March 09, 2016 by justin
in Cover Story
Our Chance to Dance
This week, fresh on the heels of a slew of high school state championship events, Wells Fargo Arena will once again be packed with visitors, as the Iowa Events Center welcomes in a big first for the city: the regional round of the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament. March Madness is
Read More →
March 09, 2016 by justin
in Belly Up To...
An arfin’ good time at Vickie’s Bar
It’s Friday afternoon, the sun is shining, and it’s skipping work weather. It’s a perfect day for bellying up at Vickie’s Bar, located just south of Euclid on Second Avenue. “What’s up killer?” said a man sitting at the bar as the door closes. “ARF!” a wiener dog in a
Read More →
March 09, 2016 by justin
in Sound Check
Loretta Lynn “Full Circle” Legacy For her first new album in almost a decade, Loretta Lynn attacked the project with a level of expertise and confidence that few in the music game can match. By her own reckoning, the 83-year-old Lynn says she recorded 100 songs for the album, with
Read More →
March 09, 2016 by justin
in Civic Skinny
Another big claim is filed against Blunck estate.
A bank in Atlantic has filed a large claim against the estate of Kirk Blunck. The Rolling Hills Bank & Trust says the estate owes it $557,214.64, plus interest at 4.75 percent, on borrowings Blunck made from the bank and didn’t repay. It said the notes are guaranteed by both
Read More →
March 09, 2016 by justin
in Political Mercury
Join or die
Being hanged or drawn and quartered. Surely not relaxed ways to expire. What about being burned alive? I interviewed a man with Lou Gehrig’s disease for a newspaper series a few years ago. The descent from able-bodied human to a hostage of one’s own failing motor skills is no smooth, wine-and-cheese-evening
Read More →
March 09, 2016 by justin
in Film Review
The Taliban shuffle
“Whiskey Tango Foxtrot” is a film based on Kim Barker’s bitingly funny memoir, “The Taliban Shuffle,” depicting her time as the Chicago Tribune’s South Asian bureau chief, a position she held for nearly five years. The book is insightful, witty, wonderfully self-aware and full of the gallows humor that people
Read More →
March 09, 2016 by justin
in Food Dude
Not reinventing the wheel
Do not mess with perfection. Why do so many cooks think that adding ingredients to legendary recipes improves them? In Des Moines, this often manifests itself in the form of cheap cheese. Whether you want it or not, cheese will be included on your hamburger, sandwich, broccoli, mashed potato, hashed
Read More →
March 09, 2016 by justin
in The Sound
R5: from YouTube to Disney to a town near you
R5 offers perhaps the clearest look into the construction of pop music in the modern age. Virtually nothing about the band conforms to the preconceived notions most of us have about how bands are made, grown or marketed. Consisting of siblings Riker, Rocky, Ross and Rydel Lynch, along with family
Read More →