Little Village issue 329 - May 2024

Independent Iowa News, Culture & Events

Can Democrats clean House in the 1st & 4th Districts?

Cozy cocktails at Bartender’s Handshake

Flamy Grant, Christian drag musician

Lisa Bluder’s Game

Iowa’s got a good thing going for it, and this fever shows no signs of breaking.

Four sensational shows in one spectacular place!

When it comes to enjoying the best of Broadway, you just can’t beat Hancher Auditorium. Our landmark building on the banks of the Iowa River features an 1,800-seat theater offering exceptional views and state-of-the-art sound reproduction no matter where you sit. And we are committed to providing the best in patron amenities—including ample free parking, food and beverage for purchase before the show and during intermission, and the opportunity to take beverages into the auditorium in our Hancher season cups to enjoy during the show.

Broadway subscribers get the best ticket prices, the chance to select seats before individual tickets go on sale, and flexibility if schedules change.

And this season, subscribers have the first opportunity to purchase tickets to Riverdance—an undeniable audience favorite at the original Hancher Auditorium—making its first appearance on Hancher’s Hadley Stage!

Broadway Series Partners:

THE CHRIS & SUZY DeWOLF FAMILY

& KRISTINE NIELSEN

VERNON HEIN FUND

JEFFREY

FRIDAY–SUNDAY JANUARY 24–26, 2025 FRIDAY–SUNDAY DECEMBER 6–8, 2024

FRIDAY–SUNDAY MARCH 7–9, 2025

FRIDAY–SUNDAY MAY 30–JUNE 1, 2025

May 1

Current Broadway subscribers can renew their packages

June 3–16

Want to take advantage of the presale… but not yet a donor?

Hancher

July 29

Eager to attend some —but not all—shows?

Single tickets available to the public in July

INDEPENDENT IOWA NEWS, CULTURE & EVENTS

Since 2001 LittleVillageMag.com

24

Red-Eye Flight

Listen to them, the cicadas of Broods XIX and XIII! What music they make!

34 May Madness

It’s been a good time to be a Hawkeye fan. Now a new season of women’s hoops history begins.

42

Last Monkee

Whether “I’m a Believer” or “Losing My Religion,” May 24 will be a rockin’ night in Clear Lake.

Little Village (ISSN 2328-3351) is an independent, community-supported news and culture publication based in Iowa City, published monthly by Little Village, LLC, 623 S Dubuque St., Iowa City, IA 52240. Through journalism, essays and events, we work to improve our community according to core values: environmental sustainability, affordability and access, economic and labor justice, racial justice, gender equity, quality healthcare, quality education and critical culture. Letters to the editor(s) are always welcome. We reserve the right to fact check and edit for length and clarity. Please send letters, comments or corrections to editor@littlevillagemag.com.

Subscriptions: lv@littlevillagemag.com. The US annual subscription price is $120. All rights reserved, reproduction in whole or in part without written permission is prohibited. If you would like to reprint or collaborate on new content, reach us at lv@littlevillagemag.com. To browse back issues, visit us online at issuu.com/ littlevillage.

EDITORIAL

Publisher

Matthew Steele matt@littlevillagemag.com

Editor-in-Chief

Emma McClatchey emma@littlevillagemag.com

Arts Editor

Genevieve Trainor

genevieve@littlevillagemag.com

News Director

Paul Brennan paul@littlevillagemag.com

Art Director

Jordan Sellergren jordan@littlevillagemag.com

Photographer, Designer Sid Peterson sid@littlevillagemag.com

Calendar/Event Listings calendar@littlevillagemag.com

Corrections editor@littlevillagemag.com

May Contributors

Benjamin McElroy, Chad Rhym, Christopher Burns, Dana Telsrow, Darcie Hutzell, Hazel Ng, Joseph Cress, Kembrew McLeod, Kent Williams, Lauren Haldeman, Madison Stano, Malcolm MacDougall, Nick Dolan, Ramona Muse Lambert, Quiara Vasquez, Rob Brezsney, Sam Locke Ward, Sara Elgatian, Tom Tomorrow

SOCIAL MEDIA

Facebook @LittleVillageMag

Instagram @LittleVillageMag Twitter @LittleVillage

INDEPENDENT NEWS, CULTURE & EVENTS

Since 2001 LittleVillageMag.com

PRODUCTION

Digital Director

Drew Bulman drewb@littlevillagemag.com

Production Manager

Jordan Sellergren jordan@littlevillagemag.com

SALES & ADMINISTRATION

President, Little Village, LLC

Matthew Steele matt@littlevillagemag.com

Advertising ads@littlevillagemag.com

Creative Services

Website design, E-commerce, Publication design creative@littlevillagemag.com

CIRCULATION

Distribution Manager

Joseph Servey joseph@littlevillagemag.com

Distribution

Andersen Coates, Heber Martinez, Joe Olson, Annie Sarcone, Joseph Servey, Nix Slater-Scott, Sam Standish distro@littlevillagemag.com

OFFICES

Little Village HQ, LV Creative Services 623 S Dubuque St Iowa City, IA 52240 319-855-1474

Little Village—Des Moines 900 Keosauqua Way, Ste 253 Des Moines, IA 50309

Meet this month’s contributors!

Benjamin McElroy is a writer based in Des Moines. He has opinions on music and film.

Chad Rhym is a photographer, graduate student, and George’s semi-regular who once met Lisa Bluder and Jan Jenson in the bar and kept his composure!

Christopher Burns lives in a state of uncertainty between Iowa City and the Quantum Realm. In between fluctuations he writes weird stories and plays music with the Shining Realm.

Dana Telsrow is an Iowa City artist specializing in portraiture.

Darcie Hutzell lives in Iowa City and is a freelance writer and mom to an amazing kid.

Hazel Ng is an illustrator and comic artist based in Indianapolis, IN, who also enjoys drinking tea and taking naps.

Issue 329 May 2024

Cover by Dana Telsrow

An alt-weekly mag writing about college basketball—in May?

Must be the Bluder effect. Also: George’s Buffet, Bartender’s Handshake, determined Dems, a Monkee at the Surf, Lynch’s Iowa movie, a blessing in disguise (i.e., drag) and trillions of cicadas.

Kent Williams lives, works, writes and complains in Iowa City.

Lauren Haldeman is a graphic novelist and poet in Iowa City.

Madison Stano is a full-time content strategist, self-proclaimed foodie & travel enthusiast.

Nicholas Dolan is currently training to be an English teacher. He is also trying to improve his Spanish and is in need of a conversational Spanish buddy. He can be contacted at nmdlan97@gmail.com.

Sam Locke Ward is a cartoonist and musician from Iowa City.

Sarah Elgatian is a writer, activist and educator living in Iowa. She likes dark coffee, bright colors and long sentences. She dislikes meanness.

Joseph Cress is an Iowa City native, a member of Association of LGBTQ+ Journalists and National Press Photographers Association, he works for Think Iowa City and the Iowa City Area Sports Commission.

Sara Williams is a multidisciplinary artist who was raised in Culture writers, food reviewers and columnists, email: editor@littlevillagemag.com. Illustrators, photographers and comic artists, email: jordan@littlevillagemag.com

Ng / Little Village Bondurant, Iowa. She currently resides near Amana.

Top Stories

Catch up on some of Little Village’s most-viewed headlines from last month,and get the latest news sent to your inbox every afternoon: littlevillagemag.com/subscribe

Unable to find a qualified contractor to run its anti-abortion ‘pregnancy resource centers’ fund, the state administers funds anyway; Republicans pass bill to make it legal retroactively (april 8)

By Paul Brennan, April 8

The MOMS program was supposed to begin distributing funds to the anti-abortion centers it selected on July 1, 2022, but that didn’t happen because DHHS could not find a qualified third party to administer the program. It still hasn’t.

Two gun bills head to the governor’s desk: one to prevent tracking of suspicious purchases, one to protect armed school staff from liability

By Paul Brennan, April

17

Republicans in the Iowa Legislature passed a bill to prevent credit card companies from assisting law enforcement agencies in identifying purchases of firearms and ammunition; and a bill creating legal immunity for teachers or other staff designated to carry guns on school property, among other measures.

Months after rejecting $29 million in federal aid for food-insecure families, Gov. Reynolds announces ‘competitive’ grants offering 3% of that funding

By Paul Brennan, April

11

The governor said she will allocate $900,000 for a new Summer Meal Program Expansion Grant to provide funds to schools and other institutions during summer break, rather than families. Democrats criticized the program as “crumbs” and “a version of the Hunger Games.”

Photos: Mission Creek Festival 2024

April 6 & 8

Little Village photographers Sid Peterson and Anthony Scanga captured MCF performers and their fans throughout Iowa City during the three days of Mission Creek: Indigo De Souza, Turrell James, Single File, George Clanton, Hatis Noit, Armand Hammer, Bootcamp, S.G. Goodman, Nadah Elshazly, Osees, 24thankyou and more.

AllSpice (53)

Arnott & Kirk (71)

Baker Paper Company (47)

Bawdy Bawdy Ha Ha (11)

Bur Oak Land Trust (66)

Catch Des Moines (20)

Cedar Rapids Opera (47)

CommUnity Crisis Services (22)

Coralville Center for the Performing Arts (66)

Coralville Public Library (64)

Des Moines Metro Opera (41)

Des Moines Performing Arts (50)

Des Moines Playhouse (55)

Dupaco Credit Union (68)

Eco Care Supply (53)

FilmScene (46)

Goodfellow Printing, Inc. (59)

Greater Des Moines Botanical Garden (47)

Grinnell College Museum of Art (66)

Hancher Auditorium (2-5)

Honeybee Hair Parlor and Hive Collective (21)

ICDD Dubuque Street (14-15)

- Dublin Underground

- Z’Mariks

- Nodo

- St. Burch Tavern

THANK YOU TO THIS ISSUE’S ADVERTISING PARTNERS

This issue of Little Village is supported by:

- Which Wich

- Micky’s Irish Pub

- The Shop Iowa City

- Deadwood Tavern

- 223 Baby Co

- Sports Column

- Pullman

- Dulcinea

- Masala

- Catherine’s Independent Cedar Rapids (3839)

-Indigo River

- Goldfinch Cyclery

- Next Page Books

- Cobble Hill

- The Daisy Independent Downtown Iowa City (32-33)

- Praririe Lights

- Beadology

- Riverside Theatre

- Hot Spot Tattoo

- Harry’s Bar & Grill

- Record Collector

- Yotopia

- Critical Hit Games

- Release Body Modification

- Mailboxes of Iowa City

- Revival

- The Green House

Independent Highland Park/Oak Park Neighborhood (60-61)

- Des Moines Mercantile

- The Collective

- The Slow Down

Independent Northside Marketplace (24-25)

- George’s

- Pagliai’s Pizza

- Dodge St. Tire

- John’s Grocery, Inc.

- R.S.V.P.

- Artifacts

Indian Creek Nature Center (22)

Iowa City Climate Action (21)

Iowa City Communications (28)

Iowa City Community Theatre (21)

Iowa City Public Library (28)

Iowa Department of Public Health (12, 43)

Jethro’s BBQ (49)

KRUI 89.7 FM (11)

Kim Schillig, REALTOR (61)

Linn County Conversation (30)

Martin Construction (68)

Mesa 503 (66)

Middleton, Wisconsin (31)

Musician’s Pro Shop (59)

New Pioneer Food Co-op (8)

We can stop HIV, Iowa—

No Escape Iowa (20)

Orchestra Iowa (39)

Orchestrate Management (31)

Phoebe Martin, REALTOR (6)

Polk County Conservation (11)

Public Space One (13)

Raygun (29)

Refocus Film Festival (45)

Resilient Sustainable Future for Iowa City (41)

Science Center of Iowa (21)

Shakespeare’s Pub & Grill (31)

Splash Seafood Bar & Grill (30)

Summer of the Arts (72)

Table to Table (66)

The Club Car (31)

The Englert Theatre (57)

The Iowa Children’s Museum (11)

The James (53)

The Wedge Pizzeria (65)

Theatre Cedar Rapids (33, 45)

University of Iowa Stanley Museum of Art (70)

Varsity Cinema (16)

Vino Vérité (19)

Wig & Pen (59)

Wildwood Saloon (59)

Willow & Stock (13)

World of Bikes (65)

xBk (53)

by finding the best way to prevent HIV for us!

Find a health care provider you feel comfortable talking to openly about your sexual health.

If you don't feel your regular provider can provide the best care in this area, consider finding a second provider that is knowledgeable, inclusive and affirming who will provide you the best sexual health resources.

Make prevention and testing part of your journey.

Getting tested for HIV is the only way to know your status. And knowing your HIV status helps you choose options to stay healthy!

Practice safer sex.

Internal and external condoms can prevent HIV and other STIs when used properly, and using an appropriate lubricant is also helpful! You can also choose sexual activities with a lower likelihood of passing on an infection.

Get in care. Stay in care.

If you’re living with HIV, getting and keeping an undetectable viral load helps you stay healthy and prevents transmission to your sex partners.

Learn more at stophiviowa.org

Letters & Interactions

LV encourages community members, including candidates for office, to submit letters to Editor@LittleVillageMag.com. To be considered for print publication, letters should be under 500 words. Preference is given to letters that have not been published elsewhere.

aS SPRING SHOWERS us with blossoms and pleasant breezes we all have the choice to plant and

maintain nature in our yards. Some suggestions at the goodneighboriowa.org website show us how we can practice naturefriendly practices to protect children, pets and people. And two books at the Iowa City Public Library tell us of the wonderful results for nature when we plant native, not alien exotic plants. Most insects won’t eat alien exotic species of plants. So if the insects vanish, so does the food source for birds and other animals. Anyone can turn their yards into conservation areas with beautiful native species. And we are told that it is easy and can be gradual. These two books have practical, effective and easy suggestions that anyone can use.

They are Bringing Nature Home and Nature’s

Best Hope (a New York Times bestseller). They are written by Professor Douglas W. Tallamy of the University of Delaware. Happy Spring! —Kris Johnson, member of Good Neighbor Iowa (headquartered at University of Northern Iowa) and 100 Grannies, a local environmental group

State will pay $49,000 settlement to journalist Laura Belin after six-year denial of media credentials (April 3)

They should have paid more!!! Total and complete bull… just another attempt to muzzle journalists who’s position they don’t like and tried to suppress!!! —Emmett B.

I’m glad she got her credentials and reimbursed. Typical of Iowa GOP. We the tax payers cover all their BS. —Carol E.

HAVE AN OPINION?

Letter to the Editor: The city’s hesitation to landmark the Slezak-Holub-Skarda building should concern us (April 9)

Historic buildings are more costly to maintain and preserve. I know, because I have owned/ restored five of them. How about the city offering tax abatement on improvements made to key or landmark buildings in our downtown and historic districts? They do this in Dubuque and it has worked out very well for them.

—Mark M.

The owner of the property should always have final say. He has plainly made it known he is unable to maintain property and needs to sell. If historic preservation commitee wants to save building let them buy building: fork out or shut up!!!! —Jett BJ

If an owner gets final say then there will never be another historic building preserved in the city ever again. We live in an age where private

SARA

LittleVillage READER POLL

If Iowa got a WNBA team, what would the name be? [A bracket]

ROUND 1!

The Snake Alley Vipers - 49%

The Fairfield Transcendentalists - 51 %

The Van Meter Visitors - 30%

The Dyersville Dreamers - 70%

The Des Moines Dewpoints - 64%

The Mississippian Crinoids - 36%

The Ethanol Maulers - 65%

The Fightin’ Iowa CAFOs - 35%

ROUND 2!

The Fairfield Transcendentalists - 53%

The Des Moines Dewpoints - 47%

The Dyersville Dreamers - 65%

The Ethanol Maulers - 35%

FINAL ROUND!

The Fairfield Transcendentalists - 59%

The Dyersville Dreamers - 41%

equity firms are buying housing, where rent is exorbitant, where housing in general is extremely slanted away from those who actually work and live here. It sounds more like Iowa City wants more of these kinds of developments, even if the property is just more expensive apartments with no parking and empty storefronts” —Steve G.

Letter to the editor: Is it worth saving an unsellable building? (April 11)

Bringing the UU building up to code, making it accessible and installing HVAC wouldn’t actually be very difficult or cost prohibitive, especially because they demo’ed the 1960’s multi-story wing (says an architect). They just need to find a good use for it. Historic buildings of significance like it, and the Pagliai’s building, are 100% worth saving in a city that has been completely taken over by a handful of second-rate developers with zero taste or sense of design. Downtown is practically unrecognizable now, filled with the most banal, vanilla-looking, cheaply built cookie-cutter apartments. —Megan R.

TRUE LOVE

RAMONA MUSE LAMBERT

www.icfilmscene.org/vino-verite

MAKE A BIG DIFFERENCE IN NO TIME.

Every year, events generate $2.8 billion for our region. So, if you’re a member of a group, organization, board, or association, we want to hear from you. Just share the name of the group and we’ll do the legwork to bring your next meeting here.

INTERACTIONS

It’s the year 2045. Iowa City proudly announces it’s the very first city officially recognized as a “UNESCO City of Vape Shops.” —Yale C.

