review: ‘The Most Fun We Ever Had’ by Claire Lombardo
In Claire Lombardo’s debut novel, ‘The Most Fun We Ever Had,’ she isn’t afraid to tackle the biggest of topics, specifically for women—sisterhood, fear, general annoyance and birth or the absence of it. The reader gets an intimate look at the conception of the Sorenson family (literally, considering Lombardo’s plethora of sex scenes),
