The Ragbirds have toured 40 states to the tune of 150+ shows a year since 2006, but only first visited Iowa on December 1, 2010. How did they not know we’d love them here?
Mission Creek Festival
Show Review: Or, the Whale — Iowa City Yacht Club — 3/30/2011
There was country music in the Yacht Club last night, and it was glorious. Most of us know the Yacht Club as a funky basement with a heady smell, home to blistering jams and dance parties. However, last night’s show was full of twang from beginning to end. Dubuque’s Kerosene Circuit opened with their gritty roots rock, […]
Show Photos: Railroad Earth @ Englert Theater – 3/29
Railroad Earth and Brighton, MA played at the Englert on Tuesday. Little did I know then, that show was at about hour 8 of my 34-hour stretch of insomnia. I am glad I was still coherent enough at that point to enjoy this group of tenured and talented musicians. I thought I had given myself […]
Show Photos: Alex Body, Zomes, Skull Defekts with Dan Higgs
I unfortunately missed the first set at the Wherehouse last night, so the last three sets are all I have for you today. I caught local sound-charmer Alex Body, Zomes, as well as Daniel Higgs and Skull Defekts (the latter three you should read a little about here). *Please continue to forgive my three sentence blogs […]
Show Photos: Wandering Bears, Birds and Batteries, Rubblebucket @ Gabe's – 3/28
Last night’s show at Gabe’s was, as the kids say, “sick”. If you were there, you know just what I mean. It has taken the top spot on my “best shows of 2011” list….though we are early in the year, I think this one will stick.
Show Photos: Mission Creek: British Sea Power, A Classic Education @ Blue Moose Tap House – 3/28
Mission Creek is off and running and I am trying to be everywhere all at once. i’ll be posting photos – with little to no editing – each day of the festival. I am keeping my chatting to the minimum, and the photos coming. The Festival Kicked off with A Classic Education and British Sea […]
Mission Creek Day 1: Come dance now.
Instead of getting into the details of A Classic Education schooling their audience on powerhouse Brit-pop, The Wandering Bears plucking tambourines from a red-lit, skeletal branch whilst belting out sweet downhome harmonies, and an ecstatic audience parting for members of the U of I brass section to join Rubblebucket onstage for a thunderous finale, what I would like to write you instead is “please come do this.”
First Announcements: Mission Creek Festival 2011
The first announcement about 2011 Mission Creek Festival dropped today. It should be obvious that the Little Village staff overlaps with the Mission Creek staff, and that we have been in the past and will be forever huge cheerleaders for the Mission Creek Festival. So full disclosure: we don’t pretend anything resembling objectivity here — we’re huge fans, we’re friends, we’ve held each other’s hair while we’ve puked.
Mission Creek's Best of 2010
Year-end lists from the staffers at Mission Creek.
Videos: Darren Hanlon and Grand Tetons

Here lies the second installation of Mission Freak’s YouTube channel. Below are two songs performed by Australia’s singer/songwriter and all around good guy Darren Hanlon and one by local band Grand Tetons.
Midwest-by-Midwest
Experiencing this year’s Mission Creek Festival after having just returned from SXSW brought a few things to mind. First, there can be no argument: These are two of the best-run and brilliantly programmed festivals around. Hosting a mind-boggling assortment of shows simultaneously at various venues around a city-center hub is a concept SXSW pioneered 23 […]
Mission Creek 2010: 4/3/10 (PHOTOS, VIDEOS)
Granted: 6 days and 6 nights into Mission Creek 2010, there were likely only a few frequencies still registering on my bruised and battered eardrums when the night began, but still, is it just me or did the Blue Moose sound spectacular for Camera Obscura on Saturday night? I’m very stoked about the Blue Moose […]