Bringing the UU building up to code, making it accessible and installing HVAC wouldn’t actually be very difficult or cost prohibitive, especially because they demo’ed the 1960’s multi-story wing (says an architect). They just need to find a good use for it. Historic buildings of significance like it, and the Pagliai’s building, are 100% worth saving in a city that has been completely taken over by a handful of second-rate developers with zero taste or sense of design. Downtown is practically unrecognizable now, filled with the most banal, vanilla-looking, cheaply built cookie-cutter apartments. —Megan Roy

Megan Roy much of the UU church is more accessible than most of downtown -- it already has an elevator and accessible bathrooms. —Nolan Peterson

I have a friend who used to live in one of these tower’s downtown, amd we’re both in the construction industry. He said that the apartment was such poor quality that it didn’t appear the owners ever did a punchlist before accepting it. When he moved out they tried charging him for the

PERSONALS

Like most pets in the shelter, Bo is a survivor— in her case, of a large kidney stone. She can pee so much better now. A curious 2-year-old with a torbie coat, Bo will do well in a lowstress home with a proficient photographer capable of capturing her every photogenic move. Want these owl eyes in your life? Give Bo a hello at the Iowa City Animal Center, 3910 Napoleon Lane; icanimalcenter.org.

Send your personals for consideration to editor@littlevillagemag.com with subject line “Personals.”

Rodgers & Hammerstein’s

Music by RICHARD RODGERS

Lyrics by OSCAR HAMMERSTEIN II

Musical Arrangements by FRED WELLS

Orchestration by MICHAEL GIBSON and JONATHAN TUNICK

Conceived by WALTER BOBBIE

Directed by Music Directed by JOSH SAZON WES HABLEY

Presented August 9 -11 at the Englert Theatre

For more information, visit our website: www.iowacitycommunitytheatre.org

A Grand Night for Singing is presented by arrangement with Concord Theatricals. www.concordtheatricals.com

your air conditioner on the fritz?

PUMPEDget

When you replace your air conditioner, upgrade to a heat pump. It uses the same technology to cool your home. It also works in reverse to heat your home in winter, even in subzero temperatures! A heat pump can pair with your existing furnace and share the load, saving you money on heating costs. Homeowners with a heat pump save an average of $3,000 over 15 years, and a 30% federal tax credit is available to lower the purchase price.

Learn more: icgov.org/HeatPump

INTERACTIONS

ARE YOU OK?

Reach a counselor immediately on the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline. Text or call 988 or chat online at 988lifeline.org/chat.

Have counselors dispatched to your location in Johnson or Iowa County. Call Your Life Iowa at 855-581-8111 and ask for Mobile Crisis Response.

With 7 miles of trails, ICNC has spaces for frog catchers, bird spotters, flower identifiers and everybody else looking to explore the outdoors.

exposed nail/screw heads in the drywall that had poked through over a couple years time. I agree, save the old - when it’s feasible. —Jared Pourroy

I always ask, how can Big Grove profit from this? —Lucas S.

I think what we really need is more high rises with empty business spaces and insanely expensive apartments, half of which sit empty.

—Brandon E.

Two gun bills head to governor’s desk: one to prevent tracking of suspicious purchases, one to protect armed school staff from liability (April 17)

Republicans want teachers to carry firearms in schools and they want to prevent school districts from keeping track of who is carrying what within their schools. Let that sink in. —Larry M.

ACCOLADES

Public Space One in Iowa City unveiled a new grant program to “support publicly-engaged experimental, collaborative, and connective visual arts projects in eastern Iowa.” The Big Field Fund will award $60,000 to selected artists and projects on a yearly basis, financed by the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts. The application period for the grants open on Monday, June 10, and will run through Thursday, Aug. 1.

Thanks to private and institutional funding, UpLift, the Central Iowa Basic Income Pilot, says they will carry on with their promising pilot study—despite being denounced by Republicans in the Iowa Legislature, who passed a ban on public funds being used for any basic income programs.

Dream City received a $3 million grant from the City of Iowa City, which they’ll use to acquire and renovate 611 Southgate Ave. The nonprofit plans to install a “state-of-the-art commercial kitchen,” as well as upgrade other Dream City spaces and expand on their community outreach, workshops, youth programs and more.

The Johnson County affordable Housing Coalition has received the Partner of the Year award from the Iowa Valley Habitat for Humanity.

kbar, a creative writing professor at the University of Iowa, and former UI faculty member Robin Schiff were among the nine recipients of this year’s Guggenheim Awards in Poetry.

Where is your Little Village?

Little Village is a community supported monthly alternative magazine and digital media channel offering an independent perspective on Iowa news, culture and events. The magazine is widely available for free, with a distribution focus on the state’s cultural centers of Iowa City, Des Moines, Cedar Rapids, Ames, Cedar Falls/ Waterloo and the Quad Cities. Scan here to find which one of LV’s 800 distribution locations is nearest to you >>

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Fully Booked

Interactive books to flip over

Children love books that defy traditional format categories: picture book biographies, early reader comics, longform illustrated novels, graphic novel nonfiction. The combinations offer endless variety for readers. Lucky for us, publishers are delivering! Here is a brief list of books on ICPL’s new children’s shelves featuring more than one format.

Author-illustrator Julia J. Kim continues the beautiful tale presented in 2017’s Where’s Halmoni? in the follow-up Where’s Joon? Both picture book and graphic novel, Joon offers readers a legendary journey. A dynamic interweaving of full- and half-spread illustrations and paneled passages highlight Kim’s masterful execution of this bilingual tale. A guide to the character’s text in Hangul is presented in the back.

The River That Flows Beside Me by Charlotte Guillain, with illustrations by Jo Empson, is a stunning examination of river ecology from a mountaintop to the sea. Massive fold-out accordion pages illustrate the interactions between a river and the various environments encountered on its journey. Children will enjoy learning about the animals that call the river home and unfolding this adventure to the sea.

Littles will also delight in discovering who laid each set of eggs in Laura Gehl’s latest nonfiction board book, Who Laid These Eggs? Adorable illustrations by Loris Lora depict the eggs of various animals, while sturdy liftable flaps reveal the creature responsible for laying each. A simple and fun first look at egg-laying creatures, this would make a great gift for new families or first birthdays.

Thao Lam’s One Giant Leap is a wordless, paneled picture book and a great first graphic novel for pre-readers. Lam’s delightful combination of inventive panel constructions and full spread illustrations make for a fun and immersive reading experience.

Finally, Lisa Voisard’s dazzling Insectorama—in the vein of its predecessor Arborama—is a nonfiction coffee table picture book. Broken down into four distinct sections, Voisard helps readers define insects, gives tips for their identification and observation, and discusses evolutionary adaptations. A little too hefty to be a true field guide, this would make a lovely athome reference book for entomologically minded youngsters. I anxiously await the U.S. release of the next installment in this nonfiction series, Ornithorama.

Be sure to check out the online catalog or visit the library in person for great programs and more fun new titles like these.

—Casey Maynard

Soon the sleepers shall wake. That sounds like the beginning of either a sermon or a horror story, but it’s not. It’s just an entomological fact.

As spring gives way to summer, trillions of cicadas will emerge from their underground burrows throughout the South and in parts of the Midwest, including Iowa. Those cicadas are part of two separate broods, Brood XIII, also known as the Northern Illinois Brood, and Brood XIX, or the Great Southern Brood as it’s known to its friends.

Red-eyed (mostly) and winged, the cicadas are often mistaken for large locusts. But like alligators and crocodiles, cicadas and locusts are different creatures even if they look the

same to the untrained eye. There are more than 3,000 species of cicadas worldwide. All spend their juvenile phase—when they are known as “nymphs”—underground, safe from predators. Almost all of them emerge as adults after a year, but North America is home to a genus—Magicicada—whose members spend either 13 years or 17 years maturing underground. Brood XIII is made up of 17year cicadas, Brood XIX of 13-year cicadas. Exactly why the Magicicada spend so long underground, and why one group waits four years longer than the other before digging its way to the surface still isn’t clear.

But like clockwork, the two broods will start to emerge as ground temperatures heat up. It will be a once-in-a-lifetime experience. Literally. The last time Brood XIII and Brood XIX emerged together was 1803. The next time will be in 2245.

The two broods will cover all or parts of 16 states, mostly in the South. There will be some overlap between the two in southern Illinois and southeastern Iowa. Some entomologists are interested in whether there will be any crossbreeding between the two broods, and if there is, what effect that might have on the offspring.

Breeding is what the emergence is all about. During their four-to-six-week life above ground, male cicadas sing—although “sing” seems entirely too generous for the loud buzzing noise they make—to attract a mate. After mating, the females lay eggs in

woody plants, usually in narrow branches. The female cicada’s ovipositor has a sharp edge that they use to cut slits in the bark, into which they deposit about 10 to 20 eggs. The average female cicada will lay between 500 and 600 eggs.

At the end of the brief mating season, the adult cicadas, male and female, die.

After six to 10 weeks, the eggs will hatch and the tiny newborns will drop to the ground. They will then begin to burrow, digging down between eight and 12 inches, then settling in for the next 13 or 17 years, until they crawl to the surface and do exactly what their parents did.

Cicadas, although often annoying, are harmless to people and pets. They can be hard on saplings and delicate plants, but for the most part they are beneficial to the environment. The holes they leave behind after digging to the surface aerate the soil. The slits cut into narrow branches for eggs will eventually cause unhealthy branches to drop off trees, in a sort of accidental but helpful pruning.

Only a slice of eastern Iowa will experience this year’s emergence, but central and western Iowans jealous of their easterly neighbors getting all the noisy insect action just need to be patient. In 2031, Brood III will begin digging its way to the surface in those parts of the state. Those 17-year cicadas are also known as the Iowan Brood.

––Paul Brennan

Support the businesses that make Iowa unique.

From The Metamorphisis by Rich Johnson, using cicada illustrations by Samantha Gallagher via Lake County Forest Preserves

Enough’s Enough

These Democrats are trying desperately to dent the status quo in Iowa by sidelining Reps. Miller-Meeks and Feenstra.

By PaUL BRENNaN

Democrats Christina Bohannan and Ryan Melton are campaigning for Congress on opposite sides of the state and in very different districts, but they have one thing in common—firsthand experience running for the U.S. House. In 2022, Bohannan challenged the Republican incumbent in Iowa’s eastern-most congressional district, the 1st, while Melton ran in the sprawling 4th District, which covers western Iowa.

The November 2022 election was a disaster for the Iowa Democratic Party. Its candidates for governor, U.S. Senate, and every statewide office except the auditor lost. Democrats lost seats in the Iowa House and Senate. All three Republican incumbents in the U.S. House were reelected, while the last remaining Democrat lost. When Congress convened in January 2023, it was the first time since 1957 Iowa didn’t have a single Democrat in either the House or Senate.

Bohannan and Melton were both first-time congressional candidates in 2022, and this year each is challenging the same Republican they lost to last time. Little Village spoke with Bohannan and Melton about their 2024 runs and what they see is different this time.

Christina Bohannan, the contender in the 1st District

The room was packed for the opening of Christina Bohannan’s campaign office in Iowa City on April 12, and the people there were enthusiastic.

“We already have 102 volunteer shifts for door-knocking scheduled in Scott County between now and May,” Bohannan told the crowd filled with longtime Democratic Party stalwarts from Johnson County and its neighboring counties. “That is more than we did in the whole GOTV effort in October and November over in Scott County the last time, and we’re just getting started.”

It’s not the only encouraging sign for the campaign. Bohannan raised significantly more money than Marianette Miller-Meeks did during the first quarter of this year. According to FEC reports, Bohannan took in $820,981 between Jan. 1 and March 31, while Miller-Meeks raised

“We already have 102 volunteer shifts for doorknocking scheduled in Scott County between now and May. That is more than we did in the whole GOTV effort in October and November over in Scott County the last time, and we’re just getting started.” ––Christina Bohannan

$378,901. So far this election cycle Miller-Meeks has raised a total of $2,691,316 while Bohannan had raised $2,143,456 by the end of March.

“More than three-quarters of that is coming from Iowa,” Bohannan is quick to add. “Unlike Rep. Miller-Meeks, most of hers is coming from Maryland and Virginia, because that’s where the lobbyists are.”

The first Iowa Poll conducted on the 2024 congressional races also had good news for Bohannan. The 1st was the only one of Iowa’s four congressional districts where likely voters favored a Democratic candidate over a Republican, 49 to 45 percent. The poll conducted Feb. 25 to 28 only asked generically about Democrats vs. Republicans as House candidates, and didn’t include any names of those running,

but it’s still a notable change from 2022.

Miller-Meeks led the Iowa Polls during the congressional race two years ago. Her smallest lead was 9 percentage points.

Several people in the crowd at the office opening talked about Miller-Meeks winning her seat by only six votes. But that was in 2020. In 2022, Miller-Meeks won the 1st District by 20,173 votes. Bohannan carried only one of the district’s 20 counties. She won Johnson, the state’s most reliably Democratic county, with 71 percent of the vote.

“Turnout was a big problem in 2022,”

Christina Bohannan meets with voters at her Iowa City campaign office. Sid Peterson / Little Village

Bohannan told Little Village. “Tens of thousands of people who would have voted for me or for other Democrats did not turn out in the 2022 election. That’s somewhat a function of it being a midterm. Democratic turnout always falls off more than Republican turnout.”

Many other states didn’t have the traditional midterm dropoff in Democratic voters in 2022, as people mobilized in response to the U.S. Supreme Court eliminating federal protection for abortion rights five months before the election. But not in Iowa. Bohannan believes this year is different.

“Last time, it was a national issue people were talking about,” she said. “But I think it has really hit Iowa front-and-center now with the six-week abortion ban, that bans abortion before most women know they are pregnant.”

Bohannan also pointed to the bill the Iowa House passed in March which would have created “fetal personhood,” making IVF treatments impossible—the bill died before a Senate vote— as well as Miller-Meeks cosponsoring a bill that would have established fetal personhood nationwide starting at fertilization of an ovum.

At campaign events, Bohannan talks about this in both personal and policy terms. She shares the story of her unsuccessful attempt to have a second child through IVF, and elaborates on how Republicans “are trying to inject politicians in families’ decisions about if, when and how to start a family.”

Bohannan often blends the personal with the political. A central part of her campaigns both in 2022 and this year has been describing how she grew up in a working-class family in rural Florida that struggled after her father, a construction worker, fell ill and lost his job and his health insurance. It taught her hard and indelible lessons about the importance of the social safety net and the need for affordable healthcare.

Despite the difficulties she faced, Bohannan persisted and became the first member of her family to graduate from college, earning a degree in environmental engineering from the University of Florida. She worked for the Florida Department of Environmental Protection, before attending the UF College of Law.

In 2000, she came to Iowa City as a visiting professor at the UI College of Law. Two years later, she joined the faculty full time.

Bohannan’s first run for office came in 2020, when she defeated a 20-year incumbent to win a seat in the Iowa House. In August 2021, Bohannan announced her first challenge to

Miller-Meeks. She announced her 2024 run in August last year.

“Running the second time is really good,” Bohannan said. “You have more name recognition, a bigger donor network, people are excited about the campaign, they really wanted me to run again, so people are all in for this.”

She explained, “it allows us to just hit the ground running from where we were last time and really build on that.”

It’s not just Bohannan that is different this time. In 2020, Miller-Meeks was part of the House minority, and could campaign on what she

and her fellow Republicans would do if they took over. They did, creating two years of chaos and failures to pass major legislation.

“She’s in the majority, and they have proven themselves incapable of governing,” Bohannan said. “They are not getting anything done, they are fighting amongst themselves constantly. And the few things they are doing, they’re just adding abortion restrictions to every bill they can think of. It just makes no sense.”

The issues House Republicans have focused on over the last two years are not the ones Bohannan says she hears when talking to voters

“No one knew who I was at the time, I didn’t have any money, I didn’t have any connections, I didn’t have a pedigree. I was as blank-slate, as grassroots as they come. But I just decided in the age of Trumpism, in the age of anti-democracy we could not just concede a quarter of our congressional districts without a fight.” ––Ryan Melton

Ryan Melton is running as a democrat in the 4th district, one of the most solidly Republican congressional districts in the country.

Anthony Scanga / Little Village

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“Everybody is concerned about protecting our democracy,” she said. “Everybody is concerned about climate change, and really, honestly future-looking issues, like keeping our kids in Iowa. Our kids are leaving Iowa, and they’re not

Bohannan said she’s seeing much higher levels of engagement and energy among voters this time out. Not just among Democrats and independents, but also among Republicans reconsidering their choices.

“I’ve been having Republicans come to some of my events who just see what’s happening in the state and country, and just don’t recognize it. They don’t understand what’s going on, they think that it’s extreme, they think that it’s dysfunctional, and they just want a change.”

Ryan Melton, the longshot in the 4th District

Last July, Ryan Melton became the first Iowa Democrat to declare he was running for Congress. That was a sharp contrast to 2020, when he announced his run months after every other candidate. But that was because Melton never planned to run.

“The first time I ran because no one else was going to,” Melton told Little Village J.D. Scholten, who had been the Democratic congressional candidate in the 4th District three times—running against Steve King and once against Randy Feenstra—announced in 2021 he wouldn’t run again.

