Hi, Kent Williams here. I kinda sorta talked to Melody about doing a Weekender post, but we didn’t really get beyond the ‘sure why not?’ planning stage, so I’m operating here on the principle that it’s easier to apologize than ask permission. Anyhoo… The Mill Thursday: Monroe Crossing. A Bluegrass outfit that tours nationally and […]
Arts & Entertainment
Posted inArts & Entertainment
Jimmy Jimmy Jimmy Jimmy
Because yours truly is kinda behind the curve on the music side of things, this is the first time I’ve seen this, and I’m now crying my eyes out while shaking my hips ’cause I wish I would have seen this when it came out a year ago. It’s the best thing since Beyond the […]
Posted inArts & Entertainment
Little Village Weekender
Damn. It’s Friday after 5pm and look who’s working? Little Village feels that kind of commitment to you all, my preciouses. So what’s hot this weekend? Saturday, November 15, 2008 Diwali Second Floor Ballroom, Iowa Memorial Union, UI Campus 5-10pm $10 to first 100 tickets, $15 after that The Indian food alone is worth the […]
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Best Of, Schmest of, Part Deux
BEST FORMER ROCK & ROLLER LIVING MORE OR LESS QUIETLY IN IOWA CITY: Pete Balestrieri Pete Balestrieri was a mainstay of the rotating assembly of musicians known as the Horns of Dilemma, who the Violent Femmes used to add a generous portion of crazy to their live shows, and he appears on several of their […]
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Best Of, Schmest Of
Not to give away too much of the mystery of Little Village backstage, but the lovely and talented Melody asked me to write a post about what my ‘top ten’ or ‘best of’ list for this year, as a NOT SO SUBTLE HINT for those of you who read the blog to go vote here […]
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Mannix Attack
For Iowa native Karlee Mannix, doodles turned into an art degree and high school choir turned into a family-affair band. Karlee, an Iowa alum, enjoys her eclectic life. When she is not working as a photographer’s assistant at The Portrait Shop in Coralville, she is singing in Iowa City bars with her husband and guitarist, […]
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Talking Movies: The Dude Still Abides
In the 10 years since the release of The Big Lebowski, a few things happened. Cell phones overtook our public spaces. The internet colonized our private time. George W. Bush won once in the popular vote and twice in the electoral college. On a single morning, terrorists brought down the twin towers, destroyed part of […]
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Appaloosa Movie review
Appaloosa Narrative, 108 min Directed by Ed Harris Once upon a time in the American cinema, the western was king. Between the silent era and the late 1970’s, the U.S. film industry churned out thousands of western movies, most of them toward the end of that time starring Clint Eastwood. Not so today, when fans […]
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Vowell Language
Writer and social commentator Sarah Vowell, known for her contributions to public radio’s “This American Life,” has made good use of her droll sense of humor and distinctive voice in the past. She’s managed to take subjects as difficult as the Trail of Tears and presidential assassinations (the subject of her New York Times best-seller, […]
Posted inArts & Entertainment, Prairie Pop
Prairie Pop: Turn Off Your Radio
Copyright infringement, billboard “alteration,” an evil secret society known as the Illuminati, country music legend Tammy Wynette, the incineration of £1,000,000 in cash, and—most recently—No Music Day. These odd, interconnected events were engineered by Bill Drummond and Jimmy Cauty, an anarchic British pop duo who used several pseudonyms, including their most well known moniker, the […]
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The Sit Down with Laurel Snyder
“You have to write the book that wants to be written. And if the book will be too difficult for grown-ups, then you write it for children.” –Madeleine L’Engle Laurel Snyder earned her master of fine arts in poetry from the Iowa Writers’ Workshop in 2000. She is the author of two recently released children’s […]
