Three months after the last performers left the stage at this year’s 80/35, the organization behind the music festival has announced it is shutting down. “After nearly twenty years of volunteers and staff working passionately to grow central Iowa’s music scene, the non-profit Greater Des Moines Music Coalition (DMMC) has made the heartfelt decision to […]
Des Moines Music
Posted inFood & Drink
LV Recommends: The Cave DSM is a purveyor of natural wine, fancy snacks and some of the city’s best live music
I you want to feel like you’re doing something bougie while still on a budget, go chill at The Cave DSM. Situated at the very edge of downtown in a small building so nondescript you’d miss it if you weren’t looking for it (I nearly did), The Cave is a wine bar that might also […]
Posted inArts & Entertainment
The Mr. Softheart show happened like this
Two valued team members from Principal Financial Group were delivered here to the LiFT — by the divine means of Court Ave, or maybe, Fong’s — and found themselves next to me. There was nowhere else to go. The place was packed on Aug. 1 to welcome Mr. Softheart (the band, not man) into the […]
Posted inAlbum Reviews
Album Review: Keenan Crow — ‘Ambient Anachronism’ EP
Ambient Anachronisms by Keenan Crow Ambient Anachronism is the first solo EP by Des Moines-based musician and activist Keenan Crow, perhaps best known as the director of policy and advocacy at One Iowa, a statewide LGBTQ advocacy organization. In other words, you can assume Crow has a front-row seat to the special kind of buffoonery […]
Posted inArts & Entertainment
Photo Gallery: A rock show at the roller rink with Ramona and the Sometimes, Greg Wheeler and the Poly Mall Cops
Des Moines bands Ramona and the Sometimes and Greg Wheeler and the Poly Mall Cops inaugurated Skate South (10494 County Line Rd, Des Moines)’s first rock show on Saturday, May 18. Bands performed from the center of the rink while skaters circled around them, dodging inflatable clouds and disco balls. Be on the lookout for […]
Posted inArts & Entertainment
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 […]
Posted inAlbum Reviews
Album Review: GOLDBLUMS — ‘Bless Me for the Get Better’
Bless Me for the Get Better by GOLDBLUMS Over the last few years, the Des Moines-based group GOLDBLUMS have recorded with a wide sonic palette, including elements of garage punk, noise pop, and even some stoner sludge metal into their music. On their latest, Bless Me for the Get Better, they present six tracks full […]
Posted inArts & Entertainment
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, […]
Posted inArts & Entertainment
‘Born into music’ and raised in a family band, River Glen is about to release one of the most ambitious Iowa music collabs ever
“I was born into music,” River Glen Breitbach said. “I’m my parents’ fourth child, and by the time I came to be, they already had an existing family band with my older siblings called The One Hat Band.” Less than a year after the Dubuque native began attending his siblings’ Suzuki method lessons around the […]
Posted inArts & Entertainment
Lani’s digital stars align in 2023 with GDP Festival performance, ‘Love, Lani’ album release
Lani Eclatt was 14 years old when she performed her first solo in front of an audience, backed by an orchestra performing a song she’d composed. “It was such a big deal for me at the time, but from there I knew I wanted to keep writing and performing,” said Eclatt, who has continued to […]
Posted inArts & Entertainment
Shueyville-born musician Hailey Whitters is joining Shania Twain’s tour — but not before two Iowa shows and a pork tendy
Before she tours with pop-country queen Shania Twain, Hailey Whitters plans to return to her roots. “Raised is super influenced by the people and place that raised me,” said Whitters, a Shueyville-born country musician now based in Nashville, regarding her latest album. “I found myself unintentionally [thinking] back to that place when I was writing […]
Posted inAlbum Reviews
Album Review: Greg Wheeler and the Poly Mall Cops — ‘Manic Fever’
Greg Wheeler and the Poly Mall Cops – Manic Fever by Greg Wheeler & The Poly Mall Cops You didn’t realize you were waiting for this moment. But I promise you, you were. Later this month, on March 24, just a couple weeks ahead of their appearance at Iowa City’s Mission Creek Festival, Des Moines […]
