I am a fairly new GBV fan, and while I understood the magnitude of their legacy, I had no idea what I was in for seeing them live. I heard the stories about how they play for hours and chain smoke despite microphones and guitar solo high kicks – how they are more energetic than I am on my best day – how they are one of the most serious rock shows I will ever see. All of this is absolutely true.
Music
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Show Review – DeVotchKa – First United Methodist – 4/02/2011
Churches are significant cultural spaces for many reasons. They are built to both spiritual and practical aims: to focus reverence of the spirit and to reverberate the human voice. Unfortunately. most of us will never experience any given church. If you are a member of a church, you seldom visit others. If you’re not a member, you seldom […]
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Show Photos: Scotland Yard Gospel Choir, Devotchka @ First Methodist – 4/2
Tonight was epic. Walking into First Methodist for a show was strange at first, bringing back memories of the time I spent in churches as a child. I couldn’t help but whisper, sit politely and try not swear…I was unsuccessful on all accounts. I was redeemed when the Scotland Yard Gospel Choir reminded us it […]
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Show Photos: Skye Carrasco @ PS1 – 4/1
Skye stopped in to the KRUI camp at Public Space One on Friday to give folks a taste of what they’d be getting at the Mill later that night. Surrounded by soft, glowing fluorescent hatchets, (part of the art exhibit presently on display) Skye wove a tapestry of sound with her violin and her stunning voice.
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Show Photos: Winter's Ruby, Slut River @ PS1 – 3/31
If you’re paying attention, all my blog posts have been chronological. Winter’s Ruby and Slut River closed out the night immediately after the Super Sonic Piss show (@ the Tobacco Bowl) I raved about in my last post. Â I was so exhausted at this point, but it was the right decision to prop my eyelids open and stick with it ’til the end.
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Show Photos: Mission Bleak: Super Sonic Piss @ Tobacco Bowl – 3/31
I love shows in places where shows don’t usually happen. I was especially stoked for this one – not only because SSP is the real deal, but also because I could smoke inside at a show again….a reminder of days of yore, before ordinances and laws messed it all up. Of course the Bowl was packed, the lights out, amps were cranked and the band was on pointe.
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Show Review: Eugene Kelley, Golden Birds – Revival – 4/01/2011
Friday’s show at Revival featured solo performances in a funky clothing shop. I didn’t get there in time to see Alexis Stevens open, but I did see Eugene Kelley play honest, workingman’s folk. His earnest voice has the right amount of gravel; not by pretense, but by raw emotion. Golden Birds’ Roger plays driving guitar but […]
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Show Photos: Stare Case, Mirror/Dash @ the Mill – 3/31
After a full day of lecture/q&a style appearances, Kim Gordon, Thurston Moore and Chris Corsano took the stage at the Mill to make some pretty sweet noise. I enjoyed watching Kim and Thurston smear their guitars over various items on stage – the amps, a chair, a mic stand…at one point Kim even picked up […]
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Show Preview: The Ragbirds, Yacht Club 4/2
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?
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Day Four: Video from the 2011 Mission Creek Festival
We’ve passed the midpoint of the 2011 Mission Creek Festival, so why not mark the occasion with an absurd amount of video from the festival’s Wednesday night performances? Below you’ll find video of Peter Wolf Crier, Utopia Park, Native and many more, so scroll, scroll, scroll. Go on and give that mouse wheel a workout. […]
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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, […]
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Photos: Kim Gordon, Thurston Moore, Chris Corsano; Das Racist on KRUI – 3/31
Since KRUI has hunkered down at Public Space One for the week, they have seen a myriad of performers trek through. On Thursday, I snuck down there just in time to catch Kim, Thurston and Chris chatting with our lovely KRUI djs.
