Last year, Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield and his son Evan cooked up an out-of-this-world family project: a cover of David Bowie’s 1969 hit “Space Oddity…
Kembrew McLeod
Posted inArts & Entertainment, Prairie Pop
Interview: Blondie’s Gary Lachman on his early days in NYC and lifelong fascination with the occult
For a Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee, Gary Lachman has had an unusual career trajectory. In the mid-1970s he joined Blondie as their boy wonder…
Posted inArts & Entertainment, Prairie Pop
How electronic music pioneer Giorgio Moroder laid the foundation for modern dance music
When Giorgio Moroder appears at this year’s Pitchfork Music Festival on Friday, July 18, he’ll be the oldest artist there—by a long shot. Nevertheless, this 74-year-old…
Posted inArts & Entertainment
Pitchfork electro-pop: Picks from across the pond
Giorgio Moroder singlehandedly invented the electro-rockin’ sound of eurodisco, and since the late-1970s, European artists have continued to expand the possibilities of dance music. This year’s Pitchfork Music Festival features some of the most cutting-edge dance artists from across the pond. Neneh Cherry July 18, 4:35 p.m. Neneh Cherry first rose to prominence in 1989 […]
Posted inArts & Entertainment, Prairie Pop
Prairie Pop: An interview with mischievous media mogul Paul Krassner
In 1958, Paul Krassner founded The Realist, a magazine that inspired a generation of satirists and alternative-media moguls. You can draw a straight…
Posted inCommunity/News
Join the Million Robot March
In 1979, University of Iowa football coach Hayden Fry had the visiting team’s locker room walls painted pink. Fry said he did it because “pink is often found in girls’ bedrooms, and because of that some consider it a sissy color.” In 2005, UI doubled down by adding pink urinals, showers, floors and lockers. Many Hawkeye fans find it funny, while others see it as a leftover from a time when coaches motivated players by calling them “homo,” “girl” and in Fry’s own words, “sissy.”
Posted inArts & Entertainment, Prairie Pop
Loop interview: South London Psych-rockers return after 22 year hiatus
This is your brain. Crack. This is your brain on Loop. Sizzzzzzzzzle. Born in 1986, dead by 1991 and recently arisen from the ashes, this seminal British band specializes…
Posted inArts & Entertainment
Read an excerpt from Pranksters: Making Mischief in the Modern World
Prairie Pop columnist, Kembrew McLeod, will be reading from his new book, Pranksters: Making Mischief in the Modern World, at Prairie Lights this…
Posted inArts & Entertainment, Prairie Pop
Laurie Anderson interview: An artist of her own invention
Laurie Anderson isn’t solely responsible for me turning out a little bit weird, but she still played a significant role in skewing my worldview. I stumbled across her Big Science album not long after it was released, when I was an impressionable young teenager. This 1982 record contains her unlikely hit single “O Superman (For […]
Posted inCommunity/News, Prairie Pop
Prairie Pop: Who’s watching big brother?
Iowa native and UI alum Cindy Cohn is the Legal Director of the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF). The National Law Journal named her one of the 100 most influential lawyers in America in 2013, noting, “if Big Brother is watching, he better look out for Cindy Cohn.” On Saturday, March 1—at noon in Meeting Room […]
Posted inArts & Entertainment, Prairie Pop
Prairie Pop: Power Ballads 101
Last year, Little Village turned over Kembrew McLeod’s “Prairie Pop” column to Umläut Nideldick—the legendary German song doctor and rock and roll life coach. Once again, we are proud to reprint Nideldick’s latest keynote address at the Eurovision Academy of Musical Arts (EAMA). Thank you, my fellow rockers! I am here to speak about what […]
Posted inArts & Entertainment, Prairie Pop
Pee-wee’s (remastered) Christmas Adventure: An interview with Paul Reubens
This year marks the quarter century anniversary of Pee-wee’s Playhouse Christmas Special, perhaps the most mind-bending holiday special ever aired by…
