The 80/35 Music Festival covered Des Moines’ Water Works Park in confetti on the first of two great (and hot!) nights of performances from national, international and Iowa acts alike. The first day of the festival — Friday, July 12 — saw tDreamer Isioma, Halfloves and Jim Swim take the stage, among others. As the […]
Central Iowa Arts & Entertainment
Posted inCentral Iowa Arts & Entertainment
Photo Gallery: Benefit for Iowa Abortion Access Fund
The Benefit for Iowa Abortion Access Fund presented by Ryan O’Rein, unfolded on Saturday, March 23 at xBk in Des Moines. The event showcased a diverse lineup of local bands, including The Other Brothers, Dickie, Munk Rivers, Allegra Hernandez, Mr. Softheart, and The Deeves, all rallying behind the cause. Attendees contributed through free-will donations, knowing […]
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Photo Gallery: Chappell Roan at Val Air Ballroom
Photos from Chappell Roan at Val Air Ballroom on Sunday, March 17. Roan is currently on tour with Olivia Rodrigo and made a solo stop in Des Moines. The LA-based singer, songwriter and performer hit the stage to perform to an enthusiastic sold-out crowd. Five Midwest drag performers opened the show, and fans were decked […]
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Expect ‘all hits,’ cool outfits and ‘epic cardboard hearts’ at Cupid’s Lounge, a Valentine’s show from Ramona & the Sometimes, the Lovin’ Forkful
Cupid’s Lounge: Songs About Love by Talented Locals xBk Live, Des Moines, Saturday, Feb. 10 at 8:30 p.m., $13-18 Des Moines rock outfit Ramona & the Sometimes wants to sweep you off your feet — or at least rock your socks off — at their Valentine’s takeover of xBk Live, Cupid’s Lounge: Songs About Love by […]
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Contact Buzz: Creative activism helps all voices be heard, from the stage to the canvas
Jill Wells is a Des Moines-based multimedia artist whose murals confronting issues of race, history, accessibility and human experience have been seen—and felt—by thousands. She creates 3D, tactile murals designed with the disability community in mind.
Posted inArts & Entertainment
From Cannes to Des Moines, violinist Geneviève Gros-Louis is making sure ‘Killers of the Flower Moon’ audiences hear the Osage story
The occasion, as stated on the Varsity Cinema marquee, was the Des Moines premiere of Killers of the Flower Moon, another hefty, late-period offering from Martin Scorsese. Yet the night, and each of the 235 seats in the sold-out theater, belonged to Geneviève Gros-Louis, a Huron-Wendat Nation composer who played violin in the Des Moines […]
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Broadway Sinfonietta’s live score (and then some) ‘Spider-Verse’ concert to swing through Des Moines
You’ll want to sit through the credits of this Marvel movie, just not for the usual reason. “The movie ends … and then we score the whole credits for eight minutes,” said Emily Marshall, the New York-based conductor who will be leading the Broadway Sinfonietta for Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse Live in Concert when it […]
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Storyhouse Bookpub invites three Iowa authors to drink and mingle with readers on Nov. 4
For Storyhouse Bookpub store owner Abigail Paxton, her upcoming “afterparty” is the main event. “We’ll start the evening in the bookstore with a more casual start to everything with getting everyone a drink and some dessert and some time to kind of mingle among the shelves and give the authors some time to interface a […]
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Beaverdale Books to ‘celebrate the freedom to read’ at its first Banned Books Festival
Beaverdale Books thinks you should be able to read whatever books you want. Especially if irate parents and governing bodies are trying to keep them off of shelves. This Saturday, Oct. 7, Beaverdale Books will be capping off Banned Book Week with its own Banned Books Festival for the first time. The festival — which […]
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Abe Goldstien’s Waukee jazz series showcases international talent on an ‘acoustically perfect’ stage
“Hey, if you’re passionate about it, figure out a way to do it yourself,” said Abe Goldstien, explaining the philosophy that has made his local concert series, Jazz at the Caspe Terrace, a magnet for international jazz talent for 15 years. After all, Goldstien has had a passion for jazz since his boyhood in Rochester, […]
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Whatever happened to the Riverview Music Festival?
Something has been conspicuously missing from Central Iowa’s fall festival lineup for the past two years. The Riverview Music Festival was held in Des Moines for the first, and likely last, time Sept. 4-5, 2021. The fest was focused on providing musical entertainment to underserved demographics in the neighborhoods around Riverview Park. The lineup included […]
Posted inCentral Iowa
Have a story from Harlan’s Barbershop? Jill Wells wants to make it a part of her new Des Moines art piece
Barbershops have long served as social and cultural hubs for Black Americans, and Harlan’s Barbershop, open for half a century in Des Moines’ Woodland Heights neighborhood, was no exception. Harlan’s opened in 1968; that same year, construction finished on I-235, which had displaced thriving Black businesses, churches and communities in the Center Street district, not […]
