Call for Submissions: Crowdsourced Collage

Inspiration doesn’t just hit you. You have to go looking for it. I often find it with other people, in cafés or at public parks or in friends’ homes. There’s always an external source that inspires the idea that motivates the action. In this case, the action is gluing things on top of other things….

Glue Boy and American Devil Sound

When the demons first came out, my only thought was: “Shit.” The Redstone Room has its share of intimate shows. While the performer-audience relationship may get snuggly, the fourth wall is a line not often crossed. Once Regan Hatfield (performing under the name American Devil Sound) started doing his thing, though, I understood the absolute…

YellowUFO Presents!

Local media can’t stop buzzing about recent changes to the QC music scene. The vultures circle, hoping for death, while those of us with more than bird brains await the next ambitious, mission-driven project we’ve come to expect from this generation of entrepreneurs. Por ejemplo: YellowUFO is stepping out on Saturday (May 4) with the…

The Electric Outlet at Rozz-Tox, QC USA

The Outlet series may very well extend to the stores in Guangzhou and Shenyang (both in China), but this article I wrote for Little Village focuses on the much nearer Rozz-Tox of Rock Island, Illinois – about an hour east of LV’s Iowa City headquarters. As my four-or-so regular readers already know, I’m a big…

All Senses: Gear Up for Festival Season

In the extended frost of February, I’m already dreaming of summer and of All Senses‘ 2019 festival. In the meantime, All Senses Presents brings us Louisville sludge rockers Thou at RIBCO on March 26 at 8 p.m. I’m more excited about Emma Ruth Rundle, one of the hardest working singer-songwriters in the business. With 3 EPs of…

Deporting the Working Man

No one has ever accused the Midwest of being colorful. At the moment, we are a gloomy people. We celebrate our heritage of boiled potatoes and ice hockey, which is comforting for about ten seconds. Then you start to notice the dimensions where our community is a cultural desert. As much as I love the…

Witness the Club Artist Revolution

This month sees a radical experiment among our local champions. It’s the logical next step in a community that has been quietly on the move for years. We forgot about them for a while. I blame the advent of the mp3 player and its shuffle mode – the very same invention that’s led us to…

You Had Us At Free Stuff

It would be killer if this event turned out to be huge. Iowa’s Latino population gets overlooked a lot. This month, the Figge is bringing back its Día de Muertos or Day of the Dead celebration. Unlike most things posted here, this one is totally family-friendly and a great alternative to some of the scarier…

New Ragged Refreshes QC Music Industry Hub

Ragged Records continues to expand its QC presence with a second store on the other side of the river in Rock Island. Ragged Records and Music, like the original, has its own identity. Unique and unpretentious, you’ll not only find thousands of albums – from current top artists to obscure electro-folk acts featuring knock-off Muppets –…

Good Morning Midnight, Flat Black, and Other Dark Matters

Every fall, teenagers worldwide go off to college expecting to find a career and themselves. Most of what they find is disappointing. Like, instead of a road trip with a manic pixie dream girl, there’s an exciting if ill-advised romance with a lady who sticks her finger down her throat so she can drink more….