There’s something unique about seeing a musician perform solo. Performers fronting bands tend to banter between songs; they’ll joke with the audience or issue standard platitudes thanking the venue or reminding people to tip the staff. But when an artist is separated from the comfort of backing musicians, the chatter
Read More →We can forget sometimes about the simple pleasure of an acoustic set. The hard rock and metal acts that dominate Des Moines’ landscape aren’t predisposed to an acoustic sound — a simple fact for which they can’t really be faulted — and the indie acts that dip a toe into
Read More →Sometimes the music is enough. We can all hold different political beliefs or come from different economic backgrounds and a wide array of races and religions. But music — the really good stuff — has a way of transcending all that. Genre doesn’t even matter. Regardless of whether it’s punk,
Read More →I’m not going to lie. The Underground isn’t my favorite place to see a show. The seating is wonky, the sound is only OK and the lighting is nothing special. It’s clearly a venue where the music is a secondary experience to chatting with some friends or playing a game
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Posted April 03, 2013in Sound Stage
Vaudeville Mews was host to a slew of indie-folk acts on Easter Sunday. While not everything on stage this night was pretty, the good did outweigh the bad. Doubting Daniel and the Deliverance is a five-piece whose titular front man served as Exhibit A as to why so many people
Read More →One of my favorite things about Des Moines is that you never know where you’re going to stumble upon live music. There are literally hundreds of places in town to find it, and now the Drake Diner is one of them. Steve Berry is something of an entertainment legend in
Read More →Local music blog Band Bombshell celebrated its one-year anniversary at Vaudeville Mews last Thursday with a show that featured three local acts: Gloom Balloon, Dustin Smith and The Sunday Silos and Volcano Boys. I’ll admit: I don’t get everything that Patrick Tape Fleming and Chris Ford do. When the former
Read More →I’ve been on vacation in Phoenix all week. So since I’ve been spending time in a strange city, I thought I’d take the opportunity to compare and contrast local music scenes. (Hello, IRS. Did I say “vacation?” I meant “business trip.”) It’s not a matter of which scene is “better,”
Read More →What tends to set a really good cover apart is when the artist comes at the song from such an unusual angle that it catches you off guard. If a band can score big points on originality, it can elevate a cover from “listenable” to “memorable” quickly. This is a
Read More →Is there anything more ring-a-ding-ding cool than sitting at Chuck’s Restaurant, having jazzy standards and covers crooned at you while you scarf down a mouthful of carbs? Saturday, Feb. 23 was a night for just that sort of thing, courtesy of Steve Charlson. Charlson, an accomplished bassist who’s played with
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