In his last performance in Iowa City, jazz great Herbie Hancock mentioned how he felt “at home in Iowa” because of his years at Grinnell College. For most artists, a nod to their alma mater might sound like simple gratitude. In Hancock’s case, it was an understatement. His time at Grinnell did not just influence […]
Arts & Entertainment
Posted inArts & Entertainment
‘You’re My Waterloo’: How a very 1982 tourism song became a Cedar Valley sensation
In 1982, the inaugural My Waterloo Days Festival was held as a celebration of the beginning of the summer. Replete with a parade, laser light shows and hot air balloons, it was a special event seeking to foster community bonding amid economic strife. John Deere was seeing mass layoffs, the Rath Packing Company was on […]
Posted inArts & Entertainment
Christmas mirth and murder, a Seyfried/Sweeney showdown and all the films you need to see in local theaters this month
Hey folks, welcome back to Little Big Screen: On the Big, Big Screen, where film columnist Benjamin McElroy recommends five screenings happening at Iowa’s independent movie theaters. Keep scrolling for the full list of this month’s big screenings. The Holiday (2006) Directed by Nancy Myers Kate Winslet is approached by more mothers and more daughters […]
Posted inEastern Iowa
Worth a Rewatch: ‘The Idiot’ (1951) is a Kurosawa deep-cut from a Dostoevsky superfan — and an idiotic film studio
Akira Kurosawa seems keenly aware of the improbability of translating literature into film, especially in the case of Dostoevsky, who Kurosawa calls more psychological than visual. But Kurosawa wanted to make The Idiot.
Posted inEastern Iowa Arts & Entertainment
The Black Rose will continue as an online bookstore after closing its West Branch location
The Black Rose, the West Branch bookstore and cocktail lounge that opened earlier this year, has closed its brick-and-mortar location, owner Ashley Kofoed announced on Sunday on social media. “This isn’t a goodbye,” she said. “It’s a page turn.” Even without the Main Street store, “the story continues online, where so many of you have […]
Posted inArts & Entertainment
Joan Liffring-Zug Bourret photographed presidents, everyday Iowans and her own son’s birth. But her legacy goes well beyond the lens
In 1951, Joan Liffring-Zug Bourret was fired from her job as a photojournalist at the Cedar Rapids Gazette. The reason: she was pregnant. She responded by photographing the birth to her son — an audacious proposition at the time. The photos — mostly shots of the doctors, nurses and newborn Artie from her POV on […]
Posted inArts & Entertainment
Hancher announces a new multi-venue spring music fest in Iowa City, Stop/Time Festival
Hancher Auditorium, lead by executive director Andre Perry, announced that they are producing a new music and arts festival scheduled for this coming Spring. The Stop/Time Festival is billed as a “two-day, multi-venue, multi-artist spring festival devoted to innovation and independence in contemporary music and the arts.”
The first edition of Stop/Time Festival launches Friday, April 3 through Saturday, April 4 in Iowa City.
Posted inArts & Entertainment
This weekend in Iowa: a Dada Prom in Iowa City, a Christmas Cabaret in Cedar Rapids and more
Established 2001 | Always free! The first weekend in December brings cold temps and some on-theme holiday events. But don’t fret if the cold and/or holiday season isn’t your favorite — there’s something for everyone in today’s Weekender. Public Space One hosts their annual Dada Prom fundraiser in Iowa City. Party-goers can expect performances, art […]
Posted inAlbum Reviews
Album Review: Patricia Holly — ‘Satin Sashes’
With a stage name like Patricia Holly, a Christmas album seems to be a no-brainer. Name synergy aside, the Des Moines-based jazz and Americana artist is wholly up to the task of a new holiday effort; her signature vintage sound glides effortlessly between dazzling big-band-style orchestrations and a jazzy, moody piano bar, guided by a […]
Posted inAlbum Reviews
Album Review: Bootcamp — ‘Time’s Up’
Time’s Up by Bootcamp. Whenever Iowa City hardcore punk outfit Bootcamp sets off for the divey bars and dimmed basement venues of a tour, vocalist Juliette Enloe sets a phone lockscreen to a map of the U.S., with the state of Iowa circled in blazing red. The reason? Non-Midwest audiences never seem to know where […]
Posted inArts & Entertainment
Little Big Screen: Refocus fest highlight ‘Train Dreams’ arrives on Netflix, plus other Denis Johnson adaptations to stream this month
The jangle, hum and hiss of Denis Johnson’s writing, first published when he was a 19-year-old undergrad at the University of Iowa and later stamped with the National Book Award, found me by mistake. “Car-Crash While Hitchhiking,” the short story responsible for Bethany, Missouri’s place in the literary canon, wasn’t supposed to be there. But […]
Posted inArts & Entertainment
Book Review: ‘The People are Kind: A Religious History of Iowa’ by Bill R. Douglas
As a student of history, political activist and an award-winning freelance historian, Bill R. Douglas brings his diverse, rich background to bear on a question that tugged at his soul: Why hasn’t anyone written a comprehensive history of Iowa’s religions? He decided to answer it himself with The People Are Kind: A Religious History of […]
