Little Village Issue 350 — March 2026 by Little Village Magazine

Independent Iowa News, Arts & Culture

SPRING ARTS ISSUE

Jinnouchi Power is cool with chords Pg. 23

Dante Powell, comedian and one-time trucker Pg. 46

North Liberty’s new record shop Pg. 50

Andre Perry on the Stop/Time fest Pg. 24

INDEPENDENT IOWA NEWS, ARTS & CULTURE

Since 2001 LittleVillageMag.com

Ol’ Man river

Paul Robeson was an actor, athlete, lawyer and antifascist whose voice shook millions.

Book Nooks

Meet the women behind three local bookstore/cafes that invite long stays.

Dante’s In

His show at The Ingersoll is a hot ticket, and “all I gotta do is be funny.”

Little Village (ISSN 2328-3351) is an independent, community-supported news and culture publication based in Iowa City, published monthly by Bayleaf, 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.

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EDITORIAL

Publisher Jordan Sellergren jordan@littlevillagemag.com

Editor-in-Chief Emma McClatchey emma@littlevillagemag.com

Arts Editor

Chuy Renteria

chuy@littlevillagemag.com

News Director

Paul Brennan paul@littlevillagemag.com

Graphic Designer

Kellan Doolittle kellan@littlevillagemag.com

En Español Editor

Claudia Pozzobon Potratz

Corrections editor@littlevillagemag.com

March Contributors

Arlette Uribe-Gonzalez, Dianne Siasoco, Elías Lilienfeld Quevedo, Erik Jarvis, Jessie Kraemer, John Busbee, Kembrew McLeod, Kent Williams, Lauren Haldeman, Lee Keeler, Liz Rosa, Mike Kuhlenbeck, Ramona Muse Lambert, Rob Brezsny, Sahithi Shankaiahgari, Sam Locke Ward, Sarah Elgatian, Sara Williams, Skylar Gonzalez, Steven A. Arts, Tom Tomorrow, Victoria Fernandez

Interns

Carly Fedler, James Valentin, Lani Krull, Liz Rosa, Seth Coughlin

Since 2001 LittleVillageMag.com

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Issue 350

March 2026

Cover photo by Sahithi Shankaiahgari

A comedy revue that’s basically a live talk show. A new fest from the mind behind Mission Creek. A high-concept band. A Gen Z vinyl collector. Plus: Iconic venues, bookshop profiles, an Ethiopian restaurant review and more.

Meet this month’s contributors!

Arlette Uribe-Gonzalez is a library assistant at the Des Moines Public Library. She spends her time knitting, snuggling with her cats or stumbling across new hobbies (see: obsessions).

Dianne Siasoco is a writer serving up crunchy snacks and fresh stories in mom jeans and bluelight blockers. diasiawriter.com

Erik Jarvis is a musician based in Des Moines. He works for the Grinnell College music department and records music (his own and others’) in his basement as often as possible.

Jessie Kraemer is a writer and artist living in Iowa City. Follow her on instagram (@jkraem).

John Busbee produces The Culture Buzz, a weekly arts & culture radio show on kfmg.org, covering Iowa’s arts scene with an inclusive sweep of the cultural brush.

Kembrew McLeod is a founding Little Village columnist and the chair of Communication Studies at the University of Iowa.

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

Lauren Haldeman is a graphic novelist and poet. She has recieved an Iowa Arts Fellowship, a Sustainable Arts Foundation Award and fellowships from the Iowa Writers’ Workshop.

Lee Keeler is a film professor for the Des Moines Area Community College. He is a regular contributor for Boing Boing and spins records

at Black Sheep in downtown DSM. He co-founded Green Gravel Comedy in 2014.

Liz Rosa is a journalism student at Drake University, jugglling class, feelancing and work while still finding time for creativity.

Mike Kuhlenbeck is a freelance journalist and National Writers Union member based in Des Moines.

Ramona Muse Lambert makes art and music. Sometimes she’s in charge of dinner, too. Buy her art at ramonamuselambert.com.

Sahithi Shankaiahgari is a freelance photographer and a lover of good coffee, travel and her dog, Jasmine.

Sam Locke Ward is a cartoonist and musician from Iowa City. He self publishes the comic zines Voyage Into Misery and ‘93 Grind Out

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

Sara Williams is a multidisciplinary artist who was raised in Bondurant, iowa. She currently resides near Amana.

Skylar Gonzalez is a library worker and musician based in Iowa City. Catch him waxing Beatlemaniacal at Tuesday night Gabe’s jams.

Steven A. Arts is a writer and photographer living in Cedar Rapids.

Victoria Fernandez is the Teen Services Librarian at the Iowa City Public Library.

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Letters & Interactions

LV encourages readers to submit letters to Editor@LittleVillageMag.com. Please include your name, city of residence and any relevant job titles or affiliations. Letters may be edited for accuracy and style. To be considered for print publication, letters should be under 500 words. Preference is given to letters that have not been published elsewhere.

