Music Review: Poison Control Center – Sad Sour Future
Patrick Tape Fleming, Devin Frank, Joe Terry, and Don Ephraim, the four permanent members of the Poison Control Center, are spread across four cities in three states in two time zones. But listening to...
View ArticleMusic Review: Pennyhawk – The Mystery Mines
The Mystery Mines is the wonderful work of Kate Kennedy. Kate has been an incredible fixture in the Ames music scene for years, honing her craft as an extremely talented...
View ArticleMusic Review: Nuclear Rodeo – Something Bad’s Happening
If Something Bad’s Happening were a short story, the protagonist would, at one point, look up to his mother and say, “I love you so much but I just can’t help but be afraid for you. I’m young now but...
View ArticleMusic Review: Jordan Mayland and the Thermal Detonators
The idea of trying to tell you that the new EP from Jordan Mayland and the Thermal Detonators is great or good or awful or assigning it a 10.0 or 7.2 or 2.6 or an A+ or B- or D is, well, frightening....
View ArticleMusic Review: Christopher the Conquered – You’re Gonna Glow in the Dark
When I first met Chris Ford, the force, soul, and spirit of Christopher the Conquered, it was through a mutual friend, who was looking for people to dress up in character and help create a scene to be...
View ArticleDIY Home Recording
One of the hallmarks of this musical age is the ubiquity of home recordings. Accessible and cheap or free recording devices and software with unlimited tracks make it possible for almost everyone to...
View Article2900 West Street
One of my first memories of Ames nightlife is World Beat Night at Boheme Bistro in the fall of 2005. I had just moved here as a freshman at Iowa State, and a group of students was gathered on a Friday...
View ArticleWhat Ames can learn from Athens
I was an undergraduate taking a painting course in the Lamar Dodd School of Art at the University of Georgia in 1979 when I first recall noticing the skinny guy with curly hair who never seemed to be...
View Article(Not Quite) the End of the Rainbow
I only met him five minutes ago, but I’m already wondering if Darren Keen is going to get me arrested. As I sit beside him in his dad’s turquoise Dodge Caravan, my eyes flit between him and the street...
View ArticleLeslie Hall: The Queen of Ames Music
Leslie Hall answered the door in almost-complete costume. She invited us in and asked us to wait as she went upstairs to put the finishing touches on her outfit. Gavin and I had come to take a tour of...
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