“Raising teens is more tricks than treats,” the Greek chorus chants in the new Riverside Theatre production “Raising Medusa,” written by local poet and playwright Barbara Lau of Mt. Vernon. The production features a stellar cast with palpable chemistry. Stage and screen actress Nancy Youngblut plays the mother in the play, exasperated with her 13-year-old […]
Arts & Entertainment
Posted inArts & Entertainment
I Pledge Allegiance to the HIP HOP
Even if the Wu-Tang Clan is a peripheral blip on your music radar, you probably at least have a vague notion that they’re nothing to fuck with, especially if you’ve seen more than a couple episodes of Chappelle’s Show. Their 1993 debut, Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers), became the prototype for over a decade of […]
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Homegrown Beats
Searching for homegrown hip hop in Iowa City anymore is like combing the desert for the Yeti. Now, granted, this is coming from a white girl who doesn’t go out much anymore, but Iowa City has seen surges of hip hop elements in these past 20 years that beg us to ask—the month GZA/The Genius […]
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Man with a Plan
Here’s what promoter Tanki Nyane wants out of IC: Local hip hop pinned down, weathered posters of emcees competing with indie rockers, people strolling down Clinton Street on their iPods listening to Animosity and his future brethren. Nyane wants to clog the Iowa rhyme drain, build a scene worth cultivating, drop “Iowa” and “hip hop” […]
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Doc Tales
The Iowa City Documentary Film Festival brings nonfiction gems out of the shadows. Wake up. Make coffee. Out the door by 7:45. Work. Eat lunch. Chat with a co-worker. More work. Traffic. Home. Pet the dog. Dinner. Bed. Reset. So often, one day is like the rest. We often forget to open our eyes to […]
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Austintatious
South by Southwest (SXSW) is the daddy of all music festivals, four days of musical immersion held each March in Austin, Texas. This year, two Iowa City acts returned for their second dip: The Diplomats of Solid Sound and Caleb Engstrom. With over 1,400 acts packed into 80 venues (including a church and an old […]
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Iowa City Weekender April 3-7
With Mission Creek coming to a close this weekend you’re probably in one of two mindsets: a) “I’m heading for an intentional music overdose” b) “no more music, I’m getting a headache”. Quick Hits: The Mountain Goats, Copyright Criminals, No Age, The Cool Kids, Cedar Rapids Independent Film Festival, Raising Medusa, Augusten Burroughs Friday, April […]
Posted inArts & Entertainment, Prairie Pop
Prairie Pop: Major Disappointments
I’m guessing that many of you have never heard of Tommy Keene. He’s a working musician who has accumulated a fairly deep catalog over the past 30 years, but he has never scored major hit and, in fact, the man has had his share of setbacks. Keene’s experience with Geffen Records in the 1980s, for […]
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The Sit-Down with Leighton Pierce
Related: Agency by Leighton Pierce You’ve got a lot of your works online. Some artists are reluctant to do that. “For a while, I didn’t put much online. Then I put online only older things. Now I’m thinking, why not let people get some sense of the work? Let it capture their interest. The two-inch […]
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A Wrinkle Time
Agency Leighton Pierce Related: Q&A with Leighton Pierce www.leightonpierce.com In his latest work, film and video artist Leighton Pierce gives visual manifestation to one of modern society’s greatest fears: lost time. Agency of Time (Toward part 2), a five-channel video, two-channel audio installation, uses lush, abstracted imagery and sound cues to draw the viewer into […]
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Talking Movies: Tears of a Clown
La Strada dir. Federico Fellini 108 mins In the early morning hours, at the end of a spirited drinking party, as passed-out sophisticates snore on the couches, an old man lectures two weary writers that tragedy and comedy have the same source, and that one who truly understands their root should be able to compose […]
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On the Beat: Spring breakdown
March in the actual world might be known for St. Patrick’s Day or warmer weather (hopefully), or a certain kind of basketball madness, but in the music world, it’s all about one thing: the SXSW music festival and conference in Austin, Texas. Perhaps the biggest and most indulgent exercise in industry self-love ever to be […]
