Here’s what promoter Tanki Nyane wants out of IC: Local hip hop pinned down, weathered posters of emcees competing with indie rockers, people strolling down Clinton Street on their iPods listening to Animosity and his future brethren. Nyane wants to clog the Iowa rhyme drain, build a scene worth cultivating, drop “Iowa” and “hip hop” […]
Things to do in Iowa City
Posted inArts & Entertainment
Doc Tales
The Iowa City Documentary Film Festival brings nonfiction gems out of the shadows. Wake up. Make coffee. Out the door by 7:45. Work. Eat lunch. Chat with a co-worker. More work. Traffic. Home. Pet the dog. Dinner. Bed. Reset. So often, one day is like the rest. We often forget to open our eyes to […]
Posted inArts & Entertainment
Austintatious
South by Southwest (SXSW) is the daddy of all music festivals, four days of musical immersion held each March in Austin, Texas. This year, two Iowa City acts returned for their second dip: The Diplomats of Solid Sound and Caleb Engstrom. With over 1,400 acts packed into 80 venues (including a church and an old […]
Posted inArts & Entertainment
Iowa City Weekender April 3-7
With Mission Creek coming to a close this weekend you’re probably in one of two mindsets: a) “I’m heading for an intentional music overdose” b) “no more music, I’m getting a headache”. Quick Hits: The Mountain Goats, Copyright Criminals, No Age, The Cool Kids, Cedar Rapids Independent Film Festival, Raising Medusa, Augusten Burroughs Friday, April […]
Posted inFood & Drink
Growing Excitement
Just about everyone I know has been pouring over seed catalogs for the last month. Eagerness to plant supplants many other priorities and they begin rifling through each newly arrived issue like a 12-year-old boy with a lingerie catalog. Plans for this year’s garden become an obsession that quickly grows out of all reasonable proportions, […]
Posted inArts & Entertainment, Prairie Pop
Prairie Pop: Major Disappointments
I’m guessing that many of you have never heard of Tommy Keene. He’s a working musician who has accumulated a fairly deep catalog over the past 30 years, but he has never scored major hit and, in fact, the man has had his share of setbacks. Keene’s experience with Geffen Records in the 1980s, for […]
Posted inArts & Entertainment
The Sit-Down with Leighton Pierce
Related: Agency by Leighton Pierce You’ve got a lot of your works online. Some artists are reluctant to do that. “For a while, I didn’t put much online. Then I put online only older things. Now I’m thinking, why not let people get some sense of the work? Let it capture their interest. The two-inch […]
Posted inArts & Entertainment
A Wrinkle Time
Agency Leighton Pierce Related: Q&A with Leighton Pierce www.leightonpierce.com In his latest work, film and video artist Leighton Pierce gives visual manifestation to one of modern society’s greatest fears: lost time. Agency of Time (Toward part 2), a five-channel video, two-channel audio installation, uses lush, abstracted imagery and sound cues to draw the viewer into […]
Posted inArts & Entertainment
Talking Movies: Tears of a Clown
La Strada dir. Federico Fellini 108 mins In the early morning hours, at the end of a spirited drinking party, as passed-out sophisticates snore on the couches, an old man lectures two weary writers that tragedy and comedy have the same source, and that one who truly understands their root should be able to compose […]
Posted inArts & Entertainment
On the Beat: Spring breakdown
March in the actual world might be known for St. Patrick’s Day or warmer weather (hopefully), or a certain kind of basketball madness, but in the music world, it’s all about one thing: the SXSW music festival and conference in Austin, Texas. Perhaps the biggest and most indulgent exercise in industry self-love ever to be […]
Posted inArts & Entertainment
The REAL Irish Pubs of Iowa City
St. Paddy’s Day in Iowa City can easily devolve into a grotesque debacle, a cavalcade of fake accents, leprechaun abuse, green beer and vomit — the traditional parade of stereotypes. Did St. Patrick go to the trouble of ridding Ireland of snakes (even if he really didn’t) for this? But in spite of it all, […]
Posted inArts & Entertainment
Iowa City Weekender – March 13-17
It’s Friday the 13th for the second time this year. You may be inclined to stay inside, but if your triskaidekaphobia isn’t too bad, here are a few options for getting out of the house in an extended weekender. Friday, March 13 Man on Wire | ICPL, Downtown IC | 7pm | Free The ICPL […]
