Hello and welcome to another edition of the Weekender. No need for much of an intro this week, so let’s just get started, eh? THURSDAY New Belgium Beer Tasting // Englert // 6:30 PM // Free New Belgium Brewing will host a free beer tasting at the Englert this evening. It will take place in […]
Things to do in Iowa City
Posted inArts & Entertainment
Music: King Pop – An Interview with Paul Collins
“One of the things I enjoy most about touring now is playing with up-and-coming bands.” This was one of the first things Paul Collins said to me when we recently chatted about his 2013 Midwest tour. It makes sense because thirty years ago, Paul Collins was in two up-and-coming power pop bands, The Nerves and […]
Posted inArts & Entertainment, Prairie Pop
Prairie Pop: Jonathan Richman’s playground punk
Most proto-punk legends don’t write songs like “I’m a Little Dinosaur” or “Ice Cream Man,” but Jonathan Richman isn’t your typical rock ‘n’ roll dude. Since forming The Modern Lovers in 1970, he has made a career out of defying expectations.
Posted inArts & Entertainment
A Standing Ovation for American Dad
As a theatre critic, I am not in the habit of reviewing TV shows, although I love television to the point where I consider it a hobby. In particular, my favorite shows are animated sitcoms because of the way they can use the medium to create anything in the human imagination. American Dad, in particular, is […]
Posted inArts & Entertainment
Talking Movies: The Lincoln of Yore
In 1975, Henry Fonda gave a retrospective interview to the BBC about his career up to that point. When asked about his reaction to being suggested for the title role in John Ford’s 1939 film Young Mr. Lincoln, he said that his initial response was simply fear. Playing Lincoln, Fonda suggested, was “like playing God.” […]
Posted inArts & Entertainment
The Stage: Interview: William Missouri Downs
Riverside Theatre is now featuring William Missouri Downs’s play The Exit Interview (directed by Ron Clark), showing Jan. 25-Feb. 17 on Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights. The play is about a professor who’s just lost his job, a sanctimonious university administrator and the colorful cast of characters who interrupt their interview. Recently, playwright Bill Downs […]
Posted inArts & Entertainment
Iowa City Weekender: January 31 – February 2
Hello and welcome to another edition of the Weekender. I know there were a lot of things cancelled today because of the weather. For those of us that got to stay in, it was a great day for doing a whole lot of nothing. There’s some great stuff coming up this weekend, but in the […]
Posted inArts & Entertainment
The Tube: The Price of Choice
In the first installment of a two-part series on a la carte television, A.C. Hawley asks if viewers can expect to save money by moving away from traditional cable packages and toward purchasing individual channels online. At the beginning of this year, Internet and business circles buzzed with discussion about a new television project being […]
Posted inArts & Entertainment, Prairie Pop
Prairie Pop: The World was a Song..Then it all Went Wrong – Review of Tom Hooper’s Les Misérables
In 1915, American opera singer Mary Case took to the stage and sang alongside phonograph recordings of her own voice. She was Thomas Edison’s favorite singer, so the story goes, and she was participating in a massive series of promotions for Edison’s phonograph and record company that became known as the Tone Tests. The purpose […]
Posted inArts & Entertainment, Hot Tin Roof
Hot Tin Roof: Electron Configurations
When light collides with an electron, the electron’s trajectory is immediately altered. The collisions can be measured, plotted on graphs, connected like constellations. by Kyle Laws I. It might have happened on a Tuesday. Maybe a Sunday night after the weekend had lost its momentum. They might have been high together for the first time, […]
Posted inFood & Drink
Chicken Little Reviews Clinton Street Social Club
Tucked into the busy lineup of Clinton Street storefronts, wedged between two other doorways, an unassuming red awning marks the entrance to one of the city’s newer and more exciting dining establishments, the Clinton Street Social Club. This elusive entrance opens to a flight of stairs that lead up to the second floor. This obscure […]
Posted inFood & Drink
The Hops: Two Lutherans, a Presbyterian, an Episcopalian and a Baptist walk into a bar
At first they seem like a group of old frat buddies meeting after work. Over pizzas and pints, they commiserate over troubles at the office. They discuss sports and the hard luck of favorite teams. They playfully argue, tell off-color jokes and laugh. And they even have a signature chant, which booms across the bar […]