Campaigning in the 4th is a daunting prospect. It’s a large, rural district, with long distances between population centers. And it’s even more daunting if you’re a Democrat. The 4th is one of the most solidly Republican congressional districts in the country.

As the filing deadline in 2022 drew closer and closer, and no Democrat was willing to challenge incumbent Republican Randy Feenstra, Melton decided he needed to act.

“No one knew who I was at the time, I didn’t have any money, I didn’t have any connections, I didn’t have a pedigree. I was as blank-slate, as grassroots as they come,” he recalled. “But I just decided in the age of Trumpism, in the age of anti-democracy we could not just concede a quarter of our congressional districts without a fight.”

“We literally had two months from the moment I realized we had no other option, to gather the signatures we needed to get on the ballot,” Melton said. “We gathered 1,726 signatures. As a Democrat doing that in the 4th Congressional District in two months when no one knows who you are, it felt like an impossible task.”

“We got our last signature the evening before

the filing deadline. I dropped my binder of signatures at the Secretary of State’s office an hour before the filing deadline. It felt kind of miraculous that it happened, that we got over that threshold.”

This election cycle, Melton was determined not to rely on the miraculous. He has a clear understanding of what he’s facing as a Democrat running in the 4th. The last time western Iowa sent a Democrat to the House of Representatives was 1982, when Tom Harkin was elected to a fifth term in what was then the 5th District. (The 5th was eliminated in the redistricting that followed the 2010 census.)

Fundraising totals also show the odds against Melton. During this election cycle, Feenstra had raised $3,075,314 by the end of March. Melton raised $36,577.

“I don’t come from wealth, I reject corporate PAC money, I have a full-time job and a family,” Melton said, explaining that what he does have is the willingness to put in the long hours traveling across the 4th to meet with voters.

“So I got in much earlier this second time, because that was the only thing I could have done really to counteract all of those disadvantages,” he said. “So I’ve been running all over the district since the Fourth of July 2023.”

Ryan Melton grew up in Nebraska and western Iowa. He attended Iowa State University, earning a bachelor’s in history and political science, before going to the University of Kansas for a Master’s in history. He works in management in the insurance industry, and lives in Story County with his wife and their two sons.

Melton had never run for office before entering the 2022 race. He didn’t expect to win, but said he knew he’d “make a better option than a blank spot on the ballot, which is what would have happened if I didn’t run.”

Feenstra beat Melton by 37 percentage points in 2022, but Melton did carry Story County. And Melton does feel he accomplished some important things in the 2022 campaign.

According to Melton, even Democratic Party stalwarts in the 4th were deeply discouraged after Scholten’s loss to Feenstra in 2020, following his strong showing against King in 2018, but his run in 2022 allowed him to engage in some party-building. In 2022, Democrats only fielded 10 candidates in the 25 statehouse seats in the district. This year there are 16 Democrats running.

“That means there are more conversations that are being had than there were last time,” Melton said. “There’s more accountability being pressed upon the Republican incumbents than there was last time. So, that’s a win.”

He also feels his 2022 campaign helped change the political discussion around carbon capture pipelines in his district. Farmers and homeowners throughout the 4th were opposed

to the pipelines and the threats of using eminent domain to seize property for them by the companies behind the pipeline, but the companies had the backing of elected officials at the state and federal levels. Randy Feenstra even published an op-ed promoting the pipeline projects in 2021.

“I was the first major candidate in either party to fight against these carbon capture pipelines,” Melton said. “When I made that decision in 2022, pretty much right after I paperwork with the FEC, in many ways I was a man on an island, because a lot of people within my own party didn’t quite understand. They thought the pipelines were just a climate change mitigation solution, because they were greenwashed.”

This year, politicians in both parties have come out against the pipeline projects or are quieter and more cautious in their support of them.

“One of the big things that I continue to hear from Republican voters when I talk to them is the frustration that their Republican representatives are much more beholden to their corporate donors than they are to their voters,” Melton said. “I think that that’s why the carbon capture pipeline issue is so important. It’s a microcosm of this problem on the Republican side.”

Melton feels that the extreme policies and politics Republicans have been pushing in Des Moines and Washington D.C. are alienating traditional Republican voters in the 4th.

“We’re last in the country when it comes to the availability rate of ob-gyns,” he said. “We’re last in the country in mental healthcare bed availability rate. Our public education rankings are plummeting. We’re finding it harder to attract business here. We’re the toxic beach state. There’s been a clear hollowing out of our state that made our communities less safe. And that’s not going to get better anytime soon. The Republicans who are pushing this extremism, they’re not going to stop.”

“I’m running, which is to stem the tide of the hollowing out of our state. I am absolutely convinced that the Republican Party at the national level knows that they’re a dying party—they’re operating from a position of desperation, not power—and so they’re pushing extremism to hollow out red states. And Iowa has been victim to that.”

Melton said he hopes to present “a long-term vision of sustainability, of growth for our communities” during the campaign, because current policies are “essentially turning our 4th District into one big open-lot CAFO.”

He remains realistic about his possibilities, but determined to push forward his priorities.

“I’m not going to out-fundraise most people, but I’m going to out-work them,” Melton said. “And that’s how we’re going to continue to put a dent in the status quo here.”

Sports Team of Dreamers

Lisa Bluder has been preparing Iowa for ascension since 2000. In the process, she’s given players and fans some precious pride of place.

By EMMa MCCLaTCHEy

Modern life can be isolating. Kurt Vonnegut said as much during a graduation address at New York’s Hobart and William Smith Colleges on May 26, 1974.

“What should young people do with their lives today?” asked the Indianapolis-born author. “Many things, obviously. But the most daring thing is to create stable communities in which the terrible disease of loneliness can be cured.”

Vonnegut, who taught at the Iowa Writers’ Workshop in 1965 and ’66, urged the recent grads to seek “a folk society.”

“It is curious that such communities should be so rare, since human beings are genetically such gregarious creatures. They need plenty of like-minded friends and relatives almost as much

as they need B-complex vitamins and a heartfelt moral code.”

It doesn’t help that the stuff around which a folk society might form—religion, art, shared history, political goals—are as fraught as ever in 2024, even if we have plenty of tools for finding like-minded people. There is too much sapping our collective energy and not enough fueling it.

But occasionally, something comes along that turns us cynical grown-ups into giddy kids again.

The recent solar eclipse reinvigorated global interest in astronomy and inspired millions to leave their homes to witness a phenomenon, in person, together. It was rare, temporary, awesome. People traveled to cities in the path of totality, where the darkness was total and the spectacle best. Those who already lived there? Just plain lucky.

In that sense, Iowa Hawkeye fans are some of the luckiest folks in the world. When it came time for Caitlin Clark and her team to change the world of college basketball and women’s sports more broadly, Iowans were already seated for the show.

The Path of Totality

Much has already been written about “the Caitlin Clark effect” on the sports world. Record ticket sales and TV viewership everywhere from Carver Hawkeye Arena to the national tournament to the WNBA draft. Countless articles on countless

platforms—everything from gossip blogs to 17,500-word ESPN profiles to NBC News reports by a Daily Iowan sports reporter and UI sophomore whose local beat has become one of the nation’s biggest stories (shout-out to Matt

UI Recruits

Keep your eye on these new Hawkeyes

addie Deal, a five-star guard from California with Clark-like scoring and defending abilities who turned down offers from LSU, Ohio State, Indiana, USC, UCLA and others in favor of Iowa.

Lucy Olsen, a junior guard whose 23.3 average points a game for Villanova last season made her the third-highest scorer in the nation behind Clark and USC’s JuJu Watkins. After entering the transfer portal, Olsen settled on Iowa for her fourth and final year of collegiate play.

Lisa Bluder coaches players during the Hawkeyes game at Indiana on Jan. 13, 2024 at Carver-Hawkeye Arena. Iowa beat Indiana 84-57. Joseph Cress / Think Iowa City

McGowan).

Even without watching a single, mesmerizing game, the power of this Iowa women’s basketball team is evident. It’s there in the local, state and national ads featuring the players: Kate Martin and Hannah Stuelke for Estela’s Fresh Mex, Gabby Marshall for Casey’s and Panchero’s, and Caitlin Clark for Hy-Vee, State Farm, Nike, Gatorade and Xfinity—the latter company hiring a Des Moines cinematographer, Bruce James Bales, to help shoot their viral “two Caitlins” commercial.

That power was on display last spring, when the team partnered with the Coralville Community Food Pantry for an event to raise $22,000. They ended up bringing in $77,000 and hundreds of visitors during an ongoing period of unprecedented hunger in Iowa. Pantry director and UI grad John Boller joked the partnership with Clark was like having “a cheat code in philanthropy.”

“We had a lot of young, first-time donors, so she’s activating a new generation of people who want to contribute to this work,” he told Iowa Magazine

Bluder flexed her power this fall, when she arranged a charity scrimmage against DePaul inside Kinnick Stadium. Tickets were between $5 and $25, and 55,646 showed up, exceeding expectations and breaking the all-time attendance record for a single women’s basketball game—and raising a quarter million dollars for the UI Stead Family Children’s Hospital.

And there’s no doubt the popularity of the team has been an economic boon for the state of Iowa. That much was clear if you visited an Iowa City sports bar on a big IWBB game day.

The appeal of Clark merchandise is undeniable. Most recently her new Indiana Fever jersey became the highest-selling rookie jersey Fanatic has ever sold (in 24 hours, Clark’s one jersey outsold the entire Dallas Cowboys over the past year, according to the company). In late April, Nike reached a $28 million deal with Clark that will include the pinnacle of sports products: a signature shoe.

Clark fever has had untold influence over Iowa kids. Participation in youth sports among girls in Coralville has increased 35 percent since 2019, according to the city’s parks and rec department. Adriana Mafra, a coordinator at the Burlington Area YMCA, said about 80 percent of participants in a recent skills-and-drills program were girls. Both boys and girls are inundating their Cedar Rapids sports leagues with requests to wear the number 22.

Perhaps Clark’s greatest commendation came just minutes after her most high-profile loss. Dawn Staley, one of the all-time great players and coaches, took the time to shout-out Clark during South Carolina’s on-court celebrations following their victory over the Hawkeyes in the national

championship, a game that averaged 18.7 million viewers.

“I want to personally thank Caitlin Clark for lifting up our sport,” Coach Staley said. “She carried a heavy load for our sport and it’s not going to stop here … So Caitlin Clark, if you’re out there, you are one of the GOATs of our game and I appreciate you.”

After 40 years as a head coach in Iowa, and nearly 25 at UI, Coach Bluder is well on her way to legend status herself. But under the blinding spotlight of mainstream acclaim (and backlash, and pseudo-drama, and industries forming around the lives of hometown heroes once viewed as underdogs), it can be easy to lose sight of the more humble work that made it all possible.

The Player’s Coach

For most of her 62 years, “nobody cared about women’s basketball,” Bluder admitted. Attendance was sparse. Athletic scholarships were practically nonexistent before Title IX became law in 1972. Uniforms and facilities were often less than ideal.

Men’s basketball at UI goes back to the origins

of the game. An 1896 match played in Iowa City between squads from Iowa and the University of Chicago is considered the first real intercollegiate game. That was only five years after James Naismith created basketball. But despite the tremendous popularity of high school girls’ basketball in Iowa, UI didn’t have a women’s team until 1974. Bluder became the program’s fifth head coach in 2000.

No one personifies basketball in the state of Iowa better than Bluder. She’s been a Linn-Mar High Lion and University of Northern Iowa Panther, competing in the six-on-six, pre-Title IX era of women’s hoops. She’s built programs into national contenders as the coach of the St. Ambrose Fighting Bees and the Drake Bulldogs before coming to UI.

“Coach Bluder is a Hall of Fame coach,” Clark

Hannah Stuelke, who will be a junior during the 2024-25 season, ended her high school career as the state’s leading scorer and set a new record at Washington High School for career points scored. Emma McClatchey / Little Village

said in March. “I think the biggest thing for me throughout the recruiting process that I loved about her is she’s a player’s coach. She’s not going to have a set offense that you have to run. She’s going to tailor everything to what she has on her team and what’s going to put her team in positions to be very successful.”

“When I stepped on campus when I first visited, I could just feel the family atmosphere, how close the girls were, how close the girls were to the coaches,” Gabbie Marshall told the Des Moines Register. “You don’t see that everywhere. You don’t see [those] coach, player relationships. I think just what you guys see Coach Bluder as is who she is. She’s so real.”

When Bluder was hired by UI after 10 years coaching at Drake, her assistant coach Jan Jensen was offered Bluder’s job. The Kimballton, Iowa native had been a senior on the Bulldogs when Bluder first arrived to coach the team. That season, 1990-’91, Jensen had the highest average points per game in Division I basketball, 29.6. Jensen chose to join Bluder in Iowa City as her associate head coach.

“Jan could’ve been the head coach of Drake University,” Bluder said. “But we had a dream— we wanted to go to a Final Four, we wanted to fill Carver.”

Getting UI to the Final Four of the NCAA tournament was undoubtedly the longest process of the women’s coaching career, but one they patiently prepared for.

Bluder’s Bunch

Bluder and Jensen have coached a range of excellent players recruited from around the Midwest: Samantha Logic of Racine, Wisconsin, the first

Indiana Fever

PRESEASON

Friday, May 3 at 7

p.m., WNBA League Pass, vs. Dallas Wings

Friday, May 10 at 6 p.m., WNBA League Pass, vs. Atlanta Dream

REGULAR SEASON

Tuesday, May 14 at 7:30 p.m., ESPN2, vs. Connecticut Sun

Thursday, May 16 at 7 p.m., Amazon, vs. New York Liberty

Hawkeye to become a first-round draftee in the WNBA when she was picked 10th overall in the 2015 by the Atlanta Dream. Megan Gustafson from Milwaukee, the first Big 10 player to earn the prestigious Naismith National Player of the Year award (and the first time a player and coach from the same school won Naismiths in the same year; Bluder was awarded Naismith National Coach of the Year in 2019) and a key factor in Iowa’s first Elite Eight appearance. In 2020, Gustafson’s number 10 jersey became only the second retired by Iowa after Michelle “Ice” Edwards’ 30 in 1990. Last month, Clark’s 22 became the third.

Then there’s Monika Czinano from Watertown, Minnesota, who formed one half of a power scoring duo with Clark from 2020 to 2023 affectionately coined The Law Firm of Clark and Czinano. And, of course, there’s this season’s seniors Molly Davis of Midland, Michigan, Gabbie Marshall of Cincinnati, Ohio, and Kate Martin of Edwardsville, Illinois.

There are some incredible players joining the squad next season. Still, it’s hard to imagine the star as anyone other than Hannah Stuelke, the versatile forward from Cedar Rapids.

“I always wanted to go to Iowa as a kid,” Stuelke told the Des Moines Register in 2022. “I’ve always lived here, grew up a Hawkeye fan. We went to a ton of games and were always watching when we couldn’t make it. It was really cool to have my dreams come true.”

The night Gustafson led Iowa to victory over Missouri in the second round of the 2019 NCAA tournament, Stuelke met Bluder and Jensen on the court and surprised them with her decision: in three years, she would be a Hawkeye. They all hugged.

“It’s been really fun with Hannah because you build relationships more when they commit that early,” Bluder said. “... But with everybody who you identify as a great talent early, there’s a little bit of a risk, right? Are they going to continue to develop? Are they going to continue to stay motivated?”

Bluder needn’t have worried. Stuelke quickly became a versatile player with great footwork, a killer jump shot and a 6’2’’ wingspan that often felt much wider. She ended her high school career as the state’s leading scorer and Washington High School’s all-time leading scorer with 1,492 points, earning the title of Miss Iowa Basketball 2022.

Bluder said she watched her future starter’s ascension like “a proud parent.”

It’s fun to watch folks have fun, and Stuelke and her teammates always seem to, even if their opponents—or life in general—keep knocking them to the floor.

“As a coach, not only do you worry about their physical well-being, you worry about their mental, emotional well-being and definitely it’s something that we have to talk about and protect at all times,” Bluder said before this season. “Not just Caitlin, but our whole team. There’s a lot of pressure on the whole team, right?”

Be Normal

Assholes will always find a way to (try to) diminish women’s sports, or women’s anything. But the more women athletes achieve, the more pathetic and out-of-touch the haters appear. This was the premise of Clark’s appearance on Saturday Night Live five days after the NCAA championship game.

Clark cooly called out Weekend Update co-host

Saturday, May 18 at 1 p.m., ABC, vs. New York Liberty

Monday, May 20 at 7 p.m., ESPN, vs. Connecticut Sun

Friday, May 24 at 10 p.m., ION, vs. Los Angeles Sparks

Saturday, May 25 at 9 p.m., NBA TV, vs. Las Vegas Aces

Tuesday, May 28 at 7 p.m., NBA TV, vs. Los Angeles Sparks

Thursday, May 30 at 7 p.m., Amazon,

Las Vegas Aces

PRESEASON

Saturday, May 11 at 12 p.m. Puerto Rico National Team

REGULAR SEASON

Tuesday, May 14 at 9 p.m., ESPN2 vs. Phoenix Mercury

Saturday, May 18 at 2 p.m., ABC, Los Angeles Sparks

Saturday, May 21, 9 p.m., WNBA League Pass, vs. Phoenix Mercury

Saturday, May 25 at 8 p.m., NBA TV / WNBA League Pass, vs. Indiana Fever

Wednesday, May 29, 2024 at 7 p.m., NBA TV / WNBA League Pass, vs. Minnesota Lynx

Friday, May 31 at 6:30 p.m., ION / WNBA League Pass, vs. Atlanta Dream

MAY GAMES

MAY GAMES

Joseph Cress / Think Iowa City

Michael Che for years of cliched quips about women’s sports, followed by a supercut of Che’s weak material. Clark then made him read off new jokes like, “This year Caitlin Clark broke the record for three-pointers in a single season, and I have three pointers for Michael Che: 1) Be, 2) Funnier, 3) Dumbass.”

