The gang at Void Church added something new to their repertoire by co-hosting Italian composer Fabio Frizzi at The Capitol Theater in Davenport on Thursday, May 8. Void Church typically aims for an audio-visual experience of goth and shoegaze based concerts complete with custom lighting, visuals, and the occasional fog machine as well as DJ-driven […]
Eastern Iowa Arts & Entertainment
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Review: The Sam Ross Quartet and Michael Sarian channel Miles Davis and early electric jazz at the PS1 Close House
This is the first in hopefully many reviews I will write in the near future covering local, live musical performances. I hope that sharing my experience at these shows will give people some idea of what music in our own town sounds like and feels like. I am a lifelong musician in addition to being […]
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The 25th Cedar Rapids Independent Film Festival featured stories local, global and out of this world, all with an Iowa connection
Collins Road Theatres was positively buzzing the weekend of April 4-6, and not just because A Minecraft Movie had premiered. The Cedar Rapids Independent Film Festival (CRIFF) returned to screen a new slate of original, Midwest-made films inside an unpresuming Marion shopping center. As the lights dimmed for my first film of the fest, I […]
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Shall we dance? The Magnetic Fields will perform all ‘69 Love Songs’ (including their accidental wedding standard) over two nights at the Englert
Magnetic Fields’ 69 Love Songs (1999) contains two of Stephin Merritt’s most beloved numbers, “The Book of Love” and “Papa Was a Rodeo.” Both have become standards a quarter century after their release, though they represent but a tiny fraction of equally brilliant earworms that appear in that industrial-sized collection of music. When Merritt started […]
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Void Church welcomes Italian horror composer Fabio Frizzi back to the Quad Cities with his masterful ‘Zombie’ score
Quad Cities arts collective Void Church has a taste for the goth, synthy and underground side of music. It’s no surprise, then, that they’re big fans of Italian horror films, specifically the influential works of director Lucio Fulci and composer Fabio Frizzi. The two maestros paid a visit to the Q.C. in the before times […]
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Review: The Beyond Fashion Fest made a dandy impression in downtown Iowa City, showcasing streetwear, grunge, indigenous and avant garde designs
Wright House of Fashion’s latest event was a two-day showcase of art, comedy, talks on fashion and diversity, and of course, fashion shows. The first fashion show of the inaugural Beyond Fashion Festival was Jamie Sauncoci’s JS Wear, sponsored by the Great Plains Action Society and hosted in the Graduate’s ballroom. The show opened with […]
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After divorcing her bandmate, Deb Talan channeled heartbreak into a solo album
Little Village spoke with singer-songwriter and visual artist Deb Talan about the inspiration behind her recently-released solo album, I Thought I Saw You, what she loves about creating art in her chosen hometown of Iowa City, and the joy she’s found in collaborating with her fellow Iowa-based artists.
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Review: Third Coast Percussion and Jessie Montgomery let Hancher audience inside their cutting-edge collaboration
The plastic hose hangs from his mouth. It is plugged into the drum in front of him, like an oxygen line breathing life into the instrument. He beats the skin of the drum, eyes following the notes on the score in front of him, glimpsing the movements of the other percussionists on stage, the members […]
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Fully Booked at ICPL: Children’s books to inspire spring adventures
We have some fabulous new children’s titles for you to check out at ICPL, including Your Island by Jon Klassen. The board book rounds out a beautiful trilogy by the Caldecott winner. Your Farm and Your Forest, published simultaneously, are equally lovely and follow a similar trajectory. Each opens with a sunrise and finishes after […]
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Review: Upcycled and refreshingly unironic, Sadya’s ‘Warning Signs’ fashion show at 237 Collective was an orange and earth-toned treat
Last Saturday, the Cedar Rapids-based 237 Collective hosted Warning Signs, the first of three fashion shows to be presented in the Cherry Building during April 2025. The show was a solo showcase of the work of Sadya, the nom d’artiste of 237 Collective co-creative director Paxton Williams. Models strutted down the runway, a simple outline […]
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Review: Younger previews upcoming album ‘Y3K’ in propulsive Mission Creek set
Iowa City band Younger closed their Friday set for Mission Creek Festival with a pitch-perfect cover of Le Tigre’s “Deceptacon.” The sound, energy and song choice were on point. Immediately after, an audience member threw up his hands and said what I suspect others in the crowd were also thinking. “From now on, I’ll think […]
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Review: Iowa musicians were weird, angry and confident as ever on Day 3 of Mission Creek Festival
Saturday, April 5 was a packed final day of Mission Creek. As the dust settles on the 2025 fest, let’s take a look back at some of the local music acts who made Day 3 memorable. Sam Locke Ward Early afternoon isn’t the usual time for watching Sam Locke Ward. I’ve seen him in the […]
