Posted December 19, 2012in Recent Posts, Sound Notes
Ravi Shankar — the finest sitar player of his generation, inspiration to everyone from The Beatles to Philip Glass and father to Norah Jones — passed away last week. It’s been a tough December for fans of non-top-40 niche musicians, with the passing of progressive jazz legend Dave Brubeck on
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Posted December 12, 2012in Recent Posts, Sound Notes
The world is a slightly less groovy place now that jazz legend Dave Brubeck shuffled off this mortal coil on Dec. 5. Whether you stick to standards like “Take Five” and “The Duke,” or you choose to go deeper into this catalogue, I’d encourage everyone to hop on iTunes or
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Posted December 05, 2012in Recent Posts, Sound Notes
The final numbers are in for Kingston VanderKallen’s benefit show, played at House of Bricks in November. The event — put together by Lazer 103.3’s Samantha Knight and Metro Concerts Live’s Chad Willey, and featuring over a dozen local bands, artists and businesses — raised $3,417.28 for the VanderKallen family.
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Posted November 28, 2012in Sound Notes
The White Elephant — pride of Wapello, Gross Domestic Product alums and frequent rockers of Des Moines’ finer establishments — are crowd-sourcing their second album. The swamp rock trio launched a Kickstarter campaign on Nov. 19, looking to raise $5,000 to cover recording and pressing costs. The more you donate,
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Posted November 21, 2012in Recent Posts, Sound Notes
As Lazer 103.3’s Samantha Knight said last week, “It’s a tall order, asking people to do a show on a Saturday night for nothing.” But time and again, bands and artists step up when asked. Kingston’s Superhero Rock ‘N’ Aid Masquerade is by no means the first benefit show put
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Posted November 14, 2012in Sound Notes
The Vaudeville Mews has announced plans to celebrate the venue’s 10th anniversary on Dec. 5. Having played host through the years to acts like Of Montreal, Fall Out Boy and Josh Ritter — to say nothing of the thousands of Iowa acts that continue to grace the stage every night
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Posted November 07, 2012in Recent Posts, Sound Notes
Valley Junction is putting out the call for performers to liven up the mood of its “Jingle in the Junction” holiday events, which take place for three consecutive Thursdays, starting with Nov. 29. The Junction is looking for choirs, musicians and street performers to help liven up the seasonal commerce.
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Posted October 31, 2012in Sound Notes
Downtown Des Moines said goodbye to one of its highlights on Oct. 27, as People’s closed its doors for the final time after its “Night of the Living Dead Moines” show. Shows booked through the rest of the year will either be cancelled or moved to alternate locations. People’s owner
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Posted October 24, 2012in Recent Posts, Sound Notes
It’s time for the “Happy Halloween” edition of Sound Notes. So get your costumes ready, and let’s see what kind of entertainment we can scare up for the week. (I promise that will be the last Halloween related pun in this column.) The Des Moines Music Coalition announced its line-up
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Posted October 17, 2012in Recent Posts, Sound Notes
I am still waiting for my audition to be Superchief’s new lead guitarist. In the meantime… The Underground kicks things off this week with Leradee and The Positives, starting at 9 p.m on Thursday, Oct. 18. Alternately on Oct. 18, you can go bang your head over at People’s. Helping
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