“Human dignity must be given by people to people,” Vonnegut said in his folk society speech. “... What is human dignity, then? It is the favorable opinion, respectful and uncritical, which we hold of those most familiar to us. … What could be more essential in a pluralistic society like ours than that every citizen see dignity in every other human being everywhere?”

Talent, charisma and success deserve to be treated with dignity by the American public, but Bluder’s bunch never needed national recognition to earn the respect of their community. Their performance speaks for itself.

Still, Clark and her teammates haven’t rested on their laurels. The Hawks have gone out of their way to build meaningful relationships with fans and create real memories, not just records.

“At the end of the day, people aren’t going to remember how many points I scored,” Clark said the day before Iowa’s Final Four win over UConn. “… Like my buzzer-beating shots versus whoever. That’s not going to matter to people in the end. I hope they remember how we made them feel, how we brought joy to their lives, how we gave their families something to scream about on the TV on the weekends. I hope all the young boys and girls remember the joy that we played with and how we took 10 seconds of our time to sign their autograph and that inspired them to be whatever they want to be.”

Between classes and practice, the players formed bonds with patients at the Stead Family Children’s Hospital over regular visits. It’s all part of making the magic of the Iowa women’s basketball team more meaningful.

“I think it just puts it in perspective how much of an impact we really have on these kids—and how lucky we are to be able to be playing this sport with people we love every day,” Marshall told Iowa Magazine. “It’s something bigger that we’re playing for, and it gives us more of a ‘why.’”

“Coach Bluder always preaches to us that basketball is important, but being a good person is even more important,” added Martin. “Whatever we can do to make an impact on this community that gives us so much—that’s super important for us.”

Emma McClatchey’s Girl Scout troop won the Iowa women’s basketball poster contest in 2003(ish), with a Brady Bunch/“Bluder’s Bunch” design. We celebrated our victory with Carver cones.

Public Library

Still from ‘One of a Kind:

When the Iowa women packed Carver—in 1985

For most of the program’s first 40 years, attendance at Iowa women’s basketball games typically ranged from a few dozen to a few hundred fans.

But the sport still had moments of mainstream success—brief but sure signs women’s hoops would someday arrive— thanks to true believers like Hall of Fame coach C. Vivian Stringer.

While attending high school in Edenborn, Pennsylvania in the ’60s, Stringer successfully sued for the right to join the cheerleading team, demonstrating that she was discriminated against for being African American. She attended Slippery Rock University of Pennsylvania, competing on the basketball team—and softball, volleyball and field hockey teams.

Almost as soon as she arrived as Iowa’s new head coach in 1983, Stringer put the fledgling women’s basketball program on the map. Standout Hawkeyes from her era include Lisa Becker, Michelle “Ice” Edwards, Shanda Berry, Jolette Law and Franthea Price.

In 1995, Stringer accepted a job at Rutgers, where she would cement her legacy as one of the winningest coaches in women’s basketball history (with an overall record of 1,055-426, or .712). But not before making history at Iowa.

Stringer envisioned a sell-out crowd for the Hawkeyes’ Feb. 3, 1985 home game against rivals Ohio State. And she wanted to utilize the power of the UI marketing department to make it happen.

“I’m a Pisces,” she allegedly told Iowa Athletic Director Bump Elliott. “I dream. And I work very hard to make my dreams become realities.”

Stringer filmed local commercials urging fans to turn out and pack Carver Hawkeye Arena. In a 2010 retrospective in the Gazette, Lisa Bluder recalled seeing the ads frequently while still a coach at Ambrose.

The campaign was a wild, almost criminal success: two hours before the 1:30 p.m. tip-off, cars were backed up to I-80. Officially, 14,821 paid for tickets, but the turnstile at Carver counted 22,157—far more than the 15,500 seats could accommodate, or the fire marshall advised. By the time the Hawks emerged from the tunnel, the sound was deafening. If you’ve attended a game during the Caitlin Clark era, you know it well.

Both head coaches beamed as they shook hands, Stringer with tears on her cheeks. “I wish I could turn out the lights and freeze that moment in time,” she told the Gazette

“It was a very, very special day for our program and our state,” said Christine Grant, former UI director of women’s athletics—despite the fact she got an official reprimand for breaking fire code. “So many said that people weren’t interested in women’s basketball, and this proved them absolutely wrong.”

Iowa lost the game to OSU, 56-47, but that was practically irrelevant. The game broke the attendance record for a women’s college basketball game—a record the Iowa women would set again nearly 40 years later during the Crossover at Kinnick charity scrimmage match. On Oct. 15, 2023, 55,646 bought tickets to see Bluder’s team beat DePaul, 94-72, on the football team’s turf.

—Emma McClatchey

Vivian Stringer’ (center) by Iowa City

Iowa City’s Living Room

George’s couldn’t fit a fraction of the crowds in Carver, but it’s where the legends go to toast a win.

By CHRISTOPHER BURNS

Three blocks from the bar colony of downtown Iowa City sits the Northside Market, a neighborhood some of the quieter and more niche businesses call home. There’s Dirty John’s Grocery, the endless kitsch of Artifacts and the town’s only falafel joint, Oasis. There is also a little place called George’s Buffet.

A slender two-story frame that stands between a modern high rise and a metered parking lot, the 85-year-old bar looks as if its existence is in defiance of urban modernization. Inside is a dark yet cozy dive, full of maps and Christmas lights and old wooden booths.

When game time comes, cozy becomes cramped. Football game days share the same bump in clientele as all the other bars in town, but for years there has also been a respectable amount of people paying close attention to the details of the Iowa women’s basketball game. All this before it caught on with the rest of the nation.

I asked George’s manager Alex Carr if they’ve noticed an uptick in business over the past two, storybook seasons for Lisa Bluder’s Hawkeyes. “Oh, do you mean have we had the busiest ‘slow time’ ever? Yeah, I think you could say we’ve seen an increase.”

“We’ve had to open early on Sundays for the women’s game,” added Corin, a bartender for the last 18 years.

I visited George’s during Iowa’s Final Four match-up with UConn on April 5. The bar is shoulder to shoulder, a combination of those

“It’s always been popular here. More so now, but people have always come out for the women’s game.” ––Rani Simawe

waiting to see the game and Mission Creek Festival attendees having a drink between shows. This mixture of people is common at George’s, a place where everyone can find a comfortable place to hangout. Maybe that is the reason the bar was named in a recent ESPN feature on Caitlin Clark as a place where Lisa Bluder and her staff of Jan Jensen, Raina Harmon and others come

Iowa City’s coziest bar serves Hawkeyes. Top: Chad Rhym; Bottom: Jordan Sellergren

to celebrate.

“We love having them in,” Corin told me. “They’re always friendly and very organized when they order. I think that’s from being coaches.”

Most will agree that this rise in popularity for women’s sports is great and long overdue. It is rare to have the level of celebrity that we are seeing in this town, this state, really for anywhere in the country. Yes, most of the focus is on Caitlin Clark and her record-redefining year, but as millions of eyes turn to watch her play, the rest of the team and coaching staff have also received an unprecedented but not undue amount of attention.

There can be a downside to losing all anonymity, something the George’s staff is well aware of.

“We’re pretty protective of her time here,” Corin added. “They’re nice enough to say hello and be in pictures, but we want to make sure that there is space for them to be comfortable, too.”

Last year, when Bluder became the winningest coach in Big 10 history, the coaching staff came to George’s after the game to celebrate. Their entrance into the bar was met with cheers. The packed room had an organized chaotic feel. For the most part, Bluder and company were left to their own celebrations, though once in a while you could see her posing for a picture with local patrons.

While sports talking heads debate whether this popularity will sustain after Clark leaves (a debate mostly among middle-aged white guys), in the little area of the Northside Marketplace, the George’s staff don’t seem concerned.

“I mean, it’s always been popular here. More so now, sure, but people have always come out for the women’s game,” Rani, a bartender of 10 years, assures me.

In true inspirational-movie fashion, the Hawkeyes pulled off a win against UConn on April 5. Most of the Mission Creek revelers had moved on, but a good-sized crowd filled the bar with cheers. Watching the last two seasons, there was quite a bit to be happy about.

LV Recommends: Central Iowa

Bartender’s Handshake

Des Moines’ intimate haunt for a cozy cocktail affair—whether you’re imbibing or not.

By MaDy STaNO

For 2024, “stale, cheesy cocktail bars” are out and “vibey, modern cocktail bars” are in. Bartender’s Handshake located on Ingersoll in Des Moines is no stranger to the latter.

Walking in, you’re greeted with moody lighting and the soft murmur of both conversation and music that elicits speakeasy vibes. The bartender behind the beautifully crafted wood bar top shakes up an artfully curated cocktail, chatting with a couple across from them.

After arriving, I found my spot across the bar, getting the perfect view of the dimly lit space on this red leather booth with small tables that can easily be pulled together for our party of four. A server came to greet us with a smile and inquire about drink orders. Now, this isn’t your average drink selection. The menu ranges from a lengthy list of house cocktails, “outside influences” curated specialties, boilermakers, handshakes, spirit-free concoctions and so much more.

One of the best things about Bartender’s Handshake is their attention to detail when it comes to every cocktail. Each one is unique from taste and texture to color and presentation. As a fellow gin and rum aficionado, I found myself ordering the To Thursday, a cocktail made with Appleton Estate Rum, orange spice tea syrup, grapefruit, lemon and cava. This small but mighty drink was the perfect balance of tangy, sweet citrus with a hint of spice. It was refreshing and made for the perfect starter.

My company for the night were sticking to their New Year’s resolutions in ordering from the “Spirit-Free” side of the menu, including

two Vacation Emails and a Karate Kid. The Vacation Email was exactly how you’d expect it to be, sweet and tropical—the feeling you get when you set up your automated OOO email responder. Karate Kid surprised us with its ancho chili and minty kick—a welcome surprise for the tastebuds.

Conversation flows easily at the Bartender’s Handshake, which has a gentle, warm atmosphere reminiscent of spending time in your grandparent’s low-lit den. Beyond the mid-century, retro architecture and design are hints of modernity. A small disco ball above the window booths spun slowly, catching the lighting and reflecting it in soft sparkles.

The bartender checked back with us throughout the night to refresh our waters and give us recommendations based on our preferences. Noting that most of us were N/A for the night, she referred to their business’s Instagram account, which spotlighted a new drink on the rise using a beverage called Ghia. This new non-alcoholic spritzer is inspired by the Mediterranean, with notes of botanical extracts. Being the trend-followers that we are, we ordered two and absolutely loved them.

For my second drink, I decided to go a different route from my usual preferred liquors and order a Drink Up & Be Somebody. This particular drink is mixed with Famous Grouse scotch, Aberlour 12-year scotch, Lustau Amontillado sherry, White Creme de cacao, banana-maple and chicory pecan bitters. What was a daring drink for me to order turned out to be a warm, mildly sweet favorite of mine. If you’re not a huge fan of scotch, but are open to exploring your cocktail palate, Drink Up & Be Somebody has an inviting taste of this hard liquor and is similar to a piece of drunken banana bread.

If you’re looking for a spot in Des Moines to catch up with an old friend or spend time with your significant other, Bartender’s Handshake is your new best friend. The comfortable, inviting retro atmosphere will have you wanting to walk up to the bartender and ask for your “usual” like in a classic Hollywood film. Little Village gives this drink spot two strong handshakes of approval.

Moody and vibey is it at Bartender’s Handshake. Mady Stano / Little VIllage

WORLD PREMIERE

American Apollo gives voice to a pivotal figure in American art: Thomas Eugene McKeller, a Black hotel worker who served as model and muse for famous painter John Singer Sargent. Transformed by Sargent into white-skinned Greek gods, themes of erasure and McKeller’s role in important 20th century works of art are brought to life in this new American opera.

June 28 - July 21 2024 FESTIVAL SEASON

Rossini THE BARBER OF SEVILLE

R. Strauss SALOME

Debussy PELLÉAS & MÉLISANDE

Geter/Palmer AMERICAN APOLLO

a Hootenanny in Clear Lake

Micky Dolenz has more than ‘60s nostalgia in store for the Surf.

By KEMBREW MCLEOD

When Micky Dolenz sets foot on the stage of Clear Lake’s Surf Ballroom, the last living member of the Monkees knows that he’ll be standing on hallowed ground. This venue was the final place where Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and the Big Bopper performed just hours before their plane crashed in 1959 during a snowstorm, an event immortalized as “the day the music died” in Don McLean’s 1971 single “American Pie.”

“I can’t wait,” Dolenz told me. “I’ve been asked to play there a couple of times, most recently when my friend Albert Lee invited me to celebrate his 80th birthday there, but I had a gig somewhere else in the world. So, I’m really excited because it’s obviously an iconic place, and not just for the obvious unfortunate reason it is famous for.”

During the height of the Monkees’ fame in the second half of the ’60s, Dolenz’s group gave the Beatles a run for their money, in terms of record sales and frenzied fanbases. They cranked out hit after hit with promotional help from their top-rated television program, The Monkees, which debuted in 1966 and aired through 1968. The wheels fell off after a battle over creative control with the show’s producers, who wanted them to shut up and keep singing pop songs written by other songwriters, karaoke style.

Instead, the Monkees opted to make the mind-bending psychedelic satire Head, a 1968 film and soundtrack album that flopped commercially before both gained second lives as cult classics. By 1970, the band broke up, and Dolenz, Mike Nesmith, Davy Jones and Peter Tork went their separate ways before reuniting in varying configurations beginning in the late’80s—culminating in an implausibly great final Monkees album, Good Times!, released in 2016.

Given that this Monkee is touring on the heels of his recently released album of reimagined R.E.M. tunes, his show “Micky Dolenz: Songs and Stories” functions as a kind of living history of the rock era, from its ’50s roots and the ’60s youthquake to the rise of alternative music in the ’90s.

“Now that I’m the Last Man Standing,” Dolenz said, “I’ve had to evolve my solo shows to some degree. So, if you’re a Monkees fan, you will not be disappointed because I was blessed

to have sung most of the Monkees’ big hits—not all, but most of them—so I have made it a point over my career to always do the hits that people know.”

“They’re going to get ‘I’m a Believer,’ ‘Last Train to Clarksville,’ ‘Pleasant Valley Sunday,’ and others. I don’t do truncated versions or medleys, I do them exactly as people remember them because I think that’s very important. And then over the years, depending on the venue or the size of the crowd—how intimate it is—I’ll tweak the show by adding non-Monkees songs that I have some cool story or connection to.”

the Troubadour together, which brought back memories of the Monkees’ early days.

“It was a fun, great venue,” he reminisced. “Back then, the Troubadour was the major hang for my crew, my group of people. It was very folk-rock oriented. The first time I met Mike Nesmith, he was the Hoot master at the Troubadour on Monday nights, when they had a Hootenanny, which basically was an open

“I had heard the stories of [R.E.M.] being inspired by the Monkees when they wrote ‘Shiny Happy People,’ and I went, ‘Wow, let’s look into that!’

Then Christian got onboard, and he said, ‘Leave it to me. Let me listen to their catalog and see what I can come up with.’ And he came up with incredible versions of those songs. It’s just amazing, you know? And it turns out that R.E.M. loved them so much.”

For example, he was in the audience at the storied venue the Troubadour in Los Angeles when Elton John made his American concert debut there in 1970, so Dolenz plans to tell that story before launching into a cover. (“I’m not going to tell you which song it is. You’ll have to be surprised.”) He also has tales to share of hanging out with the Beatles in London and other magical musical trips that he experienced back in the day.

Dolenz’s younger sister Coco is part of his band, and the two have been weaving their blood harmonies together since they were kids. Around the time of her most recent birthday, they played

mic night. I remember when we were being cast in the show, we went down to see Mike do his Hootenanny thing and sing some songs.”

Coco also sang backing vocals on a few Monkees tracks, like Dolenz’s song “Midnight Train” from Headquarters, so when he started to do solo shows in the ’90s, she became part of his band and has remained with him to this day.

“She’s always highlighted doing a couple of tunes on her own,” Dolenz said. “For instance, and we’ll do this at the Surf Ballroom, I tell the story about Mike Nesmith writing ‘Different Drum’ and how the show’s producers didn’t want

Still from ‘Shiny, Happy People’ / Mickey Dolenz, 1966, Public Domain

Micky Dolenz Surf Ballroom, Clear Lake, Friday, May 24 at 7 p.m., $39-44

him to do it as a Monkees tune, so he gave it to Linda Ronstadt and the Stone Ponies. So, I tell that story, and Coco sings ‘Different Drum.’ You know, frankly, she’s a better singer than I am.”

