January 02, 2013 by justin
in Uncategorized
January 02, 2013 by justin
in Good Bad Ugly
The good The Iowa Machine Shed Restaurant in Urbandale presented a $14,079 check to Wildwood Hills Ranch last week. The money was raised at its ninth annual Charity Thanksgiving Dinner, which was operated by an all-volunteer staff serving mostly donated food. Wildwood Hills Ranch is a 400-acre, non-profit facility in
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January 02, 2013 by justin
in Your Money
Paid for by taxpayers in… City of Des Moines
Amount: $210,440 To: Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program For: Payment to the LIHEAP program to assist 475 Des Moines residents with heating (446) and electricity (29). Amount: $540.29 To: Marlene Anderson For: Reimbursement for the purchase of Christmas wreaths for resale at city cemeteries. Amount: $15,460 To:
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January 02, 2013 by justin
in Guest Commentary
Iowa opera houses: the next stage
In this day and age, examples of win-win situations are rare. It seems there is always a winner or a loser, or at least someone claiming to be one or the other. So when an idea clicks, and people are happy, it’s worth talking about. When Sam Knutson attended a
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January 02, 2013 by justin
in Your View
Sacrifices we make to live in Iowa
FLASH NEWS! From the Associated Press: “The Iowa Alcoholic Beverages Division, the Ankeny-based agency that operates the state’s wholesale liquor monopoly, says the winter storm is delaying deliveries to alcoholic beverage licensees.” Yes, you read that right: Iowa, the most Puritan state in the North, has a state monopoly on
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January 02, 2013 by justin
in Recent Posts, Sound Notes
Sound Notes Pick o’ the Week
To drink or not to drink: On Dec. 17, KCCI and the Des Moines Register both reported that The Marquee — the former Ingersoll Dinner Theater — was losing its liquor license after a unanimous vote by the city council. The theater space is a landmark and one of the
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January 02, 2013 by justin
in Recent Posts, Sound Check
CD Reviews
Rage Against the Machine ‘XX’ Epic There is probably no album that more perfectly captures the zeitgeist of the early ’90s better than Rage Against the Machine’s 1992 debut. Zach de la Rocha’s seething, intellectually Marxist lyrics and Tom Morello’s six string wizardry combined to create a sound that still
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January 02, 2013 by justin
in Sound Stage
Christopher the Conquered played the Gas Lamp on Saturday, Dec. 29.
As some of you might be aware, I had a birthday over the weekend. It was actually Dec. 30, but since nobody likes to party on a Sunday, I threw together a show at Gas Lamp on Dec. 29. The White Elephant, Viva Montesa, Christopher the Conquered and Mumfords all
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January 02, 2013 by justin
in Sore Thumbs
‘BLACK KNIGHT SWORD’ (M) **1/2 D3 Publisher PlayStation Network “Black Knight Sword” begins with closed red curtains and the murmur of an audience anxious for the show to begin. Then the curtains are drawn to reveal the stage, across which the titular knight will sidescroll for the duration of the
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Of the NRA, Welch, Bonhoeffer and Dilbert
In the decade of the 1920s, journalist and muckraker Lincoln Steffens was much impressed by the Communist revolution in Russia. So much so that — until he soured on Russia in the early 1930s — he often said, “I have seen the future, and it works.” Now almost 100 years
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