It’s all part of the act for Mr. Softheart. That’s because this local three-piece has no regard for the basic building blocks of rock bands. At one of their shows, you’re sure to spy the image of Bambi on a deltoid muscle or the late ’80s linebacker-inspired cut of a Jockey crop top. But what […]
Statewide
Posted inArts & Entertainment
Big Grove Vinyl Market returns to Iowa City, launches next month in Des Moines
“It’s a fun atmosphere to sell records in,” Brian Brandsgard told Little Village of the aesthetics and energy Big Grove Brewery in Iowa City. “It’s just a perfect place to have it.” Brandsgard is the organizer of the Big Grove Vinyl Market, which he has held periodically at the brewery since it opened five years […]
Posted inCommunity/News
Meet Alicia Vasto, the Iowa Environmental Council’s new water czar
Growing up in the small town of Adel kept a young Alicia Vasto in the outdoors, exploring nature along rivers and streams. She developed a deep love for what naturally existed around her. Understanding the grim realities of climate change, Vasto realized she could only make a big impact using a top-down approach. “To see […]
Posted inCommunity/News
Dana James: We were never in the same pandemic
I’ll admit it. I’m ambivalent about this stage of the coronavirus pandemic. Twenty-nine months since it began, Americans have long tired of all things pandemic-related, but I find it difficult to move forward and let go of the habits that have kept my family safe. I still wear N-95 face masks religiously. I don’t dine […]
Posted inDear Kiki
Dear Kiki: Does having sex on the first date prevent future romance?
Questions about love, sex or relationship can be submitted to dearkiki@littlevillagemag.com, or anonymously using this form. Questions may be edited for clarity and length, and may appear either in print or online. Dear Kiki, Do you think having sex with a man on the first date/encounter with him ruins the chances of a future relationship […]
Posted inLetters
Op-ed: As Banned Books Week turns 40, it’s time to unequivocally condemn censorship
By Mickey Huff, Project Censored In her best-selling novel Speak, young adult author Laurie Halse Anderson wrote, “Censorship is the child of fear and the father of ignorance.” Since the American Library Association (ALA) and Association of American Publishers helped launch Banned Books Week 40 years ago, that dysfunctional family of censorship has unfortunately grown […]
Posted inArts & Entertainment
Book Review and Q&A: Sarah Thankam Mathews — ‘All This Could Be Different’
When I started reading All This Could Be Different (Viking, 2022) by Sarah Thankam Mathews, I was nervous about the passive voice, tonally similar to other books I’ve recently read which I felt lacked substance. But this is intentional. Our narrator, Sneha, is apathetic, barely teasing interest, she merely exists for the first part of […]
Posted inArts & Entertainment
Album Review and Q&A: Teller Bank$ — ‘The I & I’
The I & I by Teller Bank$ The album opener to The I & I by Teller Bank$ finds the Des Moines-based rapper reflecting on the practical value of processing his trauma through his art. In “Friends,” he comments on the market forces which encourage work that perpetuates negative stereotypes: “I had to swing my […]
Posted inAlbum Reviews
Album Review and Q&A: Allegra Hernandez — ‘Gift Exchange’
Musician, guitarist and educator Allegra Hernandez returned to Des Moines in 2018 after their stint at McNally Smith College of Music in St. Paul, Minnesota was cut short when the school closed. That time afforded them a solid basis in music theory and performances at Twin Cities venues like the venerable 7th Street Entry. Hernandez […]
Posted inArts & Entertainment
‘It was always about building it, destroying it, rebuilding, destroying’: The Cult’s new musical era brings them through Des Moines
On a magical summer evening in 1986, after a fiery performance by the Cult, the sun refused to set. The band’s shows radiated a mystical quality that could realign heavenly bodies, though this anomaly of nature occurred because Finland’s Provinssirock Festival took place north of the Arctic Circle. “You have this strange situation where it […]
Posted inArts & Entertainment
‘Hockeyland’, a new documentary from the makers of ‘Saving Brinton’, hits theaters this month
It’s been 17 years since Minnesota-born filmmakers Tommy Haines, JT Haines and Andrew Sherburne founded their independent production company, Northland Films, with a focus on nonfiction storytelling. In that time, they’ve produced, directed and released six film projects — all while Sherburne was busy founding and expanding Iowa City’s nonprofit cinema FilmScene. Their best-known documentary […]
Posted inBook Reviews
Book Review and Q&A: Tom Montgomery Fate — ‘The Long Way Home’
To be born in the Midwest is to become acutely aware of the term “flyover country.” And once you are aware of it, you must decide whether or not you’ll embrace your life here regardless or denounce it and move somewhere else, somewhere more conventionally beautiful and wild. Maybe, if you’ve chosen the former, you […]