Given that he was part of the “Pre-Fab Four,” a derisive nickname for the Monkees, he doesn’t really like doing cover tunes unless they have a resonant backstory or they’ve been reworked in interesting ways—like on his 2021 album Dolenz Sings Nesmith, which was produced by Christian Nesmith, who is Mike Nesmith’s son.

“Christian is just very imaginative,” he said. “He is the kind of producer who plays almost every instrument, and he is very unique, just like his father—and, yes, I’ve known him since he was in the crib. Christian did an amazing job reimagining those songs and giving them a twist, treating them in a different way. Now that’s fun, but just doing a cover tune like it’s karaoke, well, that does not interest me.”

And why not, exactly?

“The simple answer is because my life has been a karaoke!” he laughs. “No, I don’t mean literally, but that sort of thing just doesn’t interest me, you know?”

When 7a Records expressed interest in releasing a follow up to Dolenz Sings Nesmith, they discussed different possibilities, and when the topic of R.E.M. came up, Dolenz was intrigued.

“I had heard the stories of them being inspired by the Monkees when they wrote ‘Shiny Happy People,’ and I went, ‘Wow, let’s look into that!’ Then Christian got onboard, and he said, ‘Leave it to me. Let me listen to their catalog and see what I can come up with.’ And he came up with incredible versions of those songs. It’s just amazing, you know? And it turns out that R.E.M. loved them so much.”

On their version of “Shiny Happy People,” Nesmith’s dizzying arrangements and Dolenz’s multitracked vocals put the ba-ba-ba back in baroque pop, breathing new life into what many believe is the band’s most annoying song (even frontman Michael Stipe came to loathe it). Another highlight is “Radio Free Europe,” which unexpectedly folds in on itself during the bridge before it returns to the propulsive postpunk pace that marked the band’s indie debut.

“These songs are absolutely incredible,” Stipe wrote in a statement announcing the release of the album. “Micky Dolenz covering R.E.M. Monkees style, I have died and gone to heaven. This is really something. ‘Shiny Happy People’ sounds incredible (never thought you or I would hear me say that!!!). Give it a spin. It’s wild. And produced by Christian Nesmith … I am finally complete.”

Kembrew McLeod is an OG Gen X fan of R.E.M. and the Monkees.

The Lord’s Werk

Pride month in Iowa City kicks off with the unexpected: Christian drag performer Flamy Grant, out to “slay shame.”

By GENEVIEVE TRaINOR

There’s no shortage of drag shows or performers in Eastern Iowa, and with Pride Month on the horizon, they’ll no doubt be busy as can be. But North Carolina’s Flamy Grant isn’t like the rest. For one thing, her performance will be at St. Andrew Presbyterian Church.

Jeff Charis-Carlson, director of communication and media ministries at St. Andrew and a lead organizer of this event, first encountered Grant at Theology Beer Camp, a conference arranged by Homebrewed Christianity.

“It was a three-day conference that included a lot of heady, intellectual/nerdy theological discussion, interspersed with various musicians to speak to the heart as well as the head,” CharisCarlson said in an email. “Not all the musi-

“While I grew up with many wellintentioned people of sincere faith, it’s a type of fundamentalist evangelicalism that is deeply, profoundly immersed in a culture of shame and fear while also being simultaneously arrogant and self-righteous about being the only ‘correct’ approach to God.” ––Flamy Grant

cians were my cup of tea, and when I saw that the schedule included an afternoon show by a Christian drag queen, I didn’t really know how to set my expectations.”

It was not his first time experiencing drag— he’s seen many performances over the years, mostly outdoors during Pride Month festivities. Charis-Carlson associated drag with “a lot of lip-syncing, various performers and wardrobe changes.” This was not that.

“[W]hen Flamy came up to the mic with an acoustic guitar and proceeded to belt out a powerful, poignant song of her own writing, I was blown away,” he said. “When she effortlessly moved among genres and took the audience on an emotional journey from raucous laughter to tears, I knew this was much more than just a performance, it was a musical ministry.”

Grant recently made waves in the Christian music world when her debut record, Bible Belt Baby, reached number one on the iTunes Christian Charts—giving her bragging rights as the first drag performer to make that claim. But she has been performing much of her life, and often in ministerial settings.

“I’ve been writing songs since I was 9 years old, and performing in school and church even before that,” Grant wrote in an email. “Songwriting will always be my first love, and I’ve always had a music project on the side while I was working a day job for the past 20 years, whether that was a solo thing, a band, or just leading worship in church.”

Her path to drag was far more meandering. Grant’s first awareness of it was the ads she saw for the film To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything!

p.m.,

Julie Newmar back in 1995. She hoped to bypass her parents’ expected refusal to let her see it by going with some youth group friends, and claiming they planned to see something else. But it didn’t quite work out.

“[W]hen I told my friend I wanted to see To Wong Foo, she said, ‘Oh my gosh, we can’t watch that! Don’t you know what it’s about?’ And obviously I didn’t know what it was about, but when even my peers were reacting with shameful finger-wagging, it was enough to scare me off for many years.”

Flamy Grant, St. Andrew Presbyterian Church, Iowa City, Tuesday, June 4 at 7:30

Free

Sydney

Valiente

NOV. 15–DEC. 15

MAR. 27–APR. 6 Jersey Boys

FEB. 7–MAR. 2

Hairspray

APR. 25–MAY 18

Amadeus MAY 29–JUNE 22 Memphis JUN. 27–JULY 27

Her next encounter would come in her late 20s, when Grant’s younger brother took her to a drag show in their hometown of Asheville, North Carolina. And while living in San Diego in her 30s, she made a habit of checking out shows.

“I became obsessed with the art form and fell all the way down that slippery slope into my first pair of heels,” she said.

She later moved back to North Carolina, having spent 20 years on the San Diego scene. Then, when COVID-19 hit in 2020, everything began to fall into place.

“In the early days of pandemic I started to fill the sheltering-in-place days with drag, live-streaming concerts with my fellow musician housemates, and it wasn’t long until I realized what a gift it was to put all of my favorite things into this art form of drag: performing, writing, singing, recording, makeup, exploring gender, and just generally being fabulous!”

It’s a far cry from her earliest church experiences.

“Most won’t have heard of it,” she says of Plymouth Brethren, the church she grew up in. “And that’s a good thing because while I grew up with many well-intentioned people of sincere faith, it’s a type of fundamentalist evangelicalism that is deeply, profoundly immersed in a culture of shame and fear while also being simultaneously arrogant and self-righteous about being the only ‘correct’ approach to God. It’s nauseatingly patriarchal, astonishingly restrictive, and only ever served to disconnect me from the divine with ritual reminders that there’s only one hope, as the old hymn goes, for ‘a wretch like me.’”

“And it’s why my entire mission in drag is to slay shame,” she continues. “There’s no good use for shame: it isolates us, makes us hate ourselves, and prevents us from accessing the divine gift of life and vitality and creativity that we all have.”

Charis-Carlson likened his experience of seeing Grant perform to seeing the 2001 film Hedwig and the Angry Inch

“I can remember sitting in the movie theater … wondering why those songs of questioning and transgression felt so more authentic and powerful than many of the songs of certainty and faith that I heard on Sunday mornings,” he wrote. “It took a full 22 years, but Flamy … managed to offer a ‘worship’ experience even more authentic and powerful than that musical.”

Of course, it isn’t quite the kind of drag show you’d catch at Studio 13.

“It will be her, with her acoustic guitar, telling of her own experiences of how the broader church has failed her yet also remains a source of community and connection for her,” Charis-Carlson said. “She knows how to read an audience, and everyone who attends will find themselves laughing, cheering and crying at various points during the show.”

“I’ve grown pretty used to being a lot of people’s first encounter with drag, because a good third or more of my shows take place in churches,” Grant says. “The audiences can be very generationally diverse: families with young kids, older folks who’ve been going to the church for years. So I do make sure to provide an experience in those settings that introduces people to drag without being too incendiary. It still has an edge, because that’s just the nature of an art form that upends social norms around gender expression, but it’s definitely family friendly.”

At the end of the day, all Grant wants is the same as any Christian musician wants: to share the joy that she’s found with as many people as possible.

“The older I get, the more convinced I am that the point of all this is joy. That’s why we’re here: to experience joy and to share it with others. I read somewhere that joy is happiness that has found a purpose, a meaning. That’s what drag does for me: makes me happy and gives me a purpose in the world,” she says. “If that’s not holy and divine, I don’t know what is.”

Genevieve Trainor aspires to be a high priest of genderfuckery.

Photo by KMP Photography

a-List: Central Iowa

Little Big Screen

The Straight Story, plus other streaming pit stops.

By BENJaMIN MCELROy

Little Big Screen is a new column for LV movie lovers that will run monthly online. It’s making its debut in print! Look for highlights of the best streaming content available, selected to complement the outstanding curation of our local independent cinema.

It was May 21, 1999, and the prettiest images of Iowa ever committed to celluloid were first seen going five miles per hour at the Cannes Film Festival. The movie those images belong to is The Straight Story, and to celebrate its 25th anniversary this month, Little Big Screen is showcasing streaming picks that are all about life’s trips and pit stops.

The Straight Story

1999, directed by David Lynch

The Straight Story is the true story of Alvin Straight, a 73-year-old man who really did drive a lawn mower 260 miles from Laurens, Iowa to Wisconsin.

The film introduces Alvin (Richard Farnsworth) with a thud, the sound of his body hitting his kitchen floor. We learn that Alvin’s health is failing due to old age, probably helped along in part by the Swisher Sweets stashed in his

always-plaid chest pockets. After his own fall, he learns that his estranged brother has had a bad stroke. Alvin’s gotta get on the road to redeem the relationship before one of them dies, but he doesn’t have good enough eyesight for a driver’s license and doesn’t want to be a passenger on the voyage. So he sets out on a lawn mower.

The mode of transport slows down the idea of a road movie—and leads to discoveries of quiet splendor. Even at the checkout counter of Ace Hardware, there are pretty little lived-in details everywhere you look, like the punchy hue of the clerk’s vest or the default wash of Alvin’s blue jeans. The dialogue is also a delight, dry in just the right way. As Alvin haggles for a grabber tool, one of the other old men hanging around the store asks, “What do you need that grabber for, Alvin?” “Grabbin’,” replies Alvin.

These images and moments, so keen, had to have been observed and developed over David Lynch’s own trips to Fairfield, Iowa. Because here it is: the beauty of Iowa’s in between. Shot on anamorphic, the towns and topography stretch together into the stuff of dreams. Just look at the sun, early and red, beyond the at-first flat then hilly horizon. And how those surroundings change when the camera shows them from Alvin’s perspective, like when RAGBRAI passes by, and the cyclists become blurs as big and fast as Formula 1 cars.

What you see on screen in The Straight Story can’t help but bleed into your vision. The same stretches of road and field you’ve never quite noticed are now framed up by car windows—to be witnessed with the knowing reverence of, say,

Get out and enjoy some cinematic classics this month. Goodbye, good luck, no conversation, just leave.

I Saw The TV Glow, directed by Jane Schoenbrun, Opens in May, Fleur Cinema

North By Northwest, directed by Alfred Hitchcock, Sunday, May 19, Cinemark Century Jordan Creek

Friends & Neighbors, directed by the Wagner Brothers, Sunday, May 22, Varsity Cinema

Uncut Gems in IMaX, directed by the Safdie Brothers, Sunday, May 22, The Palm Theatres

10 Things I Hate about you, directed by Gil Junger, Tuesday, May 28, Varsity Cinema

On the Big, Big Screen

Still from

‘The Straight Story’

Grant Wood. I think that’s why no movie makes me feel better about where I come from. Stream it on Disney+.

Collateral

2004, directed by Michael Mann

Collateral makes a great double feature with The Straight Story—and no, I’m not confusing L.A. for IA. Sure, Max (Jamie Foxx) and his yellow taxi cab don’t look a whole lot like Alvin and his green John Deere. And sure, these two movies are shot in two very different ways: Lynch sticks with the warm fuzzies of film, making sure to capture faces waving from the countryside; Mann is experimenting with early digital, reducing thousands of Angelenos to spheres of light passing in the night. But your tear ducts will still arrive at the same destination as you watch Max and Alvin drive towards their destinies, becoming folk heroes simply by choosing to do something within their particular powers. Stream it on Netflix.

Jackass Number Two

2006, directed by Jeff Tremaine

With Kum & Go signs starting to come down under the new Maverik regime, Jackass Number Two is a must-watch in memoriam for the iconic brand name. The Jackass crew repped Kum & Go T-shirts on more than one occasion, but this has to be the biggest plug of the bunch when you consider the untouchable achievement of Number Two as a film—striking an unbelievable balance of vérité charm and cinematic spectacle—plus, the primetime placement of the logo in “Riot Control Test.” The almost-too-brutal stunt places Johnny Knoxville and his Kum & Go T-shirt on the receiving end of a Stingmore Mine, which the military labels “less lethal” because it only shoots 700 or so .45 caliber rubber balls at a velocity of 500 ft/s. In a Tarantinian rewrite of reality, the Kum & Go logo survives. Stream it on Paramount+.

Never Back Down

2008, directed by Jeff Wadlow

A Certified Red Box Classic™ with a dozen lateaughts Hot Topic needle drops … and one Dan Gable name drop. Never Back Down is, I guess, a bildungsroman about a meathead moving from Iowa to Florida and maturing from a middle linebacker into an MMA fighter. That makes this movie more required reading than actual recommendation, but if you’ve flown Allegiant direct from Des Moines to Orlando, you already know there’s a “twin flames” thing going on between the two states. Throw this movie on to learn a thing or two about the type of guys who grow up to become the worst drivers in Ankeny. Stream it on Tubi.

EDITORS’ PICKS: MAy 2024

Planning an event? Add it to littlevillagemag.com/calendar! Please include event name, date, time, venue name/address, admission price (or range) and a brief description (no all-caps, exclamation points or advertising verbiage, please). Contact calendar@littlevillagemag.com with any questions.

Des Moines MUSIC

Wednesday, May 1 at 8 p.m. Creeper, xBk Live, $20-50

Thursday, May 2 at 8 p.m. Pictoria Vark and Mint Green, xBk Live, $12-50

Thursday, May 2 at 8 p.m. Tori Kelly, Hoyt Sherman Place, Des Moines, $29.50-74.50

Friday, May 3 at 8 p.m. Bad Bad Habits, xBk Live, $15-50

Sunday, May 5 at 2 p.m. Michael Jefry Stevens and Christian Howes, Caspe Terrace, Waukee, $32.50

Sunday, May 5 at 2 p.m. Iowa Island Jam, xBk Live, $10-50

Tuesday, May 7 at 7 p.m. Bit Brigade w/The Han Solo Project, xBk Live, $15-50

Thursdays, May 9, 16, 23, 30 at 6 p.m. Summer Concert Series, Jasper Winery, Des Moines, Free

Thursday, May 9 at 7 p.m. John R. Miller, xBk Live, $18-50

Thursday, May 9 at 7:30 p.m. Portugal. The Man, Val Air Ballroom, West Des Moines

Friday, May 10 at 8 p.m. IPR All Access Live: The Claudettes, xBk Live, $12-50

Saturday, May 11 at 8 p.m. Run Wilson, xBk Live, $12-50

Saturday, May 11 at 8 p.m. An Evening with Cake, Lauridsen Amphitheater, Des Moines

Saturday, May 11 at 8 p.m.

Shakey Graves, Val Air Ballroom, Des Moines

Des Moines Music

Friday, May 17 at 8 p.m.,

$30 Three Des Moines-based artists are teaming up for a show in the East Village in midMay. B.Well, a.k.a. Billy Weathers is a soulful hip-hop artist, rapper and community activist. He’ll be joined by Annie Kemble, a musician influenced by jazz and soul. In Elegance, B.Well’s 2022 album, Kemble sings on two tracks. Teller Bank$ is a musician, producer and MC originally from Denver. Tickets are $30.

Saturday and Sunday, May 11 and 12, DM Symphony: Season Finale, Des Moines Civic Center, $15-70

Sunday, May 12 at 7 p.m. Humbird and Weary Ramblers, xBk Live, $15-50

Monday, May 13 at 8 p.m. Alexz Johnson w/Sam Ness, xBk Live, $25-95

Tuesday, May 14 at 7 p.m. Hawthorne Heights, Wooly’s, Des Moines

Tuesday, May 14 at 8 p.m. Violent Femmes, Val Air Ballroom, $39.50

Tuesday, May 14 at 8 p.m. 12 RODS w/The Book of Bugs, xBk Live, $20-50

Wednesday, May 15 at 7 p.m. Bad Religion and Social Distortion, Val Air Ballroom

Wednesday, May 15 at 7 p.m. The Inspector Cluzo w/ Messenger Birds, xBk Live, $15-50

Sunday, May 19 at 7 p.m. Charlie Parr w/Samuel Locke Ward, xBk Live, $22-60

Monday, May 20 at 7 p.m. Maddie Zahm, Wooly’s, $20

Tuesday, May 21 at 5:30 p.m. Belin Quartet, Salisbury House, Des Moines, Free

Tuesday, May 21 at 7 p.m. Southall, Wooly’s, $25

Wednesday, May 22 at 5 p.m. Iowa Bicycle Coalition Fundraiser for 80/35 BMX, xBk Live, $15-25

Thursday, May 23 at 8 p.m. Molly Brandt and Reilly Downes & The Acid Cowboys, xBk Live, $12-50

Friday, May 24 at 5 p.m. Skinned Alive, Hardship, Teehee’s Comedy Club, Des Moines, $10-15

Friday, May 24 at 8 p.m. Traffic Death, Druids, Electric Assault, Lurking Corpses, xBk Live, $15-50

Saturday, May 25 at 7 p.m Willie Nelson, Des Moines Water Works

Tuesday, May 28 at 7 p.m. Social Cinema, Munk Rivers, Cavendish, xBk Live, $10-50

Wednesday, May 29 at 7:30 p.m. Melt-Banana with BabyBaby_Explores and Tomato Flower, xBk Live, $2550

LITERATURE

Fridays, May 3, 10, 17, 24, 31 at 10:30 a.m. Coffee

Date Storytime, Storyhouse Bookpub, Des Moines, Free

Sunday, May 5 at 2:30 p.m.

