“Life can’t ever really defeat a writer who is in love with writing, for life itself is a writer’s lover until death — fascinating, cruel, lavish, warm, cold, treacherous, constant; […]
Arts & Entertainment
Posted inAlbum Reviews
Here’s all the local music projects we reviewed in 2025
You can say a lot about 2025. Good, bad, apocalyptic. One thing you can’t say is that it was lacking in music. Our album reviewers can tell you that much. They’ll let you know about the heaps of quality music put out by local artists in the last 12 months. Don’t take our word for it, scroll down below for an alphabetical list of every local album, debut, EP and project we covered in the past year.
Posted inArts & Entertainment
‘The best guy in Iowa City’: Byron Burford, mentee of Grant Wood and friend of Kurt Vonnegut, was a (ring)master of many forms
Born and raised in Mississippi, Byron Burford was drawn to the University of Iowa through an interest in one of its professors: Iowa’s Regionalism artist, Grant Wood. The American Gothic […]
Posted inArts & Entertainment
Drive down a virtual I-80 with a new Iowa trucking simulator
As I pull out of the home-improvement big box store — a simulacrum of Iowa City’s Menards called “Shop Town” — I think to myself, In another life I could’ve been a truck driver. The thought returns as I haul various cargo from one Iowa destination to another: lumber from Des Moines to Iowa City, ice cream from Cedar Rapids to Davenport, and so on.
Posted inArts & Entertainment
Review: Ballet Des Moines passes the ‘Nutcracker’ litmus test with flying colors
Ballet Des Moines was blessed with a snowy opening night for The Nutcracker last Thursday at Hoyt Sherman Place. For ballet companies across the world, the production of The Nutcracker […]
Posted inWeekender
This weekend in Iowa: Eufórquestra returns to Iowa City, Preservation Hall Jazz Band in Des Moines and more
Established 2001 | Always free! For many among us, this is the last weekend of holiday shopping. Why not forgo that stress and check out the events in our Weekender […]
Posted inArts & Entertainment
Book Review: ‘Malleable and True: A Hybrid Craft Anthology from BRINK Literary Journal’
I have read many craft books, taken gobs of writing classes and read all manner of literature. In my personal time, I tend toward writing that challenges me as a reader […]
Posted inArts & Entertainment
Composer Bart Howard, born in Burlington, wrote the definitive song of the space program
From Mount Pleasant’s James Van Allen (“Father of Space Science”) to Beaconsfield’s Peggy Whitson (who holds the U.S. endurance record for most cumulative time in space at 695 days) to […]
Posted inAlbum Reviews
Album Review: Bryon Dudley & Ira Rat — ‘City Dead’
City Dead by Bryon Dudley & Ira Rat I want to begin by saying that Bryon Dudley and Ira Rat describing their album City Dead as “Zombi Giallo” immediately grabbed my […]
Posted inArts & Entertainment
Review: Black Box Theatre’s ‘The Lion in Winter’ weaves a tapestry of family drama, medieval intrigue and humor
The Black Box Theatre of Moline, Illinois, as the name implies, is a simple theater space. That didn’t hold back its recent production of The Lion in Winter, which closed […]
Posted inArts & Entertainment
Before he became Tom Tomorrow, political cartoonist Dan Perkins was a Zephyr employee making zines in Iowa City
This Modern World, the long-running, award-winning satirical comic that Dan Perkins publishes under the pen name Tom Tomorrow, came to life in Iowa City during the mid-’80s. Perkins first began […]
Posted inArts & Entertainment
Review: A cozy costume party inside a fever dream, Dada Prom brought surreal fun and funds to Public Space One
On a cold, snowy Saturday night in Iowa City, around 150 costumed art-lovers gathered at the historic Close House mansion for Public Space One’s Dada Prom. Despite the total snow […]
