Posted November 26, 2014in Political Mercury
Why should students attend Iowa State? And can they get there faster on U.S. Highway 30? Question: For students with no planned major who are interested in a liberal-arts education, about learning who they are there, or finding that major, why should they go to Iowa State University? Iowa State is known
Read More →The Metro Arts Alliance is now taking applications for sites and bands to be part of the 2015 Jazz in July season. This season means a lot to the Alliance, as it marks the group’s 40th anniversary. Alliance Executive Director Kim Poam Logan is looking to highlight as many different
Read More →David Bowie “Nothing Has Changed” Parlophone There are three versions of David Bowie’s new compilation album for you to choose from; I chose the massive, three CD, 79-track version, because if you’re going to go, you might as well go big. Since Bowie operates on a wavelength above that of
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Posted November 26, 2014in Center Stage
Actors, Inc., has a hit on their hands. The Ames company had to put in extra seats, and as their barn-like space echoed with laughter, it grew toasty. Onstage, meanwhile, there was another kind of community spirit. A farce like “The Game’s Afoot” demands a slick ensemble. Players need to
Read More →Courtesy of Beaverdale Books Review by Harriet Leitch Ballentine Books Oct. 7, 2014 Hardcover $25 209 Pages Jon Katz, author of “The Dogs of Bedlam Farm,” also an autobiographical book, has extended his writings on animals in our lives by writing of his recent experience with Simon, an abused and
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Posted November 26, 2014in The Sound
Since the group’s inception in 2007, Celtic Thunder’s calling card has been a live show with an eclectic, wide-ranging sound and sweeping theatrical look. This is largely possible thanks to the age ranges of the band’s component members: Celtic Thunder’s producers have always allowed talent and personality to trump age,
Read More →Spotlight Founders Brewing Company Just a few miles east of Lake Michigan, owners Mike Stevens and Dave Engbers brew handcrafted beer for the outlaws of radical Grand Rapids, Michigan. According to the website, The Founders Family has a particular goal for their unique beers: “complex, in-your-face ales with huge aromatics,
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Posted November 26, 2014in Joe's Neighborhood
Honestly, I started out blaming you. Who wouldn’t? We were lost. Deep in the vineyards outside of St. Emilion, France. And vineyards are like cornfields — one row of grape vines is indistinguishable from the next row of grape vines. Row after row after row. And those ancient sections of
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Posted November 26, 2014in Sound Circuit
It has been a rough month for downtown music venues. First House of Bricks played host to its last shows this past weekend, and now December marks the end of regularly scheduled music at El Bait Shop. For the vast majority of people who attended shows at the Shop, that
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Des Moines: 37 years of change
It was just a place my car broke down on my way to Colorado. All the city had been to me was a name, the place where the paper I used to deliver came from. Close by my Quad-Cities home, but not as close as Iowa City. Bigger, more distant.
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