Meet the Author: Mario Duarte, Beaverdale Books, Des Moines, Free

Monday, May 6 at 6:30 p.m.

Meet the Author: Julia Walsh, Beaverdale Books, Free

Tuesdays, May 7 and 21 at 6 p.m. NOS Book Club, Slow Down Coffee, Des Moines, Free

Tuesday, May 7 at 6:30 p.m.

Meet the Author: T. Patrick Graves, Beaverdale Books, Free

Monday, May 13 at 6:30 p.m.

Meet the Author: Jean Logan, Beaverdale Books, Free

Wednesday, May 15 at 6:30 p.m.

Meet the Author: Jacqueline Astor, Beaverdale Books, Free

Monday, May 20 at 6:30 p.m. Meet the Author: Jan Hochstetler, Beaverdale Books, Free

Tuesday, May 21 at 6:30 p.m.

Meet the Author: Scott Reister, Beaverdale Books, Free

Tuesday, May 23 at 6:30 p.m.

Meet the Author: Brad Balukjian, Beaverdale Books

Monday, May 27 at 5:45 p.m. Botany Book Club, Greater Des Moines Botanical Garden

Wednesday, June 5 at 6:30 p.m. Book Launch: Amy Lillard, Beaverdale Books, Free

Mother’s Day FlowerArranging Storytime and Crafts w/Ephemera

Storyhouse Bookpub, Des

Moines, Saturday, May 11 at 10:30

a.m., Free Storyhouse’s monthly Saturday storytime will look slightly different in May as the morning will be Mother’s Day themed. Bring your little readers to a themed storytime and play experience at Storyhouse, then wander around the block for an arts and crafts project with Arin at Ephemera, a stationary studio in the East Village. Folks 21+ can look forward to “Mom-Mosas.”

PERFORMANCE

Opening Friday, May 3.Ivy & Bean The Musical, Des Moines Community Playhouse, $14-19

Friday, May 10 at 7 p.m. Jamie Shriner: Stand-Up Comedy, Teehee’s Comedy Club, $15-20

Tuesday, May 14 at 6:30 p.m.

DMMO: Pelléas & Mélisande Preview, Northcrest Community, Ames, Free

Thursday, May 16 at 8 p.m. Panic! At the Burlesque, xBk Live, Des Moines, $20-30

Saturday, May 18 at 11 a.m. The Peking Acrobats, Des Moines Civic Center, $10

Saturday, May 18 at 7 p.m. John Crist, Hoyt Sherman Place, $39.75-149.75

Saturday, May 18 at 7 p.m.

Baron Vaughn: Stand-Up Comedy, Teehee’s Comedy Club, $20-25

Tuesday, May 21 at 7 p.m. Final Act Ensemble Spring Show, Des Moines Community Playhouse

Friday, May 24 at 7:30 p.m. 20th Anniversary Gala, Tallgrass Theatre Company, $50-850

Saturday, May 25 at 7 p.m. Stand-Up Comedy: Dannie Tee, Teehee’s Comedy Club, Free

Friday, May 31 at 7 p.m. Chris Schlichting: Stand Up Comedy, Teehee’s Comedy Club, $15-20

Saturday, June 1 at 7 p.m.

Ariel Elias: Stand-Up Comedy, Teehee’s Comedy Club, $20-25

Saturday, June 1 at 8 p.m. More Pride, No Prejudice: An LGBTQIA+ Burlesque Celebration, xBk Live, $30-450

FILM

Wednesday, May 1 at 7 p.m. Ritual: A Congregation of Mountain Bike Filmmakers and Fanatics, Varsity Cinema, Des Moines, $9-12

Monday, May 6 at 4 p.m. Movie Watch Party: The Mitchells vs. The Machines, Forest Avenue Library, Des Moines, Free

Friday, May 10 at 1:30 p.m. Friday Flicks: Everything Everywhere All at Once, Franklin Avenue Library, Free

Wednesday, May 22 at 7 p.m. Friends & Neighbors, Varsity Cinema, $9-12

Des Moines Literature

Wednesday, May 29 at 8:30 p.m. The Varsity Cinema Book Club: 10 Things I Hate About You, Varsity Cinema, Free

COMMUNITY

Thursday, May 2 at 5 p.m. #KNOWJUSTICE: Legacies Opening Night, Mainframe Studios, Des Moines, $40

Friday, May 3 at 5 p.m. First Friday, Mainframe Studios, Free

Saturday, May 4 at 7 p.m. Safe Space Prom, Des Moines Art Center, Free

Sunday, May 5 at 10:30 a.m. Ballet Brunch w/Tom Mattingly, Ballet Des Moines, $25

Thursday, May 9 at 9 a.m. Big Book Sale, Central Library, Des Moines, Free

Thursday, May 9 at 6 p.m. CC Pride: Anthony Rapp, Temple Theater, Des Moines, Free

Friday, May 10 at 5 p.m. Opening Reception: Linda Colletta, Moberg Gallery, Des Moines, Free

Saturday, May 11 at 6 p.m. Siricasso de Mayo: Sip & Paint Party, Teehee’s Comedy Club, Des Moines, $35-40

Sunday, May 12 at 10 a.m. Free Admission on Mother’s Day, Greater Des Moines Botanical Garden

Sunday, May 12 at 2 p.m. Mother’s Day Paint & Sip, Jasper Winery, Des Moines, $44

Monday, May 13 at 7:30 p.m. Cristina Mittermeier: Documenting our Blue Planet, Des Moines Civic Center, $15-48

Wednesday, May 15 at 5:30 p.m. Bike + Brew, Bill Riley Trail, Des Moines, Free

Saturday, May 18 at 3 p.m. SingleSpeed DSM Beer Mile, SingleSpeed Brewing Co., $30

Sunday, May 19 at 8:30 a.m. Girls on the Run 5k, Iowa State Capitol, Des Moines, $30-35

Sunday, May 19 at 1 p.m. AAMI: Black Ag and Farmers Series, Central Library, Des Moines, Free

Monday, May 20 at 10:30 a.m. How Galleries Work, Mainframe Studios, Free

CR/CF/ WATERLOO

MUSIC

Thursday, May 9 at 8 p.m. Dustin Lynch w/Skeez, McGrath Amphitheatre, Cedar Rapids, $32-52

Friday, May 10 at 5 p.m. First Friday Jazz, Opus Concert Cafe, Cedar Rapids, $15

Des Moines Community

Greek Food Fair, Greek Orthodox Church of St. George, Des Moines,

Saturday, June

1 at

11

a.m., Free Get out to the Drake neighborhood for the annual Greek Food Fair on the first weekend of June. Expect delicious food, music and dancing all weekend long. Admission to the festival is free. Food and beverages from vendors will be available to purchase.

Friday, May 10 at 8 p.m. North of Grand & 10 Watt Robot, Octopus College Hill, Cedar Rapids, $10

Friday, May 10 at 8 p.m. Cake, McGrath Amphitheatre

Saturday, May 11 at 8 p.m. Dead Silent, Legible, Baby Cain, Sank, Octopus College Hill, $10

Friday, May 17 at 8 p.m. Duke Tumatoe & the Power Trio, CSPS Hall, $20-25

Saturday, May 17 at 8 p.m. Good Morning Midnight, Run Dog, Dizzy Bridges, Hambone and the Maple Babies, Octopus College Hill, $10

Saturday, May 18 at 7:30 p.m. Carmina Burana, Paramount Theatre, Cedar Rapids, $19

Saturday, May 18 at 8 p.m. Jackson Stokes, CSPS Hall, $15-20

Saturday, May 18 at 8 p.m. Ty Toomsen & The Twang City Smokers, Octopus College Hill, $10

Monday, May 20 at 8 p.m. CNTS & Nowhere Noise, Octopus College Hill, $10

Thursday, May 23 at 7 p.m. Bassel & The Supernaturals, CSPS Hall, $20-25

Friday, May 24 at 5:30 p.m. Friday Loo, Lincoln Park, Waterloo, Free

Saturday, May 25 at 8 p.m. Scott DL’s Enlightenment Saloon, CSPS Hall, $15-19

Saturday, June 1 at 7 p.m. Pops on the River, McGrath Amphitheatre, $23

LITERATURE

Tuesday, May 7 at 6 p.m. Adventures in Linn County w/Brianna Baranowski, Marion Public Library, Free

Monday, May 13 at 6 p.m. Author Talk: Brittany Means, Marion Public Library, Free

Wednesday, May 15 at 6 p.m. Author Talk: Jennifer Chiaverini, Marion Public Library, Free

Thursday, May 23 at 6 p.m. Austin Frerick w/Terri M. LeBlanc, Marion Public Library, Free

Monday, June 3 at 9 a.m. Story Time In The Park w/Library’s Mobile Technology Lab, Redmond Park, Cedar Rapids, Free

PERFORMANCE

Thursday, May 2 at 8 p.m. Comedy Show, Octopus, Cedar Falls, $10

Opening Friday, May 3 at 7:30 p.m. School of Rock, Theatre Cedar Rapids, $25-61

Friday and Saturday, May 3 and 4 at 7:30 p.m. E.T. The Extraterrestrial, Paramount Theatre, Cedar Rapids, $20

Saturday, May 4 at 6 p.m. Mexican History Through Dance, CSPS Hall, Cedar Rapids, $13-15

Friday, May 10 at 8 p.m. Ridiculesque Comedy-Themed Burlesque, Olympic South Side Theater, Cedar Rapids, $30-50

Friday and Saturday, May 10 and 11 at 8 p.m. Senses of Humor: Smell, CSPS Hall, $25-30

Wednesday, May 15 at 7 p.m. The Rapids, Mirrorbox Theatre, Cedar Rapids, $10

Opening Thursday, May 16 at 7:30 p.m. In the Next Room (Or The Vibrator Play), Theatre Cedar Rapids, $25-41

COMMUNITY

Saturday, May 4 at 9 a.m. Plant and Art Sale, Indian Creek Nature Center, Cedar Rapids, Free

Saturday, May 4 at 10 a.m. Free Comic Book Day, The Core, Cedar Falls

Saturday, May 4 at 10 a.m. Text Threads w/Akwi Nji, Downtown Library, Cedar Rapids, Free

Saturday, May 4 at 1 p.m. Landscape Hike, Wickiup Hill Outdoor Learning Center, Toddville, Free

Tuesday, May 7 at 10 a.m. Resume Workshop, Ladd Library, Cedar Rapids, Free

Tuesday, May 7 at 5:30 p.m. Backyard Chickens Workshop, Indian Creek Nature Center, $15-20

Friday, May 10 at 2 p.m. Community Pop-Up w/CR Civil Rights Commission, Downtown Library, Free

Cedar

Rapids Community

Grand Reopening: African American Museum of Iowa,

Cedar Rapids, Saturday, May

11 at 10

a.m., $1 Join the African American Museum of Iowa (AAMI) in celebrating their reopening with $1 admission all day on May 11. You’ll have the opportunity to take self-guided exhibit tours through the AAMI’s permanent exhibit, Endless Possibilities, and view the new temporary exhibit, Thirty Years of the AAMI, an exploration of the Museum’s 30-year history and exhibits. Grab a bite to eat in the AAMI’s parking lot—Hatchett’s BBQ and Catering and Jay’s Water Ice food trucks will be at the opening.

Saturday, May 11 at 9 p.m. Star Parties, Grout Museum District, Waterloo, Free

Sunday, May 12 at 11 a.m. Mother’s Day Drag Brunch, Ideal Theater & Bar, Cedar Rapids, $45

Thursday, May 16 at 5:30 p.m. Pint Night Ride, SingleSpeed Brewing Co., Waterloo

Saturday, May 18 at 9 a.m. 15th Annual Furry 5K, Big Woods Recreation Park, Cedar Falls, $35-45

Saturday, May 18 at 9 a.m. Plunging for a Purpose, NewBo City Market, Cedar Rapids

Saturday, May 18 at 10 a.m. Young Entrepreneurs Market, NewBo City Market, Free

Saturdays, May 18 and 25 at 10 a.m. Tea Parties at the Snowden House, Grout Museum District, Waterloo, $10-12

Saturday, May 18 at 1:30 p.m. Mountain Landscape Watercolor Workshop, Ladd Library, Cedar Rapids, Free

Saturday, May 25 at 10 a.m. First Outdoor Market, Odd Mama’s, Cedar Rapids, Free

Thursday, May 30 at 10 a.m. Native Plant Sale, Hartman Reserve Nature Center, Cedar Falls, Free

Saturday, June 1 at 9 a.m. The Bridges Ride, Gilbertville Trail Depot, Waterloo

IOWA CITY

MUSIC

Thursday, May 2 at 9 p.m. Tenant & Acoustic Guillotine, Trumpet Blossom Cafe, Iowa City, $10

Friday, May 3 at 7:30 p.m. Bodeans, Englert Theatre, Iowa City, $20-48

Friday, May 3 at 9 p.m. Water From Your Eyes, Gabe’s, Iowa City, $12-15

Saturday, May 4 at 7:30 p.m. TAIKOPROJECT, Englert Theatre, $25-56.25

Saturday, May 4 at 9 p.m. FMWT: MIZU w/ OHYUNG, Trumpet Blossom Cafe, $10-15

Sunday, May 5 at 7 p.m. FMWT: Bill Orcutt Guitar Quartet, Trumpet Blossom Cafe, $2025

Sunday, May 5 at 7:30 p.m. Trio Grismore, Englert Theatre, $10-25

Tuesday, May 7 at 7:30 p.m. Bball Divorce Court, The Briefly Gorgeous, Gabe’s, $10

Wednesday, May 8 at 7:30 p.m. Jim Messina, Englert Theatre, $20-64.50

Wednesday, May 8 at 8 p.m. John R. Miller, Wildwood Saloon, Iowa City, $15-20

Fridays, May 10, 17, 24, 31 at 6:30 p.m. Fright Night Concert Series, Downtown Iowa City, Free

Friday, May 10 at 9 p.m. Aaron Kamm & The One Drops w/Dolliver, Gabe’s, $15

Sunday, May 12 at 8 p.m. Kenmujo w/Pest Heaven and Tree Cloud, Gabe’s, $10

Wednesday, May 15 at 7:30 p.m. Humbird, Englert Theatre, $15-25

Thursday, May 16 at 8 p.m. City Mouse, TV Cop, Kane Kyrie Edwards, 2HandLuke, Public Space One, Iowa City, $10

Friday, May 17 at 7:30 p.m. Asleep at the Wheel, Englert Theatre, $25-55

Friday, May 17 at 8 p.m. Maul of America, Daisy Glue, Sportcut, Gabe’s, $10

Saturday, May 18 at 9 p.m. FMWT: Messa, Trumpet Blossom Cafe, $15-20

Thursday, May 23 at 7:30 p.m. The War and Treaty, Englert Theatre, $10-38

Saturday, May 25 at 6:30 p.m. Diplomats of Solid Sound, Riverfront Crossings Park, Iowa City, Free

Saturday, May 25 at 8 p.m. Stephanie Catlett w/Dan Padley, Trumpet Blossom Cafe, $10

Saturday, June 1 at 8 p.m. Moonroof w/Soup Riot, Dirty Blonde, The Strangers, Gabe’s, $10

Sunday, June 2 at 7:30 p.m. Robbie Fulks, Englert Theatre, $15-35

Tuesday, June 4 at 6:30 p.m. Natural Habits, Terry Trueblood Recreation Area, Iowa City, Free

Tuesday, June 4 at 8 p.m. Gwenifer Raymond, Trumpet Blossom Cafe, $10-15

LITERATURE

Wednesday, May 1 at 7 p.m.

Jorell Watkins & Romeo Oriogun, Prairie Lights, Iowa City, Free

Thursday, May 2 at 7 p.m.

David Coster w/Ralph Savarese, Prairie Lights, Free

Friday, May 3 at 7 p.m. Greg Brown, Prairie Lights, Free

Saturday, May 4 at 4 p.m. Ink

Lit Literary Magazine Reading and Reception, Prairie Lights, Free

Monday, May 6 at 7 p.m.

Heather Gudenkauf, Prairie Lights, Free

Tuesdays, May 7, 14, 21, 28 at 9:30 a.m. Spring Storytime, Sidekick Coffee & Books, Iowa City, Free

Tuesday, May 7 at 7 p.m.

