Architecture in Helsinki’s brilliant 2003 debut album, Fingers Crossed, kicks off with a short, Casio and drum machine instrumental called “One Heavy February.” Unlike so many ultimately forgettable album intros (noise pulses, voice mails, carnival barking, string quartets, what have you), the song is a deliciously melodic twee dance number, and at just under a […]
Yacht Club Iowa City
Posted inArts & Entertainment
Iowa City Weekender: February 3-5
Bob Marley would be older if he weren’t dead. His legacy still lives on with us. We celebrate it and other events this weekend in Iowa City. Maybe it’ll help keep the mind away from all the snow removal.
Posted inArts & Entertainment
Iowa City Weekender: January 27-29
Read this and find some options for entertainment this weekend.
Posted inArts & Entertainment
Show Preview: Henhouse Prowlers. Fri. 1/28 at the Iowa City Yacht Club
Probably the best dressed, most handsome, hardest touring, hardest playing and most toe-tappingly, leg-slappingly, butt shakingly get-up-out-of-your-chair-and DANCE Bluegrass act in the country right now, Chicago’s Henhouse Prowlers brings their own classic yet unique brand of bluegrass to Gabe’s this Friday night at 9:30 p.m.
Posted inArts & Entertainment
Video: Dead Larry Live at The Yacht Club
Topping off the Yacht Club’s day-long anniversary festivities was the ever-faithful Dead Larry. You know, your funky friends. The kind of friends that can plant a hook so deep in your musically-inclined subconscious, you’ll catch yourself singing the choruses for weeks.
Posted inArts & Entertainment
Video: Lick it Ticket live at The Yacht Club
The Yacht Club celebrated its eight year anniversary Saturday, and helping the venue celebrate were the gentlemen known as Lick it Ticket.
It just rolls right off the tongue, doesn’t it? Regardless, this experimental group from Cedar Falls took the stage just before Dead Larry capped off the day-long celebration. Check out video of their performance below, and stay tuned for the Dead Larry goods.
Posted inArts & Entertainment
Iowa City Weekender: January 20 – 22
This is a bit of a slow weekend in Iowa City. There are a lot of sports events this weekend, but that’s not the focus of this column. They don’t pay me in beer and chewing gum to talk about sports. They pay me in real (paper) money to talk about culture and the arts around this fair city of ours. Let’s do that!
Posted inArts & Entertainment
First Announcements: Mission Creek Festival 2011
The first announcement about 2011 Mission Creek Festival dropped today. It should be obvious that the Little Village staff overlaps with the Mission Creek staff, and that we have been in the past and will be forever huge cheerleaders for the Mission Creek Festival. So full disclosure: we don’t pretend anything resembling objectivity here — we’re huge fans, we’re friends, we’ve held each other’s hair while we’ve puked.
Posted inArts & Entertainment
Video: Rubblebucket Live at The Yacht Club
Rubblebucket dropped by The Yacht Club this weekend, and boy do we have some video to share with you.
The Brooklyn eight-piece is at its best when all guns are firing, though it’s hard not to single out Kalmia Traver’s ability to simultaneously shatter eardrums and melt hearts with her rock solid vocals. Check out the video below to see…
Posted inArts & Entertainment
Iowa City Weekender: January 13-15
This weekend is eve of MLK Day weekend. Is that a real thing? Probably not, so get out on the town with your young ones and friends, maybe even at the same time.
Posted inArts & Entertainment
Iowa City Weekender: January 6-8
Things are quiet around town, but your weekend shouldn’t be.
Posted inArts & Entertainment
On the Beat: January 2011
In 1953, a guy named Pat Best wrote a song for his band The Four Tunes, called “I Understand (Just How You Feel)” a Pop/R&B crossover that broke into the top 10 on both charts. The original recording is fine, if a bit basic, but soon the song was covered by a slew of pop groups–Elvis even did a demo of it at one point. My favorite version is by The G-Clefs, who, in one of the world’s greatest (and earliest?) mashups, combined the song with that traditional New Year’s jam, “Auld Lang Syne.”
