Kembrew McLeod, Author at Little Village

Richard Hell’s New York City

Posted on Sep 19, 2018 by Kembrew McLeod

Richard Meyers landed on New York City’s Lower East Side in late 1966. Within a few years he had reinvented himself as Richard Hell and transitioned from poetry to punk rock. This blending of art forms was not unusual among the residents of the city’s dilapidated downtown neighborhoods, a topic that he and writer, photographer and actress Lisa Jane Persky will discuss during Making a Scene: A Conversation About Downtown New York City, a free event that I will moderate at the Englert Theatre during the Witching Hour Festival.
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A true history of fake news: Unicorns on the moon

Posted on Aug 14, 2018 by Kembrew McLeod

Part two of two. Read part one: A true history of fake news: The many identities of Benjamin Franklin The 2016 U.S. presidential election season unleashed new anxieties about “fake news” and other slippery forms of propaganda that have been enabled by our newfangled social media. However, media manipulation has a long history — one […]

A true history of fake news: The many identities of Benjamin Franklin

Posted on Jun 20, 2018 by Kembrew McLeod

Before the term “fake news” gained wide circulation during the 2016 presidential election season, deception had long been part of the U.S. media landscape. When Benjamin Franklin emerged as the publisher of the Pennsylvania Gazette, he used it to plant ironic satires, partisan potshots and other false stories. […]

Built to Spill, Mission Creek Festival headliner, is as chill as ever

Posted on Apr 4, 2018 by Kembrew McLeod

Everything about singer-guitarist Doug Martsch and his longtime band is unassuming and undramatic — from the two decades of major-label albums they’ve steadily released as the music industry collapsed around them to the lilting melodies and long, winding solos that weep gently from Martsch’s guitar. […]

Can’t-miss shows from Mission Creek Festival 2018

Posted on Mar 21, 2018 by Kembrew McLeod

For the diehard Mission Creeker, there is no rest for the wicked. Here are the must-see acts for the 2018 Mission Creek Festival, each day of the week, Tuesday through Sunday. […]

Remembering Dennis Jones, Iowa City’s sound guy

Posted on Feb 20, 2018 by Kembrew McLeod

Those who contribute the most to local music scenes often make the least amount of noise. This was certainly true of the late Dennis Jones, an unassuming sound engineer who could regularly be seen operating the sound board for Iowa City’s Friday Night Concert Series, as well as at hundreds of club shows, benefits and other local events over the past three decades, until his death at the age of 68 on Feb. 9. […]

Revisiting the Louds, America’s first reality TV family

Posted on Jan 16, 2018 by Kembrew McLeod

Forty-five years ago — on Jan. 11, 1973 — the first reality series premiered on PBS, and television would never be the same. An American Family became an immediate pop culture sensation that was discussed by newspaper columnists, debated by television pundits and even taken seriously by respected scholars like Margaret Mead.
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The feminist hijinks of ’90s punk band L7 are captured in a new documentary by UI grad Sarah Price

Posted on Nov 14, 2017 by Kembrew McLeod

From throwing used tampons into a crowd to playing pranks on Mötley Crüe, the new film ‘L7: Pretend We’re Dead’ depicts L7 in all their fun-filled feminist glory. […]

DJ Spooky’s ‘Explorer I Remix’, featuring sounds made by Van Allen radiation belts, will premiere at Witching Hour

Posted on Oct 17, 2017 by Kembrew McLeod

DJ Spooky’s new Explorer I Remix emerged from a collaboration between this visiting artist and a group of University of Iowa scientists, musicians, librarians and archivists. It will celebrate the 60th anniversary of a satellite launched in 1958 used to discover Earth’s radiation belts (known as the Van Allen belts in honor of UI scientist James Van Allen). […]

Talibam! will present the soundtrack to the apocalypse at Witching Hour

Posted on Sep 19, 2017 by Kembrew McLeod

Musicians Kevin Shea and Matthew Mottel dubbed themselves Talibam! because it was the most unhip name they could think of, especially compared to the then-current new crop of Brooklyn groups like Dirty Projectors and Grizzly Bear — whose names read like impressionistic hipster word association games. It was an attempt, keyboardist Mottel said, to suggest “an alternative political vision, which was matched by our cultural determination to provide an alternative to the landscape of music and performance we were surrounded by.” […]

Prairie Pop: Grey Area festival will suit local music fans, campers and circus freaks

Posted on Aug 15, 2017 by Kembrew McLeod

Grey Area, a joint venture by Flat Black Studios and White Rabbit clothing store, is an unusual new festival taking place just outside of Iowa City on Aug. 18 and 19. Featuring live music and a diverse range of multimedia programming, it’s a celebration of our local musical community. The festival will span Friday afternoon to late Saturday night, and is set outdoors (on-site camping is encouraged; bring plenty of water, bug spray and other necessities, as well as blankets or chairs to sit on). […]

UI professor went from small town Texas to building a musical chessboard, inventing the modern laser light show

Posted on Jul 11, 2017 by Kembrew McLeod

“Lubbock or leave it,” the old saying goes, so Lowell Cross decided to leave the straight life behind for avant-garde adventures abroad. Born in 1938 and largely raised in that Texas town, this former University of Iowa music professor is a man of many unique firsts. Not only did he invent the modern laser light show (developed in part on the UI campus), but when Cross was a graduate student at the University of Toronto he collaborated with the paradigm-shifting composer and theorist John Cage. […]