Hello and welcome to another edition of the Iowa City Weekender! Mid-July is here, the gnats are still being jerks and the air feels like bath water. The good news is that these weekend entertainment options are going to make you forget about all of that nonsense.
Things to do in Iowa City
Posted inArts & Entertainment
Supersonic Piss says goodbye: Two shows remaining
Supersonic Piss lead singer Paige Harwell has updated the SSP blog with the details of the band’s decision to throw in the sweat-drenched towel and, I guess, call it a … whiz? Sorry. “Read it,” the vocalist/IC DIY tastemaker says on Facebook, “Have a cry, and come to our show.”
Posted inFood & Drink
Pilsner Urquell is our July brew of the month
For July, my instinct tells me to recommend a Czech pilsner. Light, refreshing, grassy and perhaps a touch skunky at first, I think the style not only suits hot, humid days, but also complements the aromatics I associate with summertime. After being disappointed by other versions of the style, I am falling back on the […]
Posted inArts & Entertainment
Englert snags puzzle expert
Will Shortz, crossword puzzle editor for the New York Times, will visit the Englert Theatre this fall to discuss his passion for puzzles, take questions and engage the audience with a few games of his own.
Shortz is also the longtime host of NPR‘s Sunday Puzzle, but more than anything else, he is a enigmatologist (which is exactly what you might expect: the study of puzzles). The world’s only, in fact. Shortz designed his own curriculum as part of Indiana University’s Individualized Major Program and earned his degree in enigmatology in 1974.
Posted inArts & Entertainment
Live music and festival preview for July
The Iowa City Jazz Festival and Firecracker 500 take over Iowa City this weekend, but late July also promises some legendary performances. Read about the shows and sample the bands after the jump.
Posted inArts & Entertainment
Jean Seberg declassified
Born in Marshalltown, Iowa on Nov. 13, 1938, Jean Seberg was a young girl who loved the cinema and her aspirations reached far beyond the fields and factories of her hometown. She acted in local theater productions and after high school she studied the dramatic arts at the University of Iowa. Her life changed when […]
Posted inArts & Entertainment
Talking Movies: Rounding the bases abroad
As summer dawns, American sports fans begin to drift into a sort of happy languor as they pursue the time-honored rituals of the national pastime. Between the point at which Cubs fans recognize that their team’s hopes are exclusively mathematical and the hoopla of the mid-July all-star break, early season excitement flattens into the more […]
Posted inArts & Entertainment
Art City: Holy places
Art, like people, often fragments mysteriously, like light into a prism. And that prism can be a little trickier to observe in a place like Iowa City, with its rich art scene that at times can feel equally rich in its inaccessibility to the general public. Where can definite lines of meaning be drawn, if […]
Posted inArts & Entertainment
Iowa City Weekender: June 27-29
WOWZA WHAT A HUGE WEEKEND! It’s like it’s the 4th of July or somethin’! But it’s not! Yet! This Weekender will focus on two major events happening in Iowa City proper and a little bit outside: Seldom Seen Festival and #Daddyhoffsblockparty. There are some other things to check out obviously, but I want to start […]
Posted inArts & Entertainment
Your guide to the Firecracker 500 Festival
The Fourth of July is right around the corner, and that not only means grilling out, day drinking and illegally setting off fireworks in your yard, but also the return of the Firecracker 500 Festival. For the third consecutive year, Firecracker 500 will feature some of the coolest garage, psych and soul bands both from the midwest and beyond, including a ton of local favorites like The Ills, Lipstick Homicide, Good Habits and Autodramatics. Spanning four nights, the festival’s first half will take place at The Mill ($10 cover each night), but will move to Blue Moose Tap House for both Friday ($12) and Saturday ($15) evenings. Below are a few highlights that attempt to capture the diversity and awesomeness of this year’s line-up.
Posted inArts & Entertainment
The Stage: Everything old is new again
In the planning stages for Riverside Theatre in the Park, which began on June 14 and runs through July 7, the production team had to devise a way to make the classic plays of Shakespeare’s Hamlet (1599) and Richard Sheridan’s The School for Scandal (1777) vibrant for contemporary audiences and also different from other recent versions.
Posted inArts & Entertainment
Spend the weekend with Seldom Seen
Seldom Seen festival | June 28-29 | Monmouth, Iowa Seldom Seen returns to Mineral Crossing this weekend, and festival organizers have put together their biggest offering to date — by quite a margin, in fact. Since 2011, the quiet 625-acre farm in Monmouth, Iowa has brought people together to camp out and celebrate artistic endeavors […]
