When I wrote about Awful Purdies’ 20th anniversary for last month’s column, Kate Rowe joked that the band was her longest-running relationship. “It’s actually been part of my entire adult life,” she said. “I was one year out of college when I joined this band.” Rowe’s quip struck a chord because…
Iowa City history
Posted inArts & Entertainment
Painter Marcia Wegman’s final exhibition includes nods to Things & Things & Things, her beloved bygone Iowa City store
Marcia Wegman has been an Iowa City zeitgeist since arriving here in 1957 to study printmaking with Mauricio Lasansky at the University of Iowa. Now at the age of 90, Marcia is presenting what she is calling her final show, one that also serves as an homage to her time running a beloved retail store in the heart of Iowa City. Opening on Friday, July 3 at the Iowa Artisan’s Gallery, Wegman’s “Things & Things & Things” exhibition will run through July 30.
Posted inCommunity/News
Former Little Village publishers and editors reflect on 25 ‘wild, beautiful and sometimes scandalous’ years in print
Comments from Little Village publishers and editors, former and current, were compiled by editor-in-chief Emma McClatchey and edited for length and clarity. 2001 Icon publishes its last issue on Jan. 25. Five months later, former staffer Todd Kimm begins publishing Little Village along with Icon alumni Beth Oxler, Andria Green and Steve Horowitz. Todd Kimm: […]
Posted inCommunity/News
Hair Art, the tornado-proof salon that never raised its prices, is closing after more than 28 years in Iowa City
Man Kwi Park plans to treat June 30 like any normal Tuesday. She will open Hair Art, her one-chair salon at the corner of Linn and Court Street, at 9 a.m., and spend the next 12 hours cutting the hair of whomever walks in. (And it will be walk-ins; Park does not take reservations.) At […]
Posted inCommunity/News
For over half a century, the Aerohawks have pushed their hobby to new heights — and entertained Iowa City Landfill patrons
If you jump on Melrose Avenue and drive west out of Iowa City, you’ll pass Chatham Oaks, the historic Poor Farm and the National Reserve base. The speed limit is 35 mph, but I’ve never seen anybody go less than 50. You’ll know the dump is coming up when you see huge flocks of birds […]
Posted inBook Reviews
Book Review: ‘13 Notes from Napoleon, Iowa: Musings on the Edge of the French Empire’ by Anna Barker
For several years, University of Iowa literature professor Anna Barker has produced a steady blizzard of commentary on classic French literature: Hugo, Stendahl, Dumas, Balzac. In her debut book, 13 Notes from Napoleon, Iowa: Musings of the Edge of the French Empire (Ice Cube Press), Barker follows the trail of arguably the most important individual […]
Posted inArts & Entertainment
Born to draw Batman, Iowa City kid Norm Breyfogle sketched his way into pop culture history
From the shadows, Iowa City has played a quiet role in the mythology of the Batman, all thanks to the co-creations of Norm Breyfogle. When we saw Ratcatcher save the day in James Gunn’s version of The Suicide Squad? That character came from an IC kid. Any time Jeremiah Arkham showed up in a show, […]
Posted inCommunity/News
A fashionable writer from Iowa City inspired silent films and tabloid news
The paths in Hickory Hill Park were covered in leaves, and Oakland Cemetery was full of deer — whole families, plodding in the grass, lying down — when my wife and I began our search. We’ve walked through there so many times, but coming with a mission, it seemed that we’d hardly seen any of […]
Posted inCommunity/News
‘The American people must have more than a choice between evils’: Iowan Henry A. Wallace, FDR’s vice president, was an ag innovator and fierce antifascist
“The Cornfield Prophet” Henry A . Wallace, known for his pioneering work in agriculture, was a progressive statesman who championed the “Century of the Common Man.” A heartbeat away from the presidency for four years as FDR’s vice president, his supporters viewed him as the torchbearer for the New Deal, while opponents dismissed him as […]
Posted inArts & Entertainment
Before he became Tom Tomorrow, political cartoonist Dan Perkins was a Zephyr employee making zines in Iowa City
This Modern World, the long-running, award-winning satirical comic that Dan Perkins publishes under the pen name Tom Tomorrow, came to life in Iowa City during the mid-’80s. Perkins first began sketching the strip while working at a downtown copy shop, though his passion for cartooning developed much earlier when his parents first moved to Iowa […]
Posted inArts & Entertainment
Dubbed the ‘gadget guy’ of jazz, Herbie Hancock used tech to change music forever. He honed his skills in Grinnell
In his last performance in Iowa City, jazz great Herbie Hancock mentioned how he felt “at home in Iowa” because of his years at Grinnell College. For most artists, a nod to their alma mater might sound like simple gratitude. In Hancock’s case, it was an understatement. His time at Grinnell did not just influence […]
Posted inCommunity/News
Iowa City’s favorite bell disappeared after an incident involving a ‘madman,’ a mob and the Mormon Trail. Now, 177 years later, it’s back.
After 177 years, 1,200 miles, $35,000 and a 70-page report by historians from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, a 782-pound church bell was returned to its original home in Iowa City. On Oct. 5, Iowa City’s First Presbyterian Church held a dedication and blessing for what they now call their “Hummer Bell.” […]
