Local indie label Station 1 Records is getting ready for its first summer in the city and is kicking things off with a pre-release listening party for its first release, Sires’ “Soul for Sale.” The event takes place at the Des Moines Social Club, 900 Mulberry St., on Thursday,
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Posted May 11, 2016in Sound Notes
Posted May 11, 2016in Tech Talk
Invasion of the friendly bots
Cleaning up one’s image can be difficult to do. Being branded a “cheater,” a dangerous place or “not cool” can be a death sentence in the public eye. In the 1970s, New York City was known as a cesspool of moral decrepitude and crime. The New England Patriots have
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Posted May 11, 2016in Duffy
Posted May 11, 2016in Film Review
Keep it civil
“Captain America: Civil War” PG-13 147 minutes Starring: Chris Evans, Robert Downey Jr., Sebastian Stan Your answer to which Marvel film is the best will likely depend on a number of things, including your favorite superhero, actor or director. However, a less subjective observation is to say
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Posted May 11, 2016in Locker Room
Pure, raw muscle
Do you want washboard abs, powerful quads and a beautiful, muscle-defined back? Join the club. Who wouldn’t want to be bronzed, ripped and proudly packing a six-pack stomach and biceps that look like softballs? The thing is, though, most people are fickle about putting in the legwork to get
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Posted May 11, 2016in Civic Skinny
How some ‘Give Local’ money ended up in Texas.
As schools lower standards, more flunk the Iowa bar. The generous people of Des Moines last week gave $272,344 to around 140 local charities as part of the “Give Local” campaign sponsored by The Des Moines Register and the Greater Des Moines Community Foundation. Sort of. More than $16,000
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Posted May 11, 2016in Your View
Increase the minimum wage
The Polk County Supervisors voted in April to appoint a task force to study increasing the minimum wage countywide. The current minimum wage in Iowa is $7.25 for hourly workers and $4.35 for tipped workers. The vote was 4-1 in favor with Democrats John Mauro, Angela Connolly, Tom Hockensmith
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Posted May 11, 2016in Center Stage
Kathy Griffin, pumped up for crazy business
Over the phone, Kathy Griffin comes on like gangbusters. The call is just one in a long day of interviews — Griffin’s comedy tour is hitting 80 cities — but the machine-gun energy is the same as onstage. She sounds as if she’s waving her arms around, her red
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Posted May 11, 2016in Joe's Neighborhood
Tulips and cornfields
Iowa cornfields in late August are a thing to behold. Sure, I’m biased. I love the long formations of parading stalks, their dark green leaves turned dry and hard by the approaching autumn, their tops swaying and rolling in unison with the warm winds, and, of course, their whispering,
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Posted May 11, 2016in Book Review
‘The Fireman’
By Joe Hill 768pp William Morrow $28.99 05/17/16 There’s something magical about Joe Hill. Something deeply disturbed — as we’d expect from a child of horror demigod Stephen King — but magical in those shadows. Never one to go the obvious route, Hill has managed to take a
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