Cityview | Central Iowa's Independent Weekly

Summer Arts & Entertainment

Summer’s here, and the time is right

If the size of this paper is any indication of things to do this summer, you better hold on for a wild ride. For more years than we can count, Cityview has offered the most comprehensive listings of entertainment options in what has become one of our biggest issues of the year. We commit ourselves to staying busy here with issues like this so that you can stay busy, too. ....Read More>>

Culver’s Money, Edwin Allen’s traffic stops, Narcisse’s ad

Chet Culver’s fund-raising effort isn’t as impressive as it might seem on first glance. His campaign team trumpeted the fact that he raised $1,478,042 in the reporting period that ended May 19 — “We’re more than pleased with our fund-raising success,” new campaign boss Donn Stanley said — but they failed to mention that more than half — a check for $750,000 — came from the Democratic Governors’ Association.

The governor received some big chunks from labor — $50,000 from the Carpenters, $25,000 from the Iowa UAW, $10,000 each from the Office and Professional Employees Union, the Operating Engineers, the Laborers, and the AFL-CIO committee on political education — but nothing from AFSCME, the big union that represents state and local employees and was a huge contributor in the last election ...Read More>>

BoDeans continue to evolve their sincere lyricism, heartfelt melodies, rich guitar sound

Twenty-four years after their 1986 debut album, “Love & Hope & Sex & Dreams,” led them to win a Rolling Stone reader’s poll as “The Best New American Band,” The BoDeans are still rocking and harmonizing, but getting better.

Their 2010 album, “Mr. Sad Clown,” with its stripped down, dramatic instrumentation, heartfelt harmonies, memorable melodies and honest lyrics on 15 new, original songs like “If...,” “Say Goodbye” and “Today,” further establishes The BoDeans as one of America’s premier roots-rock bands. Longtime fans will appreciate how it cuts to the core of the artistic magic between co-founding, singers-guitarists Kurt Neumann and Sam Llanas, who formed a musical collaboration in high school during the late 1970s in Milwaukee.

“It’s some of our best writing and playing,” said Neumann. “I don’t think making records is our forte compared to our live shows. But to me, this record is the best we’ve done with that. We’ve learned a lot over the years, and I’m proud of it.”

Africa cuisine romances taste bud travelers

The world may be shrinking for the young and the bold, but it’s starting to intimidate many others. Currently, 38 countries are under U.S. State Department travel alerts. After 9-11, I accepted that I might not make it to all the exotic places on my food bucket list. Fortunately young, bold immigrants are bringing the flavors of exotic places here. Just as the romantic novel created armchair travelers in the 19th century, ethnic cafés are creating taste bud travelers today. The strip mall at 2500 MLK bustles with a new tavern, a Southeast Asian video café, an African jewelry store and Jeylani Habib’s Africa Cuisine Restaurant (ACR). One name on his menu evokes romance. Barawa is an ancient port town in the Horn of Africa, notorious in lore for dervishes, freedom fighters and the female poet saint Dada Masiti. Its food history defined “fusion.” Barawa’s ancient sea trade with India was so successful the Romans thought cinnamon actually grew in what is now southern Somalia. Barawa was more recently in the news as the site of a U.S. raid that killed Al Qaida operative Saleh Ali Saleh Nabhan. So eating dishes named after that city is about as close as I want to get to it today. ...Read More>>”