River Glen Breitbach’s latest album, As Above, So Below is a 17-track release that loosely mirrors the cycle of life and required him to assemble 150 Iowa musical artists to complete. The sixth song on the album, “Drugs That Choke the Vein,” led the Dubuque-born musician to make a music video that required a more […]
Isaac Hamlet
Posted inArts & Entertainment
AViD 2023 is bringing authors to Des Moines, including R.F. Kuang and Emily St. John Mandel
The Des Moines Book Festival is over, but even more authors are headed to Iowa in the coming weeks as part of Authors Visiting in Des Moines (AViD). The first of these visitors will be New York Times bestselling author R.F. Kuang, who is scheduled to speak at the Central Library in Des Moines on […]
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Workers behind the scenes of Iowa’s biggest productions seek ‘voice, power and protection’ through unions
Hancher Auditorium’s relationship with the local stagehand union dates back to when the University of Iowa first created the venue. “Hancher opened the same fall that CAMBUS started [1972],” recalled Mark Falk. “That was my freshman fall. [I thought] ‘Look at all this new stuff, that’s cool.’ As long as there’s been a Hancher, IATSE’s […]
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Five questions with: Katherine Paul a.k.a. Black Belt Eagle Scout, bringing ‘The Land, The Water, The Sky’ to Mission Creek
Black Belt Eagle Scout was scheduled to play the Mission Creek Festival that never happened. It’s been three years since that 2020 appointment—at the time postponed and then, ultimately, canceled—but Katherine Paul, who also goes by KP and performs under the title Black Belt Eagle Scout, is at last making their way to Iowa City. […]
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Video premiere: Extravision, ‘Every Fear’
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 […]
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Book Review: ‘There’s No Place Like House’ by Taylor Bradley
Much is absent in Taylor Bradley’s latest book. That observation is not an assessment of the component parts of the book — which catalogs segments of Bradley’s life from 2018 to 2020 — rather, “absence” is the aching touchstone of this well-built text. Published in late 2022 by Bradley, a 2013 University of Iowa graduate, […]
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Lani’s digital stars align in 2023 with GDP Festival performance, ‘Love, Lani’ album release
Lani Eclatt was 14 years old when she performed her first solo in front of an audience, backed by an orchestra performing a song she’d composed. “It was such a big deal for me at the time, but from there I knew I wanted to keep writing and performing,” said Eclatt, who has continued to […]
Posted inEastern Iowa Arts & Entertainment
An Iowa City native is bringing his own talk show back home for the first time
Stephen Colbert better watch his back. The Midwest has its own, homegrown talk show, and it’s hosted by an Iowa City native. “We can do awesome things in the Midwest,” said Jeff Houghton, the host of a Springfield, Missouri-based talk show. “Sometimes we’re a little too humble.” The Mystery Hour with Jeff Houghton is a […]
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Shueyville-born musician Hailey Whitters is joining Shania Twain’s tour — but not before two Iowa shows and a pork tendy
Before she tours with pop-country queen Shania Twain, Hailey Whitters plans to return to her roots. “Raised is super influenced by the people and place that raised me,” said Whitters, a Shueyville-born country musician now based in Nashville, regarding her latest album. “I found myself unintentionally [thinking] back to that place when I was writing […]
Posted inEastern Iowa Arts & Entertainment
Q&A: mars hojilla talks Mission Creek, indie music and importance of representation
Between biomedical engineering classes at the University of Iowa, Myles Evangelista has made time for his first Mission Creek Festival. Performing under the name mars hojilla—the title of Evangelista’s recent musical project—the alt-rock artist spoke with Little Village about learning to read out of spite, falling in love with music, and what performing at MCF […]
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Five questions with Kelly Baum, Des Moines Art Center’s new director, who’s looking forward to the future of art history
After longtime Des Moines Art Center director Jeff Fleming announced last year that he would step away after a quarter century, the question of who could replace him quickly arose. Now, as the Art Center begins its 75th anniversary year, the answer has come in the form of Dr. Kelly Baum, who was announced as […]
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UI alumni, Scott Beck and Bryan Woods, return to Iowa with new movie, talking dinosaurs and Adam Driver
For Scott Beck and Bryan Woods, working on their latest $45 million dinosaur movie was reminiscent of their student film days. “The scope of the film is massive compared to anything else we’ve done, and yet at the same time it doesn’t feel much different from when we were at the University of Iowa,” said […]
