How many children does Lady Macbeth have? That’s the kind of ridiculous question a certain strain of literature teacher will torture students with. The answer, obviously, is: Shakespeare would have told us, had it been important. Nevertheless, there are a few characters who so transcend their storylines that they really do acquire lives of their […]
Iowa City Mill
Posted inArts & Entertainment
The Weekender Nov 27-Nov30
Imagine that I’m telling you all these things while turkeys are getting slaughtered in the background. Or maybe not. This weekend’s entertainment pickings are a bit slimmer than usual. The Picador used to always have some sort of oddball townie one-off show on Thanksgiving, but not this year! The Mill has no entertainment, though you […]
Posted inArts & Entertainment
Eugene Chadbourne, Crackety Sax, Evan Miller 11/16/08 @ The Mill
Eugene Chadbourne is a prolific guitarist/banjo/songwriter who has produced a supremely odd, but brilliant, body of work over the last 30 years. He started out as a performer working with John Zorn, a more famous but just as brilliant an experimentalist. When Chadbourne struck out on his own, he genre-hopped with reckless abandon, from Country […]
Posted inArts & Entertainment
In Which I Highjack The Weekender NOV 27-NOV 30
Hi, Kent Williams here. I kinda sorta talked to Melody about doing a Weekender post, but we didn’t really get beyond the ‘sure why not?’ planning stage, so I’m operating here on the principle that it’s easier to apologize than ask permission. Anyhoo… The Mill Thursday: Monroe Crossing. A Bluegrass outfit that tours nationally and […]
Posted inArts & Entertainment
Best Of, Schmest of, Part Deux
BEST FORMER ROCK & ROLLER LIVING MORE OR LESS QUIETLY IN IOWA CITY: Pete Balestrieri Pete Balestrieri was a mainstay of the rotating assembly of musicians known as the Horns of Dilemma, who the Violent Femmes used to add a generous portion of crazy to their live shows, and he appears on several of their […]
Posted inArts & Entertainment
Mannix Attack
For Iowa native Karlee Mannix, doodles turned into an art degree and high school choir turned into a family-affair band. Karlee, an Iowa alum, enjoys her eclectic life. When she is not working as a photographer’s assistant at The Portrait Shop in Coralville, she is singing in Iowa City bars with her husband and guitarist, […]
Posted inArts & Entertainment, Prairie Pop
Prairie Pop: Turn Off Your Radio
Copyright infringement, billboard “alteration,” an evil secret society known as the Illuminati, country music legend Tammy Wynette, the incineration of £1,000,000 in cash, and—most recently—No Music Day. These odd, interconnected events were engineered by Bill Drummond and Jimmy Cauty, an anarchic British pop duo who used several pseudonyms, including their most well known moniker, the […]
Posted inArts & Entertainment
The Sit Down with Laurel Snyder
“You have to write the book that wants to be written. And if the book will be too difficult for grown-ups, then you write it for children.” –Madeleine L’Engle Laurel Snyder earned her master of fine arts in poetry from the Iowa Writers’ Workshop in 2000. She is the author of two recently released children’s […]
Posted inCommunity/News, UR Here
UR Here: Visiting Ober
I visited the grave of Ernest Oberholtzer today last month. I was invited to read from my new book of essays Under a Midland Sky (ok, that’s a plug) at the Unitarian Church in Davenport. This was a wonderful occasion to find the resting place of one of my heroes, especially given that Davenport’s Unitarian […]
Posted inArts & Entertainment
Iowa City Weekender – October 31-November 2
Ok, this will be news to all of you: It’s Halloween. I know! Where would you be without the Weekender for such important breaking news? Well, that’s why we’re here for you. It is Halloween, and if trick or treating isnt on your agenda, a costume party probably is. Wherever you go, lets see who […]
Posted inArts & Entertainment
Iowa City Weekender – October 24-26
The weekend schedules are filling up again. In no small part because a number of CR based arts orgs are back from the flood. Likewise, Parkview Terrace, where I’ve owned an unoccupied house for six months is filling up again. My house is almost done and I’m getting ready to move this weekend. IT feels […]
Posted inAlbum Reviews
Jugs Across America CD Review
Jugs Across America Jugs Across America: A Modern Jug Band Compilation Self released Kellie Everette, Banjo Kellie from Escape The Floodwater Jug Band, has taken things up a notch with this new compilation, impishly titled Jugs Across America. It’s always been possible to find jug band music—either the original recordings, the ‘60s revivalists, or the […]
