If you are a devotee of the arts who has ever wondered how the sausage of your favorite festivals, seasons and programs gets made, the opening salvo of the 2018 Witching Hour festival shed a little light on the subject.
Witching Hour Festival
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Witching Hour interview: Fighting economic injustice with attorney Shawn Sebastian
According to attorney Shawn Sebastian, there are three main factors for why the economy is failing American workers. 1) The dismantling of unions and collective bargaining power for workers. 2) The increased power and consolidation of companies that control our lives and our wages. 3) The dismantling and undermining of public goods.
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Witching Hour Q&A: Janelle James on developing her comedy style
Janelle James, one of the featured comedians for the 2018 Witching Hour festival, performs at 9:30 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 14 at the Englert Theatre (tickets $15-55), opening for fellow Illinois-to-New York transplant Liza Treygar.
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Witching Hour announces Richard Hell, Aasif Mandvi, Here Lies Man
The fourth annual Witching Hour festival, co-presented by Little Village and the Englert Theatre, made its first line-up announcement today. The festival, which runs Oct. 12-13 this year, centers on celebrating new work and exploring the creative process. For 2018, Witching Hour will feature groundbreaking writers, musicians and comedians from across a variety of genres.
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Early bird tickets on sale for 2018 Witching Hour festival
Excited already for this year’s Witching Hour, sight unseen? Specially priced early bird tickets are now available for the 2018 Witching Hour festival. If you already know that you don’t want to miss whatever’s on tap for this year, snag your passes now for only $40.
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Talibam! will present the soundtrack to the apocalypse at Witching Hour
Musicians Kevin Shea and Matthew Mottel dubbed themselves Talibam! because it was the most unhip name they could think of, especially compared to the then-current new crop of Brooklyn groups like Dirty Projectors and Grizzly Bear — whose names read like impressionistic hipster word association games. It was an attempt, keyboardist Mottel said, to suggest “an alternative political vision, which was matched by our cultural determination to provide an alternative to the landscape of music and performance we were surrounded by.”
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Just announced: DJ Spooky, Tom Tomorrow, Beach Fossils, Talibam! and more at the third annual Witching Hour Festival
Iowa City’s Witching Hour festival, a joint venture between Little Village and the Englert Theatre, announced the 2017 lineup today. The festival, now in its third year, celebrates the unknown and lifts up new music and the creative process. This year’s lineup is, as always, an eclectic assortment of music, literature, science, art, comedy and more, with a mix of performances, screenings, lectures, art and workshops.
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Staff picks: 2016 Witching Hour festival
Downtown Iowa City — Friday, Nov. 4 – Saturday, Nov. 5 Tickets available here Let’s just preface this by saying you should attend as many Witching Hour festival events as you possibly can. You may not know every artist or be familiar with every topic, but for those that choose to completely embrace the festival […]
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Prairie Pop: Experimental rock pioneer Rhys Chatham gets Iowa City into the loop
Rhys Chatham Gabe’s — Saturday, Nov. 5 at 10 p.m. Tickets available here Punk pioneers the Ramones stripped their music down to three chords, creating an austere wall of sound that brought rock and roll back to its basics. Composer Rhys Chatham, however, might be the only artist who was inspired to use more chords […]
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Interview: Pussy Riot discusses human rights, protest art ahead of Witching Hour
Pussy Riot: In conversation with Jessica Hopper The Englert Theatre — Friday, Nov. 4 at 7 p.m. In February 2012, Russian political performance group Pussy Riot staged a show at Moscow’s Cathedral of Christ the Savior as a protest against church officials’ support of the policies of Russian president Vladimir Putin. Three of the five […]
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Interview: Rapper Psalm One emphasizes healing through art, giving back ahead of Witching Hour show
Psalm One The Mill — Friday, Nov. 4 to 10:30 p.m. Rapper Psalm One released The Death of Frequent Flyer in 2006 on Rhymesayers, the label she was on at the time. A decade later, she’s freshly label-less and taking flight, with a massive output and an unwaning popularity. She came to Iowa City during […]
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Jlin set to bring footwork-inspired electronica to Witching Hour
Jlin Gabe’s — Nov. 5, 2016 at midnight In the late 1990s, footwork — a new style of dance music — erupted across Chicago’s black neighborhoods. Footwork’s hectic tempo and fragmented sampling was the soundtrack for a unique dance style, performed in competitive dance battles. This is the music Jlin (aka Jerilynn Patton) grew up […]
