Catch up on the biggest headlines, videos and photos published by Little Village in the past week.
A new fireworks regulation is now in effect
Published Wednesday, July 3
Setting off fireworks that have more firepower than a sparkler is illegal in Iowa City, Cedar Rapids, Coralville, North Liberty and the unincorporated parts of Johnson County. The one big exception has been unincorporated Linn County, and while it still is an exception to the general ban on fireworks, a new regulation regarding the small explosives is now in effect. Continue reading…
Artisan’s Sanctuary confirms Neil Young to close out Woodstock celebration — but it turns out too good to be true
Published Wednesday, July 3
The dream of the ’60s is alive in Marion. That’s where, on Aug. 18, nonprofit community arts collective the Artisan’s Sanctuary will present their own tribute to the 50th anniversary of the fair that redefined music, festivals and naked mud dancing.
Update: Following the publication of this story, serious questions began to be raised about Jim Jacobmeyer’s announcement that Neil Young will perform at Woodstock Revisited. Continue reading…
Iowa City black metal band Dryad on fighting fascism, channeling Tolkien and consuming music responsibly
Published Wednesday, July 3
Anger and outrage can be expressed through any musical genre, but metal has proven particularly contentious: From its inception, it found a place in working class culture — but, as the 2016 election exemplified, the revolutionary anger and discontent of the working class is often pushed toward the political right and into racist, nationalist and misogynist political advocacy.
Iowa City’s Dryad, recently signed to L.A.’s Prosthetic Records, sees itself as part of the other modality of metal. Continue reading…
HIDE’s Heather Gabel is taking a chainsaw to rape culture
Published Thursday, July 4
Heather Gabel, one-half of the Chicago-based industrial EDM duo HIDE, has an affinity for the haunting, empowering and confrontational.
You may have seen Gabel between flashes of strobe lights and clouds of dry ice in the Yacht Club basement during Mission Creek Festival 2019: glimpses of black-smudged lips yelling “Bound/severed, a martyr to whomever”; of blood dripping from thin cuts on her torso; of a silver lock glinting on a black chastity belt. Continue reading…
Rockne Cole won’t run for reelection to Iowa City Council
Published Thursday, July 4
Attorney Rockne Cole announced on Wednesday evening that he will not seek reelection to his at-large seat on the Iowa City Council in the Nov. 5 election. Cole had previous said he would run for a second term.
“When deciding to run this fall, my heart told me yes, and now my head is telling me no,” Cole wrote on Facebook. “I don’t want to run a campaign half-way, and I felt that I just couldn’t devote adequate campaign time along with service, my law practice, and [sic] to my wonderful family.” Continue reading…
Political and personal strife fuels Closet Witch’s ferocious, ‘therapeutic’ shows
Published Thursday, July 4
Of all the hardcore bands and DIY power violence outfits to emerge from Eastern Iowa in recent years, few have been able to channel sheer anger and emotion as effectively as Closet Witch. Forming a little over five years ago, the band is characterized by their aggression, both onstage and on-record. Continue reading…
Dan Hutchison’s Sump Pump Records is a hub for metal acts, DIY artists and vinyl nerds
Published Friday, July 5
Along with its wild abundance of musical talent, Iowa is also a treasure trove of top-notch record labels. As someone with a passion for lifting up local artists, I’ve been obsessed in recent years with discovering just what confluence of events has put all of these talented and discerning folk in positions to do just that, to amplify the work being done here. Great music, after all, does no one any good languishing on self-pressed discs in a damp basement. It takes people with vision, persistence and the ear of the community to funnel it where it needs to be. Continue reading…
Your Village: Where is Iowa City’s $20,000 PLAY bike rack?
Published Saturday, July 6
It’s surprising how many people don’t notice a 25-foot-long, 8-foot-tall bike rack in the shape of the letters P-L-A-Y is missing until you point out it’s gone. Technically, it’s not a rack, it’s a “parklet,” which is a structure that not only offers large-scale bike parking (in this case, 40 bikes), but is also supposed to help beautify its surroundings. Continue reading…
Five minutes with 19 presidential candidates (Part 3)
Watch and read about more speeches from the Iowa Democratic Party Hall of Fame celebration.
Marianne Williamson: ‘This time, we will win with love’
Published Monday, July 1
Marianne Williamson warned the audience at the Iowa Democratic Hall of Fame celebration that they shouldn’t be looking for “toughness” in a candidate, before launching into a surprisingly tough critique of the Democratic Party.
“Too often the Democrats have been the party that stands for the right thing, but still cozies up to the forces that do the wrong thing, thinking that that’s OK if we do it, because once we get in power, we will do the right thing,” the best-selling author and spiritual adviser said. “And then we naively think that that doesn’t smell to people. That the putrid stench of that more complicated corruption will not be into the nostrils of the average voter.” Continue reading…
Amy Klobuchar: ‘My background is a little different from Donald Trump’
Published Tuesday, July 2
“Thank you, Iowa Democrats,” Sen. Amy Klobuchar said as she took the stage at the Iowa Democratic Hall of Fame celebration. “I am your senator next door. And I can see Iowa from my porch.”
The Minnesota senator was touching on two aspects of her campaign with that opening. First, as soon as she declared her candidacy in February, several national political pundits explained Klobuchar would have a strong advantage in Iowa, because she is from a neighboring state. There’s no evidence for that so far. In the Iowa Poll released in March, Klobuchar had 3-percent support. In the June poll, that dropped to 2 percent. Continue reading…
Beto O’Rourke: ‘We must first fix this badly broken democracy’
Published Wednesday, July 3
Beto O’Rourke started his speech at the Iowa Democratic Party Hall of Fame celebration by discussing that he is grateful for “this moment of truth for our country,” as he called it.
“The power and joy with which we meet this moment is something I’m grateful for, because we are all focused on the same goal for this country: defeating Donald Trump in 2020 and bringing this country together again in 2021,” the former Texas congressman said. Continue reading…
Videos
Out this week: Little Village issue 267
