On the chalkboard outside the Des Moines Social Club Basement, I saw some sad news. I was there for last week’s late-night “Cabaret,” but for this week, I saw conventional start times. That’s a shame. This is a show made for after-hours. “Cabaret” remains best known for the 1972 movie,
Read More →
Posted October 29, 2014in Food Dude
For whatever reasons, geography has swayed the way restaurants cluster in the metro. Local independents thrive in the inner city, and big chains in the far-flung suburbs. It’s been so dramatic that after the opening of the all-chain Jordan Creek Town Center, one Des Moines restaurateur proposed that downtown needed
Read More →
Posted October 29, 2014in Book Review
Courtesy of Beaverdale Books Review by Shirley Shiffler William Morrow & Company Sept. 23, 2014 $28.99 416 Pages In “A Deadly Wandering,” Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Matt Richtel has written a gripping account of the tragic consequences of our modern use of technology. Early in the morning of Sept. 22, 2006,
Read More →
Posted October 29, 2014in Civic Skinny
Three years ago, John Pavone won a $10 million judgment against Gary Kirke. Now, Pavone is suing Kirke again, on the same issue. Pavone claimed — and the Iowa Supreme Court agreed — that in 2004 Kirke had agreed to negotiate a management agreement with Pavone for any casinos Kirke
Read More →
Posted October 29, 2014in Duffy
Posted October 29, 2014in Sound Circuit
Their band name is ridiculous. Their EP is being recorded in another band’s practice space and produced by a guy they met on Omegle. This is the unconventional, unexpected world of Lake of Fat Kids. Started in 2011, Lake of Fat Kids is primarily comprised of guitarists Joel Smith and
Read More →Reading Douglas Burns’ cautionary column (Political Mercury, Oct. 23) about the prospect of Joni Ernst actually getting elected to replace Tom Harkin reminded me of H.L Mencken’s assertion that “Democracy is the theory that the common people know what they want and deserve to get it — good and hard.”
Read More →
Posted October 29, 2014in The Sound
The Milk Carton Kids are gloomy. Or at least, that’s the look they’re going for, in spite of themselves. “It turns out that the name doesn’t reflect the dark morbid ideas that it was supposed to,” said Joey Ryan during a phone interview from Boston. “That point was driven home
Read More →
Posted October 29, 2014in Film Review
“John Wick” Rated R 96 minutes Starring Keanu Reeves and Alfie Allen Cinemark 20 showtimes: 3:45, 5:05, 6:25, 7:45, 9:05 and 10:15 p.m. “People keep asking me if I’m back,” says Keanu Reeves’ titular character in the third act of “John Wick.” “Yeah, I’m thinkin’ I’m back.” It’s as much
Read More →
Posted October 29, 2014in Cover Story
Sometimes, watching Merlyn Linn move, it’s not hard to see each and every one of his 74 years. “I’ve had 11 surgeries, you see,” he said, sitting in the tiny break room of his Highland Park supermarket. “I had cancer and had part of my jaw removed. But really the
Read More →
