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February 19, 2014 by justin in Sound Check

Guided By Voices “Motivational Jumpsuit” Guided By Voices Inc. When Guided By Voices is on its game, the band can be very, very good. But let’s be honest, how often is GBV really on its game? Therefore, “Motivational Jumpsuit” is in many ways the perfect GBV album. “Littlest League Possible”

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February 19, 2014 by justin in Political Mercury

Can Mark Jacobs represent the wind in the U.S. Senate?

It’s eye-rolling, this posturing and re-posturing of Iowa Republican U.S. Senate candidate Mark Jacobs. Faced with news that he gave money to a Democrat — former U.S. Sen. Jon Corzine of New Jersey ($1,000) — Jacobs said he just did that because Corzine was CEO of Goldman Sachs, where Jacobs

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February 19, 2014 by justin in Duffy

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February 19, 2014 by justin in Book Review

‘The Art Forger’ paints a truer hue

Courtesy of Beaverdale Books Review by Shirley Shiffler Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill 5/21/13 $14.95 355 pp. Though an over-used description, “The Art Forger,” by B.A. Shapiro, is a genuine page-turner of a book. I read it in a four-hour sitting — and much too late into the night. In

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February 19, 2014 by justin in Food Dude

Building a better sandwich

Ralph Waldo Emerson supposedly said, “Build a better mousetrap, and the world will beat a path to your door.” That hasn’t been good advice. In “the Discipline of Innovation,” Tim Kastelle writes that the U.S. Patent Office has granted 4,400 mousetrap patents, still about 40 new ones every year, yet

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February 19, 2014 by justin in Tech Talk

Password logins become primitive plight

Many of my childhood Saturdays involved the errand of tagging along with my father to his office to pick up something he forgot. He worked in a cubicle maze for a large financial institution in Des Moines. To a small child, spending anytime there was pretty much the equivalent of

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February 19, 2014 by justin in Sound Circuit

The duality of Lindsey Morrison

The 28-year-old songstress hasn’t been seen gigging all that much lately — a tribute to The Doors here and there notwithstanding — and it’s been eating at her. Those who’ve had the chance to hear her sing in the past are missing her presence as well. Make no mistake, the

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February 19, 2014 by justin in Sound Notes

It’s time once again for the Des Moines Music Collectors’ Show. Hosted by the good folks at Zzz Records, the Collectors Show is a way for people to buy, sell and swap their records, CDs and cassettes. This month’s show is on Sunday, Feb. 23 at the Downtown Holiday Inn.

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February 19, 2014 by justin in The Sound

From the ashes

The performers taking the stage at Wooly’s this week will, at first glance, look at lot like Minneapolis-based electronic rock act Roster McCabe. But don’t be fooled. “As far as I’m concerned, Roster McCabe is the past,” said Night Phoenix/Roster McCabe front man Alex Steele. At first blush, the changes

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February 19, 2014 by justin in Your View

Uh, lady, remember how Hillary lost last go ’round?

This evening I was sitting in my favorite watering hole sipping a pint, when a man and his VERY chatty female date sat down next to me and began a non-stop discussion over a Cityview cartoon by the ever-talented Brian Duffy. It depicted the forthcoming coronation of Hillary R. Clinton

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