Posted January 02, 2019in Joe's Neighborhood
Deep-fried delights of love for those with a soul Des Moines certainly offers guilty pleasures. You know, like drinking a craft beer at a movie theater at 10 a.m. on a work day — a direct ticket to hell for any hard-working, sober Iowan. Or going to the farmers market
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Posted January 02, 2019in Center Stage
Savor the wonderful nuances, modern relevance and lyrical wit imbued in “Ordinary Days” at the Rex Mathes auditorium. Mentioning musical theater to someone often evokes images of lavish costuming, intricate production numbers filling the stage and rafter-rattling musical numbers. The past few decades have ushered in a counter-appeal to the
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Posted January 02, 2019in Sound Circuit
Beatles tribute band performs magical history tour. As a 5-year-old farm kid, Tom Murphy listened to his mom’s big-band era music of Glenn Miller or his dad’s country tunes of Johnny Cash. One day he turned the dial on the radio station and caught the Beatles’ song “Revolution.” Mesmerized, he wondered, “How could this be so different than my parents’ music?”
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Posted January 02, 2019in People & Pets
Buddy’s obsession delights the neighborhood. When Buddy — a soft-coated Wheaten Terrier — and his owner invited me to go for a walk with them, I eagerly joined. After all, I was curious to learn about the tale of Buddy’s stick. Here’s how it started. When Kim and Matt Coulter
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Posted January 02, 2019in Couch Surfing
Highway construction worker offers advice on holiday weight, personal time and bike paths. Due to the upcoming “no one works” holidays, all of us writers had early deadlines. So… confession! My January couch surfer actually stayed with me back in early November. Twenty-eight-year-old Eric Garst (no relation to the seed
Read More →There’s little reassurance in scholarly, religious or glib comments that “we’ll survive.” Maybe instead of wishing one another “Happy New Year” for 2019, we should say something like “Stay sane” or “Peace be with you.” Such alternative hopes may seem particularly appropriate because of the concerns of the day, but, really, each day of
Read More →The impending demolition of the Kaleidoscope building displaced many a longtime lunch spot. December went out with a roar, as usual in the food business. It seems there are tax benefits to opening a restaurant before a year’s end. This year, BAH Brazilian Steakhouse, Terra Grill, Teddy Maroon’s, the area’s
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Posted January 02, 2019in Belly Up To...
Happy hour, basement party atmosphere are a big draw. On a Monday night, the Flying Moose in Clive bustled with the after-work crowd looking to start the week off right with two-for-one drinks. But these bargain drink hunters don’t need to leave at 6 o’clock, as this happy hour goes
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Posted January 02, 2019in Art News
A star-studded year The local art scene experienced a star-studded year in 2018. Two of the really big names in world art visited the Des Moines Art Center for exhibitions of specific areas within their bodies of work. First, Sterling Ruby came for the opening of “Sterling Ruby: Ceramics” a
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Posted January 02, 2019in The Sound
Part of Winter Jam Tour Spectacular that features 10 acts Christian music’s largest tour brings its Winter Jam Tour Spectacular to Wells Fargo Arena on Jan. 25. With 10 acts, touring in 46 cities, the show boasts Grammy-award winning artists Newsboys United, American Idol finalist Danny Gokey, Rend Collective, and Mandisa, as well as musicians
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