Séamus Isaac Fey w/Carmen Maria Machado, Prairie Lights, Free

Saturday, May 11 at 10:30 a.m.

Author Visit w/Raquel MacKay, Iowa City Public Library, Free

Saturday, May 11 at 3 p.m.

Black History Author Event w/ Monique Shore, Iowa City Public Library, Free

Thursday, May 16 at 7 p.m. Uche Okonkwo w/Reyumeh Ejue, Prairie Lights, Free

Iowa City Music Crock-Pot Battle of the Bands, United Action for Youth, Iowa City, Friday,

May 10 at 5 p.m.,

Free Co-presented by United Action for Youth (UAY), Iowa City Public Library, and the Englert Theatre, the Crock-Pot Battle of the Bands is an Iowa City youth music showcase with prizes and celebrity judges. Judges are all folks directly involved in the IC music scene: Blake Shaw, Sophie Mitchell, Dolly Sperry, and more. The top three performers will be called back to perform a final song and compete for the top spot. Audience votes count, so be sure to attend the event on the 10th.

Friday, May 17 at 7 p.m. Rachel Khong w/Kaveh Akbar, Prairie Lights, Free

Tuesday, May 30 at 7 p.m. Today You Are Perfect, Iowa City Poetry, Online, Free

PERFORMANCE

Wednesday, May 1 at 6:30 p.m. Story Pirates, Englert Theatre, Iowa City, $32-49

Friday-Sunday, May 3-5 Shrek Jr., James Theater, Iowa City, $15-20

Friday-Sunday, May 3-5 Chicago, Hancher Auditorium, Iowa City, $73.13-131.15

Friday-Sunday, May 3-5 Spring Awakening, Coralville Center for the Performing Arts, $16-30

Friday and Saturday, May 10 and 11 UI Youth Ballet, Space Place Theater, Iowa City, $11.3317.51

Friday-Sunday, May 10-12 Spring Awakening, Coralville Center for the Performing Arts, $16-30

Saturday, May 11 at 8 p.m. Bawdy Bawdy Ha Ha: Ridiculesque, James Theater, $25-50

Thursday-Saturday, May 16-18. Little Women, James Theater, $20

Saturday, May 18 at 7 p.m. Saturday on the Stage, Riverside Theatre, Iowa City, $30-75

Tuesday-Thursday, June 4-6. Come From Away, Hancher Auditorium, $73.13-131.15

FILM

Wednesday, May 1 at 6:30 p.m. Pride, FilmScene–The Chauncey, Iowa City, Free

Wednesday, May 1 at 10 p.m. Late Shift at the Grindhouse: She is Conann, FilmScene–The Chauncey, $8

Thursday, May 2 at 7 p.m. The Long Game, FilmScene–The Chauncey, Free

Saturday, May 4 at 10 p.m. Lost Boys, Stolen Trucks, FilmScene–The Chauncey, $5.31-13

Sunday, May 5 at 3:30 p.m. West Indies: The Fugitive Slaves of Liberty, FilmScene–The Chauncey, $10

Tuesday, May 7 at 7 p.m. Away from Her on 35 mm, FilmScene–The Chauncey, $10

Iowa City

Community

Open Air Media Festival, Public

Space One Close House, Iowa City, Friday, May 31 and Saturday, June 1,

Free Co-presented by United Action for Youth (UAY), Iowa City Public Library and the Englert Theatre, the Crock-Pot Battle of the Bands is an Iowa City youth music showcase with prizes and celebrity judges. Judges are all folks directly involved in the IC music scene: Blake Shaw, Sophie Mitchell, Dolly Sperry and more. The top three performers will be called back to perform a final song and compete for the top spot. Audience votes count, so be sure to attend the event on the 10th.

Thursday, May 9 at 6:30 p.m. West Indies: The Fugitive Slaves of Liberty, FilmScene–The Chauncey, $10

Sunday, May 12 at 3:30 p.m. The Battle of Algiers, FilmScene–The Chauncey, $10

Tuesday, May 14 at 7 p.m. The Arc of Oblivion, FilmScene–The Chauncey, $10

Wednesday, May 15 at 6:30 p.m. The Battle of Algiers, FilmScene–The Chauncey, $10

Saturday, May 18 at 11 a.m. The Picture Show: Where the Wild Things Are, FilmScene–The Chauncey, Free-$5

Sunday, May 19 at 11 a.m. The Picture Show: Where the Wild Things Are, FilmScene–The Chauncey, Free-$5

Sunday, May 19 at 7 p.m. Vino Vérité, Flying Lessons, FilmScene–The Chauncey, $12-25

Thursday, May 23 at 3:30 p.m. The Picture Show: Where the Wild Things Are, FilmScene–The Chauncey, Free-$5

Saturdays, May 25 at 9 p.m. SOA Free Movie Series: Summer of Soul, Riverfront Crossings Park, Iowa City, Free

Saturday, May 25 at 8:30 p.m. Twister, FilmScene in the Park, Free

Saturday, June 1 at 8:30 p.m. SOA Free Movie Series: The Marvels, Brown Deer Golf Course, Iowa City, Free

COMMUNITY

Friday, May 3 at 6 p.m. Obstacles to Peace: Stories about Palestine, Iowa City Public Library, Free

Saturday, May 4 at 8 a.m. Corridor Heart Walk, Kinnick Stadium, Iowa City

Saturday, May 4 at 12 p.m. Opening Reception: To My Friends at Horn: Keith Haring and Iowa City, Stanley Museum of Art, Free

Wednesday, May 8 at 5 p.m. Family Night: Mother’s Day Flowers with Lovely Bunches, Iowa City Public Library, Free

Saturday, May 11 at 10 a.m. Front Yard Food: Adopt a Tomato, Wetherby Park, Iowa City

Weird Craft Night, Abernathy’s, Davenport, Saturday, May 25 at 4 p.m., $25

Join a group of creatives at Abernathy’s at the end of May for a craft night. Craft a collage masterpiece on canvas using an eclectic mix of materials including magazines, medical prints and other odd findings. All supplies are included with the fee. BYO beverages and snacks!

FIND MORE EVENTS

Sunday, May 19 at 10:30 a.m.

Mushroom Foraging 101, Hickory Hill Park, Iowa City, $5-25

Tuesday, May 21 at 6 p.m.

Art Skills: Digital File Prep for Printmaking, IC Press Co-Op, Free-$25

Thursday, May 23 at 5:30 p.m. UAY Festival of Flowers, Graduate Hotel, Iowa City

Thursday, May 23 at 7:30 p.m. Projection Mapping Magic: A Workshop on Crafting a Projected Community Quilt, Public Space One Close, Free

QUAD CITIES

MUSIC

Sunday, May 5 at 6 p.m. Hannah Cohen, Raccoon Motel, Davenport, $19.84

Friday, May 10 at 7 p.m. Shakey Graves + Odie Leigh, Rhythm City Casino, Davenport, $50-90

Saturday, May 11 at 8 p.m.

Christopher Paul Stelling, Rozz Tox, Rock Island, $15

Saturday, May 18 at 8 p.m. Pieta Brown w/Chastity Brown, Codfish Hollow Barnstormers, Maquoketa, $35

Saturday, May 18 at 8 p.m. Hali Palombo, Signal Decay, Lazy Hex, Rozz Tox, $15

Sunday, May 19 at 5 p.m. Up Close w/Marc Zyla, Figge Art Museum, Davenport

Wednesday, May 22 at 6 p.m. The Droptines w/Josephine & Mike Kota, Raccoon Motel, $19.84

Sunday, May 26 at 8 p.m. Charlie Parr Record Release, Codfish Hollow Barnstormers, $25

Saturday, June 1 at 8 p.m. Chrash Record Release Show, Rozz Tox, $10

PERFORMANCE

Opening Tuesday, May 7 at 10 a.m. Diary of a Wimpy Kid

The Musical, Circa’ 21 Dinner Playhouse, Rock Island, $12

Tuesday, May 14 at 6 p.m. Sesame Street Live! Adler Theatre, Davenport, $42-74

Wednesday, May 15 at 7:30 p.m. Chicago, Adler Theatre, $43-83

Opening Friday, May 17

The House of Blue Leaves, Playcrafters Barn Theatre, Moline, $13-15

Friday, May 24 at 7 p.m. Illowa Folk Dance, Bettendorf Presbyterian Church, Free

COMMUNITY

Sunday, May 5 at 12 p.m. Family Day, Figge Art Museum, Davenport, Free

Sundays, May 5, 12, 19, 26 at 5 p.m. Sunday Game Night, Pour Bros Craft Taproom, Moline, Free

Wednesday, May 8 at 6:30 p.m. Between the Lines Book Club, Davenport Public Library, Free

Saturday and Sunday, May 11 and 12 Beaux Arts Fair, Figge Art Museum, Free

Tuesday, May 14 at 3 p.m. Painted Flower Pot: Garden Class, Moline Greenhouse, $5

Friday, May 31 at 8 p.m. The CoProducers: A Live Commentary Film Screening, Rozz Tox, Rock Island, Free

Saturday, June 1 at 12 p.m. The Dark Market, Wave Brewing, Rock Island, Free

Quad Cities Community

Hi Kiki,

RIDICULESQUE Comedy-Themed Burlesque! The Olympic South Side Theatre, Cedar Rapids, Friday, May 10 at 8 p.m., $30-50 FEED ME WEIRD THINGS PRESENTS

 MIZU w/ OHYUNG, Trumpet Blossom Cafe, Iowa City, Saturday, May 4 at 9 p.m., $10-15

CO-PRESENTED W/ RECORD COLLECTOR AND TUESDAY AGENCY:

Bill Orcutt Guitar Quartet w/ Wendy Eisenberg, Ava Mendoza, and Shane Parish, Trumpet Blossom Cafe, Sunday, May 5 at 7 p.m., $20-25

Messa (Italy) w/ Daisy Glue, Trumpet Blossom Cafe, Iowa City, Saturday, May 18 at 9 p.m., $15-20

Gwenifer Raymond (Wales) w/ special guest TBA, Trumpet Blossom Cafe, Iowa City, Tuesday, Jun 4 at 8 p.m., $10-15

I’m a 25 year old female and have never been in a relationship. Honestly, I don’t know if I have ever wanted to be. But also, maybe I just tell myself that because I haven’t? I’m not sure, but I do know that I’m scared of vulnerability and letting someone get to know me. In my head, I can’t understand how someone could like me for me and also want to be intimate in the sheets, ya know? I feel like it’s one or the other for me, which is sad. I have so many great friendships where I feel loved and valued. Why can’t I open up to someone that isn’t a friend?? I guess it scares me. I don’t want to be alone forever, but I also don’t feel like I’m in a rush to find someone. Really, I haven’t found

It’s in moments like this that you need to practice not love, but trust.

Think about the imperfections of those you care about. You may be blinded a bit by affection, but you know that no one is perfect. You love your friends and family despite, and in some cases because of, their imperfections. You don’t need to learn to love better; you need to learn to trust that the people who love you are just as smart and kind and discerning as you are. And here’s the kicker: You need to learn to be OK with not understanding their choices.

I don’t get why anyone would want anything to do with me, full stop. For me, when it hits bad, this extends even to friends! But the thing

anyone who inspires me (or if they do it’s not reciprocal). Another thing is, I’ve never been on a date (it scares me too). My question is this: how do I open myself more to the possibility of love? I think it’s a muscle I need to strengthen. Thanks for your help, Kiki.

O, Solo Mio!

Dear Solo,

Just a quick reality check, to start. You don’t need romance to lead a complete, full, truly happy life. For many individuals, it’s the core of who they are, but for others, it’s just a “nice to have” or even something to avoid. Before you beat yourself up for not being where you thought you’d be in terms of relationships at this point in your life, take some time to read up on what being aromantic looks like, and see whether anything seems familiar. Only you can determine your identity markers, but it’s worth digging deeper.

You’re exactly right about love being a muscle to strengthen. But it sounds like you’ve got that under control! You have friendships that you have put time and effort into. Romantic love isn’t much different, in terms of work. It’s just a shift of perspective.

Where it seems like you could use some work, frankly, is convincing yourself that you’re worthy of love. It’s common, I think (at least, I went through it, too, and often still do). Your self-doubt becomes projected onto another person, and you mistrust the judgment or taste of those who do see your value.

is, I also have friends who are obsessed with Bruce Springsteen. Friends who genuinely think that ska had a net positive influence on the music world. Just this weekend my own child complained about the music I was listening to! We accept those things as matters of taste, and that’s what this is, too. I’ve come around to the idea that I’m simply not to my taste. And that’s OK. It’s also OK that I am to the taste of others. I don’t have to understand their choice, just trust it.

You say that you struggle with opening up to “someone who isn’t a friend.” But in the best of circumstances, a romantic partner is first and foremost also a friend. That’s not to say that you need to look within your friend group for romance. But when searching for something new, start with friendship and let it blossom from there. You shouldn’t expect romance to leap full-formed into your arms. It requires cultivation and patience and a whole lot of grace. xoxo, Kiki

Submit questions anonymously at littlevillagemag.com/dearkiki or non-anonymously to dearkiki@littlevillagemag.com. Questions may be edited for clarity and length, and may appear either in print or online at littlevillagemag.com.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): I don’t casually invoke the terms “marvels,” “splendors” and “miracles.” Though I am a mystic, I also place a high value on rational thinking and skeptical proof. If someone tells me a marvel, splendor or miracle has occurred, I will thoroughly analyze the evidence. Having said that, though, I want you to know that during the coming weeks, marvels, splendors and miracles are far more likely than usual to occur in your vicinity—even more so if you have faith that they will. I will make a similar prediction about magnificence, sublimity and resplendence. They are headed your way. Are you ready for blessed excess? For best results, welcome them all generously and share them lavishly.

GEMINI (May 21-June 20): In accordance with astrological omens, I recommend you enjoy a celebratory purge sometime soon. You could call it a Cleansing Jubilee, or a Gleeful Festival of Purification, or a Jamboree of Cathartic Healing. This would be a fun holiday that lasted for at least a day and maybe as long as two weeks. During this liberating revel, you would discard anything associated with histories you want to stop repeating. You’d get rid of garbage and excess. You may even thrive by jettisoning perfectly good stuff that you no longer have any use for.

CANCER (June 21-July 22): Graduation day will soon arrive. Congrats, Cancerian! You have mostly excelled in navigating through a labyrinthine system that once upon a time discombobulated you. With panache and skill, you have wrangled chaos into submission and gathered a useful set of resources. So are you ready to welcome your big rewards? Prepared to collect your graduation presents? I hope so. Don’t allow lingering fears of success to cheat you out of your well-deserved harvest. Don’t let shyness prevent you from beaming like a champion in the winner’s circle. P.S.: I encourage you to meditate on the likelihood that your new bounty will transform your life almost as much as did your struggle to earn it.

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): Ritualist and author Sobonfu Somé was born in Burkina Faso but spent many years teaching around the world. According to her philosophy, we should periodically ask ourselves two questions: 1. “What masks have been imposed on us by our culture and loved ones?” 2. “What masks have we chosen for ourselves to wear?” According to my astrological projections, the coming months will be an excellent time for you to ruminate on these inquiries—and take action in response. Are you willing to remove your disguises to reveal the hidden or unappreciated beauty that lies beneath? Can you visualize how your life may change if you will intensify your devotion to expressing your deepest, most authentic self?

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): If human culture were organized according to my principles, there would be over 8 billion religions—one for every person alive. Eight billion altars. Eight billion saviors. If anyone wanted to enlist priestesses, gurus and other spiritual intermediaries to help them out in their worship, they would be encouraged. And we would all borrow beliefs and rituals from each other. There would be an extensive trade of clues and tricks about the art of achieving ecstatic union with the Great Mystery. I bring this up, Virgo, because the coming weeks will be an ideal time for you to craft your own personalized and idiosyncratic religious path.

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): Hidden agendas and simmering secrets will soon leak into view. Intimate mysteries will become even more intimate and more mysterious. Questions that have been half-suppressed will become pressing and productive. Can you handle this much intrigue, Libra? Are you willing to wander through the amazing maze of emotional teases to gather clues about the provocative riddles? I think you will have the poise and grace to do these things. If I’m right, you can expect deep revelations to appear and long-lost connections to

re-emerge. Intriguing new connections are also possible. Be on high alert for subtle revelations and nuanced intuitions.

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): It’s fun and easy to love people for their magnificent qualities and the pleasure you feel when they’re nice to you. What’s more challenging is to love the way they disappoint you. Now pause a moment and make sure you register what I just said. I didn’t assert that you should love them even if they disappoint you. Rather, I invited you to love them BECAUSE they disappoint you. In other words, use your disappointment to expand your understanding of who they really are, and thereby develop a more inclusive and realistic love for them. Regard your disappointment as an opportunity to deepen your compassion—and as a motivation to become wiser and more patient. (P.S.: In general, now is a time when so-called “negative” feelings can lead to creative breakthroughs and a deepening of love.)

