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Posted January 07, 2025in The Culture Buzz

Greetings, Cultural Adventurers:

  From Iowa’s cultural epicenter, Mainframe Studios at 900 Keosauqua Way in Des Moines, comes your Listener-supported Community Voice, the Award-Winning independent radio station, KFMG-LP 98.9 FM (streaming simultaneously at www.kfmg.org), bringing you music, literature & cultural content.   – John Busbee for The Culture Buzz The Culture Buzz Archive Library – https://archive.org/details/@the_culture_buzz 2014 Iowa Governor’s Award for Partnership

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Posted January 06, 2025in Stray Thoughts

Never put off what you might later regret

I have been kicking myself since being reminded that procrastination comes with a price. This lesson arrived the week before Christmas when I spotted a small obituary in the Bloomfield Democrat. Seven succinct paragraphs informed readers of the death of Titus Wagler, 66, a longtime Davis County business owner. In

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Posted January 06, 2025in Just Released

Jeff Fleming | Ghosts

Opening Reception at Moberg Gallery Friday, January 10, 2025 | 5 pm – 8 pm 2411 Grand Ave. Des Moines, IA 50312 Free and open to the public | Parking behind the gallery Join Moberg for the opening reception of our first 2025 exhibit: Jeff Fleming’s Ghosts. There will be

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Posted January 01, 2025in Feature 1

Winter Arts and Entertainment Guide

Get ready to bust out your winter boots, heavy coats, thick gloves and ice scrapers if you have not already. Some snow has started to fall, and so, too, has your ambition to get out of the house. There’s just one problem. Central Iowa is a hotbed for art galleries,

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Posted January 01, 2025in Feature 2

Oak Studio is mining genius on the ‘island of misfits’

That aphorism is so rife with wisdom that it has been ascribed to the legendary philosopher Lao-Tzu, the Medieval Sephardic rabbi Maimonides, the Communist dictator Mao Zedong, plus the Buddha, the Bible and Native American wind talkers. Everyone wants to claim it.  Its genius is realizing that charity can be best

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Posted January 01, 2025in Business Feature

Women in construction

Walk through almost any construction site — building, road, roofing, infrastructure — and you likely won’t see many women. But the industry is changing, and more women are seeking and finding opportunities in it. While still male-dominated, one might be surprised to learn just how many women are donning hard

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Posted January 01, 2025in Civic Skinny

Tourism grants total $300,000. Great Iowa Treasure Hunt returns $386,701,365. Don’t speed in Des Moines. State Fair wins 21 awards. And Iowans love Tito’s.

Des Moines Police Sergeant Paul Parizek tells CITYVIEW the speed camera story is “challenging,” “long” and “complex.” And he is right.   A little background: In 2011, the Des Moines Police Department began its Automated Traffic Enforcement (ATE) program, which included speed cameras and red light cameras. The legislature passed

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Posted January 01, 2025in Political Mercury

JD Vance’s boyhood mistaken gay confession story smacks of head-spinning inflation

In reading the-then (and now-again) publishing sensation “Hillbilly Elegy” eight years ago as it announced a culture-crashing new voice, I found myself stopping at points in the book, both angry and doubtful of its author’s authenticity. I’d intended to fiercely pan “Hillbilly Elegy” in reviews, but I was persuaded then that JD Vance

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Posted January 01, 2025in Film Review

Nostalgia for the 1990s hits an all-time high in ‘Y2K’

Kyle Mooney and Evan Winter’s “Y2K” is a throwback to the dope show that was the late 1990s — packed with outrageous humor, absurd situations and a hefty dose of nostalgia. It’s a movie that knows its audience — those who lived through dial-up internet, pop-up-filled monitor screens, Sharpie-covered mix

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Posted January 01, 2025in Food Dude

La Mie remains true to its French roots

Because we have been covering the local food scene since the late 1980s, we’re often asked what jump-started the Des Moines restaurant renaissance. Good bread is our best answer. A quarter century ago, I ran into philanthropist Maddie Glazer several times on connecting flights home through O’Hare. We both usually

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