Stories

Mother Jones reports on music used as torture by the U.S. military, and provides a top 23 list worthy of the record store geeks from the film High Fidelity. Of course, this isn’t funny, but five years into the war I’m so numb that dark humor is all I have left.

Note: one song title on [...]

What’s in store at this year’s music and arts festival Mission Creek Midwest (MCM) (April 1-7)? Rest assured, the 3rd annual Iowa City fest will feature plenty of music. But what else? For starters, they’ve teamed up with the Iowa City International Documentary Film Festival and indie music mp3 website Daytrotter.

Traditional music, arts, dance  and food from around the world was the order of the day during the Celebrating Cultural Diversity Festival at the University of Iowa in Iowa City on Sunday.

Several thousand visitors sampled traditional foods from an array of cultures, tried new dance steps and listened to musical performances. Families were in abundance [...]

A van rolls into the Quad Cities on the way to a gig in Omaha, Minneapolis or Chicago. After parking in downtown Rock Island, a few musicians get out, stretch their legs and amble up to a third-floor recording studio.

In the performance space, a drum kit is already in place. The band browses a collection [...]

(Commentary) As caucus season rocks to end end, so does the roar of campaign rally music in halls across Iowa.  One of my stock-in-trades of liveblogging Campaign `07 was the obsessive focus on stage music.  Voters are often asked which candidate they’d like a beer with, or who they’d trust to babysit the kids.  But [...]

After a short concert on the campus of Grinnell College, Bonnie Raitt and Jackson Browne introduced former senator John Edwards who spoke and took questions from the crowd of mostly college students and community members.

Raitt and Browne played four songs before bringing out the smiling presidential candidate.

Videos and music from the event are available below [...]

Earlier this week Gov. Chet Culver signed and/or vetoed the last bills from the legislative session.  Election law followup: he signed off on opening the absentee envelopes early and ending the ballot courier system.

(Commentary) I actually thought this was an Onionesque joke when it landed in the in box this afternoon – “Pick Hillary Clinton’s campaign theme song?!?”  But lo and behold, it’s legit:

Columbus Junction is hosting its fourth annual Hispanic Cultural Festival on Saturday and Sunday.  This year, the event is in conjunction with the Midwest Folk Festival.

Mallory Smith of West Liberty is the festival’s financial chair.  She says the festival attracts more sponsors each year which is good testament to community support.  Smith also notes that [...]