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): I assure you that you don’t need “allies” who encourage you to indulge in delusions or excesses. Nor do I recommend that you seek counsel from people who think you’re perfect. But you could benefit from colleagues who offer you judicious feedback. Do you know any respectful and perceptive observers who can provide advice about possible course corrections you could make? If not, I will fill the role as best as I can. Here’s one suggestion: Consider phasing out a mild pleasure and a small goal so you can better pursue an extra fine pleasure and a major goal.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): I invite you to take an inventory of what gives you pleasure, bliss, and rapture. It’s an excellent time to identify the thrills that you love most. When you have made a master list of the fun and games that enhance your intelligence and drive you half-wild with joy, devise a master plan to ensure you will experience them as much as you need to—not just in the coming weeks, but forever. As you do, experiment with this theory: By stimulating delight and glee, you boost your physical, emotional and spiritual health.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): Aquarian author Lewis Carroll said, “You know what the issue is with this world? Everyone wants some magical solution to their problem, and everyone refuses to believe in magic.” In my astrological opinion, this won’t be an operative theme for you in the coming weeks, Aquarius. I suspect you will be inclined to believe fervently in magic, which will ensure that you attract and create a magical solution to at least one of your problems—and probably more.

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): Which would you prefer in the coming weeks: lots of itches, prickles, twitches and stings? Or, instead, lots of tingles, quivers, shimmers and soothings? To ensure the latter types of experiences predominate, all you need to do is cultivate moods of surrender, relaxation, welcome and forgiveness. You will be plagued with the aggravating sensations only if you resist, hinder, impede and engage in combat. Your assignment is to explore new frontiers of elegant and graceful receptivity.

ARIES (March 21-April 19): The world’s record for jumping rope in six inches of mud is held by an Aries. Are you surprised? I’m not. So is the world’s record for consecutive wallops administered to a plastic inflatable punching doll. Other top accomplishments performed by Aries people: longest distance walking on one’s hands; number of curse words uttered in two minutes; and most push-ups with three bulldogs sitting on one’s back. As impressive as these feats are, I hope you will channel your drive for excellence in more constructive directions during the coming weeks. Astrologically speaking, you are primed to be a star wherever you focus your ambition on high-minded goals. Be as intense as you want to be while having maximum fun giving your best gifts.

SWaMPLaND JEWELS

Swampland Jewels

THESWAMPLANDJEWELS.BANDCAMP.COM

Swampland Jewels, led by Iowa City music veteran Nate Basinger, is a band that’s found its niche, combining music from Louisiana’s musical tradition with a melange of jazz, country and roots rock. The Jewels also represent the hard-to-define terroir of Iowa music, a “why not?” sense of musical adventure.

Basinger credits Iowa City professor and folklorist Harry Oster with introducing him to the music of Louisiana and selling him his first accordion, now the lead instrument for Basinger’s compositions and cover songs. He evokes Cajun and zydeco music with the Jewels, but they seek their own level. Their uptempo songs are a bit slower and more relaxed than zydeco, less rave up, more chill out.

The Swampland Jewels are all Eastern Iowa veterans. Bassist Marty Christensen has played with local guitar legend Dennis McMurrin for decades. Basinger plays keyboards with the Diplomats of Solid Sound. Drummer Forrest Heusinkveld and Eddie McKinley play in the Iowa City hip-hop band Uniphonics. Randall Davis plays with Dave Zollo’s Body Electric. Totalled up, these musicians have been part of dozens of other local bands. They’ve been on stage at Gabe’s and the Mill more times than you’ve had hot meals.

You can hear that experience in the songs. Their musical rapport, and the fun they’re having playing together, jumps out of the speakers. Basinger and Heusinkveld produced these recordings, but Luke Tweedy’s contribution as engineer at Flat Black Studio is subtle but effective. The album has a

clear, lively sound capturing the interplay between the players.

The Jewels’ song “Freeman’s Country Dance” would be at home at one of the small-town jam sessions Harry Oster loved to record. Basinger’s accordion rides on top of Heusinkveld’s shuffled groove, evoking a pan-American smalltown dance. It’s in the middle of the Cajun, polka and conjunto triangle.

“Lover’s Wine” is a Jewels original, a country waltz. The accordion outlines a strong melody with a singing quality. “Spanish Road” has a calypso feel, and Basinger sensibly stays away from imitating a Caribbean accent. The song synthesizes the calypso influence without being merely imitative.

“Chapeau Macquerel” has some Cajun folk to the melody, but the arrangement is closer to what Ramsey Lewis might do, with Basinger trading his accordion for electric piano. This is far from the traditional Cajun sound but they make it work.

“Funky Miracle” is a cover of a Meters song. The original has a prominent organ part that’s gone, leaving more room for the unison guitar and accordion. Heusinkveld’s drumming doesn’t imitate the inimitable Zigaboo Modeliste, but introduces a swing so strong it feels jerky and ready to fall apart. But it hangs together into a completely different funk.

“Flor Marchita” is by Narciso Martinez, a pioneer of conjunto music. The Jewels slow down their Cajun-influenced style, but still play the song faster than Martinez, with a bounce not in the original. Conjunto is every bit as infectious as zydeco music, and when the Swampland Jewels take it on, it’s not just fun, it’s a deep connection between the two musical traditions.

Playing music with roots in folk traditions walks a fine line. If you’re too perfect at imitating the original music, you lose the spirit by focusing on the form. The Swampland Jewels use Louisiana music as a starting point, but then go off on their own, finding new grooves and connections to other folk music traditions. They connect to traditional music not as museum curators but as living performers. —Kent Williams

Being tasked to write an album review can be fraught with emotions, but the opening slide guitar of Stephanie Catlett’s new EP, Face the Terrain, sold me immediately. The warm tones of the opening track are beautiful and evoke all of the ’70s-by-way-of-the-’90s alt country/ indie I loved in college. “Eugene” is economical with its words, but not lacking in emotion, and it’s the last lines of the song that get me every time: “But patience is a rose, with her tired face exposed. There are petals falling at your feet, Eugene.

dream quality of the vocals meshes well with the production, and the fuzzy guitar opener gives way to the lo-fi rock sound and takes us on a journey that mimics what’s happening lyrically.

There are only four songs on this EP, and while I think the overall theme of the album is reflected in its title, the track “Pet Store Iguana” asks listeners to empathize with an iguana in a pet store. In Iowa. In the poetry of the song, she wishes she could take the iguana back to the desert, but we know that she isn’t talking about an iguana. It could easily be about anyone feeling like they’re on display in a place that only sees them as a curiosity, which applies to a lot of us living here at this complicated time.

The last track, “Love Song for the End Times,” is a haunting wander lyrically through Christian iconography. Musically, it takes us to the American southwest, and the nods to Spanish guitar and melancholy fiddle set us up for a spiritual journey. It feels like a deconstruction of sorts: Lyrics like “empty as the lies

WE KNOW THaT SHE ISN’T TaLKING aBOUT aN IGUaNa. IT COULD EaSILy BE aBOUT aNyONE FEELING LIKE THEy’RE ON DISPLay

IN a PLaCE THaT ONLy SEES THEM aS a CURIOSITy, WHICH aPPLIES TO a LOT OF US LIVING HERE aT THIS COMPLICaTED TIME.

Gather up your useless bounty, Eugene.”

“Face the Terrain,” the EP’s title track, is a stunner. I love the quality of Catlett’s vocals—the ability she has to draw on the huskiness of her voice, but still make it subtle and gentle. The influences of Hope Sandoval, Margo Timmins and the Deal sisters are not lost. It’s a comfort but can also cut like a knife. The sweetness and husk belie the messages in the lyrics on “Eugene,” finding the dichotomy between realizing that some lovers need to be told straight out, and the sweetness of the voice that delivers the harshness of that message. Catlett kills them with kindness. On “Face the Terrain,” the

you believed, unsteady earth lurching under your feet, slipping over the edge of nothing” and the iconography of the narrator reaching her hand into the broken rib remind us of the creation story.

Every song on this EP explores the idea of facing some kind of reality, and the result is gorgeous. My only complaint for the record is that it isn’t longer. These four songs explore shifting realities so succinctly and beautifully that no more is needed. But I sure do want It.

Face the Terrain was released in February; it’s available on Bandcamp and Spotify. Learn more at stephaniecatlettsongs.com.

—Darcie Hutzell

STEPHaNIE CaTLETT Face the Terrain STEPHANIE.CATLETT.BANDCAMP.COM

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CHRISTOPHER OKIGBO Labyrinths

APOLLO AFRICA

Christopher Okigbo’s seminal poetry collection Labyrinths, originally published in 1971 and intermittently hard to find in the decades since, has just been reprinted in a new edition with an introduction by the novelist Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. Peter Nazareth, professor emeritus in the University of Iowa Department of English and an important Ugandan novelist and literary critic, takes the title of his novel The General is Up from some lines of Okigbo’s. Okigbo himself (19321967) was a hypereducated, Virgilloving, piano-playing poet, teacher and publisher who died tragically young while fighting for the breakaway state of Biafra, an eastern region of Nigeria, during the Nigerian Civil War.

Okigbo’s poetry is modernist in the extreme. Drenched in the influence of T.S. Eliot—and sometimes leaving sense behind in the kind of verbal breakdancing associated with Gertrude Stein—the poetry documents the inner and outer quest of, in Okigbo’s words, “an Orpheus-like personage” (but one “much larger than Orpheus”). Take a deep breath, please: in the course of this quest, the poem weaves together Igbo mythology, Catholic imagery drawn from Okigbo’s colonial education, allusions to the Epic of Gilgamesh, a veiled elegy for the assassinated Congolese liberation leader Patrice Lumumba, a mystical episode Okigbo had after having surgery under anesthesia, and a hypnotically recurrent array of elusive yet undeniably charged poetic symbols, including but not limited to: incense, dolphins, an “oblong-headed lioness,”

a rosary made of “globules of fresh anguish,” kola nuts, orange groves and the Pope. As Okigbo describes the collection, in the closing words of his own introduction: “The present dream clamoured to be born a cadenced cry: silence to appease the fever of flight beyond the iron gate.”

Any questions?

A good one might be: what does all this sound like? As you might imagine, the poetry is hard to quote successfully. All its best effects are the consequence of accrued rhythm, subtle repetitions and alterations of sound and sense. But individual stanzas strike strange and affecting chords all the same. Like this: “So, like a dead letter unanswered, / Our rococo / Choir of insects is null / Cacophony…” Or like this, taken from a climactic moment in the sequence (this is not the kind of poem you can spoil): “For in the inflorescence of the white / chamber, a voice, from very far away, / chanted, and the chamber descanted, the birthday of earth…”

If Labyrinths, the major work of Okigbo’s too-short life, might sometimes be accused of flaunting its erudition, this reviewer is tempted to rejoin: go on, then, flaunt. Whatever the book might lack in the synthesis of a fully mature poetic vision, it more than compensates for through its demonstration that innovative, demanding art and deep political conviction are not mutually exclusive.

The three main poetic sequences of Labyrinth were originally published in the groundbreaking literary “little magazines” of Africa during the Cold War period, such as Black Orpheus and Transition. In the pages of Transition’s eighth issue, for instance, Okigbo appears side by side with the future Nobel laureate Wole Soyinka and the aforementioned Nazareth. In her respectful introduction, Adichie writes that today, “young poets are heavily influenced by” Okigbo. To read Okigbo today is therefore to dream beside one of the brightest literary minds of Africa’s immediate postcolonial moment, and to bone up for further exploration of African poetry being written today—including in our community. —Nick Dolan

SHaNE BOOK

All Black Everything UNIVERSITY OF IOWA PRESS

This book belongs in the hands of people whose cultures are misaligned. This book belongs to people whose words overlap, whose minds are many places, who hear a rhythm in every background.

Shane Book’s All Black Everything is a promise kept. It is an altar to the church that gave him his art.

using words I had to look up in the dictionary. This book takes issue with expectations, subverts them and opens itself up to the reader to live in the moment of each poem and become absorbed in by the rhythm of each poem.

Book’s command of language is unparalleled and his interest in my comfort is nonexistent. All Black Everything is what art is supposed to be: Language manipulated to the artist’s demands; the reader at the writer’s mercy.

BOOK’S POETRy IS SONIC, SOUND FORWaRD aND UNyIELDING.

Book’s poetry is sonic, sound forward and unyielding. He wants you to know he’s Black and he’s in love with his people. This lyric is fluid; movement is necessary to his meaning. Each line plays on the one before it and flirts with the one that follows. All Black Everything should be read one poem at a time, each one chewed on, absorbed slowly on its own before continuing.

This isn’t how I usually read poetry. I might read five poems at a time and set the book down, but All Black Everything requires attention—begs to be read aloud. Demands to be heard and for its rhythm to be freed from the page.

It’s difficult to say more about this book without excerpting and it’s difficult to excerpt something that builds on itself so deliberately and that folds in on itself by repeated meters and cultural images. In each poem, Book describes a moment and brings his readers to movement through meter and urgency. He alternates between AAVE, writing words phonetically as they’re spoken, and

While it is the linguistic meter and hyper-real imagery that make this collection so special, Book also deftly uses more traditionally beautiful language as in “Juice Juice:” “a fortress can be built / to a bay, a bay dug / up as a fleet of canoes, / planes, even a rubber / tree can curve / like a summer.” In “Going Forward” he describes a specific scene in which “Everything is amped up / is unreal-real everything.” but closes with the most subtle gut-punch, “It takes a muscle / to fall in love.”

I want to be able to do this collection justice. I want to show you Book’s cadence, the magic in verse meant to be heard through headphones. I had to stop myself from looking up video performances because I didn’t want it to color my review. But I can hear him when, in “I Know I’ve Reached Peak Shane,” he says,

Real talk: this run-by-QueenVictoria / British Empire outpost / of the history of the goddamn / complete world / —opium, Scottish / Presbyterian gangster shit, / the man flavor / profile for toothpaste, incidentally. / What a charge. Hit the past so hard / make it float-wait. I’m not / no Airbnb sucka, / I went to driving school, / drove a plug-in hybrid / sports car by Porsche / in my mind, 918 Spyder / maximum torque insect in my mind, / fastest electric coffin ever maimed.

It is all music, it is all urgent, every poem is a declaration. Book is here. He is taking up space. And he is not compromising himself to do so. —Sarah Elgatian

A Book Full of Fun, Keith Haring (American, 1958–1990), 1989, acrylic on plywood, 107” W x 71” H x 1 ¾” D. Photo by Tim Schoon. Loan of Horn Elementary, Iowa City Community School District. © Keith Haring Foundation

20. Part of French Polynesia with over-water bungalows

22. MLA alternative

23. Cheap type of tix

24. Target in an alley

25. Company that asks, “What can brown do for you?”

28. Dildo sold with Barbie’s Dream Bed?

32. Scientist Robert known

as “England’s Leonardo”

34. Bit of silicon or chocolate

35. Subj. for non-native speakers

36. Get going

37. Part of a well-oiled machine, maybe

38. Grave danger

40. Common App figure

41. Take shape

42. Nobelist Joliot-Curie

43. Dildo made from upcycled tires?

46. Tic-tac-toe “team”

47. Second-largest living bird

48. Double or nothing, maybe

49. Previously, poetically

51. Guzzle Grey Goose, e.g.

53. Brunch cocktail portmanteau

58. Cacao bits

59. Dildo with a warning label about splinters <wince>?

61. Go to market

62. “Sir, this is an ___”

63. Taylor Swift: The Tour (highest-grossing concert film of all time)

64. Witness

65. Passing words?

66. Smooth sailing

DOWN

1. Specific sites on a chromosome

2. Name hidden in “bon vivant”

3. ___ Bay (Berkeley’s region)

4. Biggest tampon size

5. “It’ll be fun!”

6. Takes the gold, say?

7. Cheer at the Bell Centre

8. Odyssey in an Odyssey?

9. “Thanks, I hate it”

10. It’s a motherfucking tragedy!

11. Stand outside a popular brunch spot, perhaps

13. Take the gold, say

15. Big fuss

17. Beaker or Dr. Bunsen Honeydew, e.g.

21. Representative linked to DSA

23. Cultural misconception, often

25. Sounds of hesitation

26. Candies that

aren’t for children

27. One in a lather?

29. Greet with a “YOU!!”, say

30. Like a sheep in spring

31. Heckle

33. ___ with a K (kosher “shellfish”)

38. South Dakota’s capital

39. Manhattan nabe home to Yonah Schimmel’s Knish Bakery

41. US 101, for one

43. Jockey straps

44. Fall back

45. Hangs onto

50. Cabaret role for Alan Cumming

52. One may be deserted

53. Drink with a wide straw

54. Ice cream brand named for a candy maker

55. Vegetable in the hibiscus family

56. Sailor’s domain

57. British bum

60. Cali’s neighbor in the PNW

Emerging Artists

Children’s Activities

Fun Stops

Culinary Delights

Beverage Garden

Free Valet Bicycle Parking

MAIN STAGE

Terrance Simien and the Zydeco Experience

Pert Near Sandstone

Alysha Brilla

The Weary Ramblers

Joe and Vicki Price

Subatlantic

Forro fo Sho

Annie Savage and the Lorch Sisters

Iowa City Community Band

Iowa City Flute Authority

Giminez Voice Academy

Kim Schillig, Lepic-Kroeger Realtor is pleased to support Summer of the Arts and sponsor the stage at their newest event Rhythms at Riverfront Crossings.