This is a scrappy story of young folks bum-rushing the airwaves through sheer force of will. With humble origins that can be traced back to a University of Iowa dormitory […]
Prairie Pop
Legendary pro skater, punk rocker and Des Moines local Mike Vallely is living his teenage dream
Growing up in New Jersey in the 1970s and ’80s, Mike Vallely was, of course, aware of skateboarding. But it didn’t seem approachable. Popular culture presented it as something made […]
‘As long as our music touches people, we’re gonna keep on singing’: The Blind Boys of Alabama are coming to Iowa for two shows
The Blind Boys of Alabama’s decades-spanning career speaks to both the universal human condition — we are all just passing through this world, searching for connection — and the very […]
Marginalization and book bans protect abusers, warns Iowa writer Lyz Lenz: ‘Silence always benefits power’
Growing up in a conservative evangelical family, Lyz Lenz internalized Old Testament proverbs, like, “It is better to live in a corner of the housetop than in a house shared […]
‘Nosferatu’ and a live, electronic symphony of horror will invade the James Theatre on Oct. 23
Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror is one of the most unsettling visual tales ever imprinted on celluloid, with an origin story and afterlife as shadowy as its vampiric subject matter. […]
Improvising with her trombone, FEaST performer Kalia Vandever creates ‘music that is reflecting on itself’
Revenge is a dish best served cold, and FEaST is a sonic smorgasbord best consumed with ears wide open. The off-kilter brainchild of Iowa City-based experimental music maker and promotor […]
Meet Sam Locke Ward, Iowa City’s pop music MacGyver
Since the time Samuel Locke Ward grew up in relative isolation on a family farm in Iowa, he has taken the road less traveled at every turn. With a preternatural […]
Booker T. Jones remembers Stax Records, “Green Onions” and his melting pot ’60s soul group ahead of Englert appearance
“Back in 1962, we were breaking the law in a big way just by playing music together in Memphis,” storied songwriter Booker T. Jones recalled. “And while it was OK […]
Forty years ago, volunteers pulled off the first Iowa Arts Festival. Summer in Iowa City has never been the same
What started 40 years ago as a volunteer-led labor of love is now a downtown Iowa City institution: the Iowa Arts Festival. Back in the summer of 1983, Joyce Carroll […]
‘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 […]
The Iowa talent at the heart of Mission Creek Festival
“Community is explicitly listed in the Mission Creek Festival tagline — ‘Music. Lit. Community.’ — which you won’t find with most other prominent music and arts festivals,” said Elly Hofmaier, […]
Greg Brown, Iowa’s contribution to folk music mythology, reflects before retirement
The term roots is often used to describe unadorned country and folk music — though it is sometimes invoked without much thought about its deeper, more resonant connotations. But by […]