Posted June 17, 2015in Center Stage
In Winterset, the evening I saw “Nunsense,” they had a Classic Car invitational in the square. A cherry 1940s Mercury sat next to a sleek ’60s Mustang. Such wheels are impractical, of course — think of the gas mileage — but they make scrumptious eye candy. I got my fill,
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Posted June 17, 2015in Civic Skinny
Michael Gartner is on vacation. This column, about his father, ran in USA Today just before Father’s Day in 2006. My father never drove a car. Well, that’s not quite right. I should say I never saw him drive a car. He quit driving in 1927, when he was
Read More →Dirty Rotten Scoundrels is a cover band that owes its existence to Jerry Lee Lewis, Pandora and Tinder. “(Drummer Jake Blomberg) and I live together,” guitar/vocalist Josh Adams explained. “One day we were listening to Jerry Lee Lewis on Pandora. I was just on that kick. So we went down
Read More →Fantastical monsters, the Scottish Highlands, a complicated romance, and the events of World War II are all included in this coming-of-age story and period novel, “At the Water’s Edge,” written by “Water for Elephants” author Sara Gruen. The story begins New Year’s Eve of 1944 at a Philadelphia high society
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Posted June 17, 2015in Locker Room
When it comes to bike rides in Iowa, nothing is off limits. From crazy costumes to disjointed routes, here in Des Moines, we love to get out in the summer and see everything our city has to offer. It would seem the only thing folks like more is bacon and
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Posted June 17, 2015in Food Dude
Gino’s closing last week left the city with one less place to enjoy the old art of pan-fried chicken. Before the mid-1960s, this dish was a luxury dinner in Des Moines. A review of old yellow page advertisements and antique menus reveals that it was often the most expensive dish
Read More →Apartment buyers in ridiculously expensive Hong Kong are now eagerly paying up to the equivalent of $500,000 (U.S.) for units not much bigger than a U.S. parking space (and typically physically self-measured by the applicant’s wing-span). An agent told The Wall Street Journal in June that, for example, standard furniture
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Posted June 17, 2015in Art News
The Des Moines Social Club celebrated its first anniversary in its permanent home recently. Nearly 10,000 people showed up one night as part of that anniversary. The next day the organization’s impresario and visionary announced his resignation as director. It was a remarkably well-timed decision. Zach Mannheimer moved to Des
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Posted June 17, 2015in Political Mercury
I guess it’s my job to catch these sorts of things. And I’m sure not on the short list of Joni Ernst boosters or apologists. But it never occurred to me, this questioning of the presence of Cy and Herky, the mascots for Iowa State University and the University of
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Posted June 17, 2015in The Sound
In 1990, after nearly 20 years as frontman of seminal punk act The Stranglers, Hugh Cornwell walked away. The schisms within the band had been growing for years, and Cornwell increasingly believed that the band’s best work was behind it. Still, leaving one of the UK’s most successful punk acts
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