Posted May 03, 2023in Des Moines Forgotten
I write a lot about movies, including my experiences making them or my experiences watching them. Des Moines’ film history fascinates me, from the insane Evangelical Apocalypse films of Russell Doughten and Donald W. Thompson to Iowa’s own Cinema Paradiso story with the Bev Mahon’s Varsity Theatre. Before all the
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Posted April 05, 2023in Des Moines Forgotten
When I think of pizza, I believe there is hope in the world. It’s one of the few foods that seems to unite everyone, regardless of social status. Growing up in a blue-collar house with a single parent, Fridays meant pizza. Even today, parents get off work and don’t want
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Posted March 01, 2023in Des Moines Forgotten
I moved back to Iowa from Colorado in 2007. I settled in Des Moines on the south side without knowing anyone. I had a dodgy (but also cheap) apartment on Fleur between Gray’s Lake and the airport. Smartphones really weren’t a thing yet, and Tom at Myspace was still in
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Posted February 01, 2023in Des Moines Forgotten
The first story I wrote for this column back in 2017 was on the love story that followed Des Moines’ Varsity Theatre. Bev Mahon fell in love with his future wife after reading about her in Box Office Magazine while he was enlisted in the Air Force. Patty Crouse worked
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Posted January 04, 2023in Des Moines Forgotten
As I write this on the afternoon of Dec. 20, my phone is blowing up with warnings of the upcoming blizzard that is forecasted. The temperature has dropped significantly in recent days, and it feels more like the middle of January, less the anticipation of holiday festivities. As of right
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Posted November 30, 2022in Des Moines Forgotten
I love the history of gay bars. One of my favorite films is “Cruising,” directed by William Friedkin, based on the book by Gerald Walker. Seedy gay bars in the New York City Underground blasted funk, disco and punk rock until the early hours in the morning. The uniform was
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Posted November 02, 2022in Des Moines Forgotten
I’m busy. I know a lot of folks from generations before me don’t understand this. Take your normal seven or eight hours in a workday and turn those into 12 to 14 hours per day. Now remove your Friday nights because you are exhausted. Your weekends are now your “get
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Posted October 05, 2022in Des Moines Forgotten
I’m beating a dead horse when I talk about Beggars’ Night versus Halloween. Seemingly every news station and media outlet will have yet another story about the history of Beggars’ Night. And my Halloween-obsessedDes Moines Forgotten friends will once again rant about how offensive it is when I don’t celebrate
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Posted August 31, 2022in Des Moines Forgotten
“Radical on the social issues of the 1960s — women’s issues, counterculture, and even a gay couple that were clandestinely married by a renegade minister” LOOK Magazine was founded in Des Moines in 1937 by Gardner “Mike” Cowles Jr., along with his brother John, as a publication of The Des Moines
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Posted August 03, 2022in Des Moines Forgotten
When I started my radio show “Iowa Basement Tapes” in July of 2018, I set out to research and preserve Iowa’s punk rock and counterculture history. Over the last four years and more than 200 consecutive episodes, I am still finding new bands and people who were influential on punk
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