DO YOU Or aNY of your friends and neighbors live paycheck to paycheck and depend on SNAP benefits (food stamps) to put groceries on the table?

If so, you’re well aware of the government shutdown last November that disrupted those benefits. Nearly 270,000 Iowans had trouble buying groceries just before Thanksgiving.

This disruption demonstrated how fragile food security can be. Many families are still recovering, and the need for food assistance is greater than normal.

to support your neighbors as generously as you can: builtbycommunity.org/donate —David Leshtz, Iowa City

Damage from tariffs, Minneapolis killings go unmentioned as Trump complains to Iowans about ‘rigged elections,’ ‘paid insurrectionists’ (Jan. 28)

altoona amana ames ankeny Bettendorf

cedar Falls cedar rapids

clive coralville

Davenport

Des Moines

Dubuque East Dubuque, IL

East Moline, IL

Grimes Grinnell hiawatha hills huxley

Indianola

Iowa city

Johnston Kalona

Knoxville Le claire Madrid Maquoketa Marion Moline, IL

CommUnity Food Bank in Iowa City typically serves an average of 182 households a day. That number soared during the holidays and remains high in 2026.

Food pantries like CommUnity depend heavily on individual support. With plenty of winter ahead of us, now is a critical time

Ugh. This makes me so angry. While 47 keeps boasting about bringing manufacturing jobs back (which he hasn’t, really) he fails to mention a glaring truth, which is that most factories, and specifically John Deere, are actively transforming into “smart factories” that heavily rely on AI, advanced computers, and industry technologies that many seasoned factory workers may know nothing about - like using computers

HAVE AN OPINION?

instead of human beings for the majority of quality control, robotics/ autonomous systems for repetitive tasks like welding, etc. The “promise” is a factory where humans and robots work together, using technology to enhance instead of eliminating jobs. But we all know that this isn’t the reality. Far too many jobs will be lost in the name of innovation and productivity, with true product quality lost with the elimination of the human touch. —Heather H.

‘Reading is so important, but…’: Iowa House panel advances expanded ban on gender, sexuality materials in schools (Feb. 5)

You can try to erase us and we will just exist louder and bigger and stronger. Love always wins. —Lindsey E.

Being cruel seems half the point of being Republican. —Henry W.

PUBLIC NUISANCE

SARA WILLIAMS

Flood Safety

DO’S AND DONT’S

DO...

find out if you live in a floodplain. You may wantor need - flood insurance. Premiums in some areas are discounted 20%.

keep storm drains clear of debris. Report a clogged drain at icgov.org/Xpress.

DON'T...

walk in floodwater. Six inches of water can knock down an adult.

drive around road barriers during a flood. Twelve inches of water can float a small vehicle.

ICGOV.ORG/FLOOD

LEARN MORE City of Iowa City Development Services 319-356-5132

PERSONALS

Dogs named “Maverick” are a dime a dozen, but that doesn’t mean this Maverick isn’t special. He’s a 1-year-old pittie mix with light green eyes, ultra short hair and a happy-go-lucky approach to life. If you’re people, he’s out to please you, whether it takes cuddles, zoomies, prolonged eye contact or adorable sploots. Become the Goose to this Maverick by inquiring with the Iowa City Animal Center. Bonus: His adoption fee is sponsored!

IOWa cITY, FEB. 7

you were a table at Claude Upstairs on Saturday night. we were a group excited to try a new cocktail and dressed to the nines.....maybe next time a waiter will talk to us and let us know if it’s possible to put our name in or not...

Submissions may be edited for clarity and length, and may appear in print or online. Think you’re the subject of one? reach out: littlevillagemag.com/missed-connections

Just ban all books that mention any type of romantic relationship in any way, problem solved. —Katie S.

FTR, regardless of the content of a text, politicians putting limits on what can be discussed in schools, what can be read in schools, is about distrusting parents and educators. It is always about limiting critical thought. Critical thought requires critical inquiry and engagement. —Adam S.

Iowa City students walk out of class to protest ICE (Feb. 6)

One of those kids in that picture is mine!!! —Nate M.

It looks like their signs have been well thought out and I don’t think they got paid! —Judy A.

Windschitl ends 4th District campaign after Trump snub, dire fundraising report (Feb. 9)

Interesting. I thought he was destined for federal office the minute he entered the Statehouse. He probably did, too. I disagree with Windschitl on just about everything, but he is basically an honest man. He is a stiff-back radical Christian ultra conservative. But he is not, as far as I know, a slimy crook. Maybe that’s part of the problem. —Lj Y.

Protesters sing hymns inside Coralville Target as part of nationwide campaign pressuring the company to change its ICE stance (Feb. 9)

This is what faith in action actually looks like. —Ben P.

MOMBOY

This isn’t faith at all, it pure Socialism and a spin. Illegals are all criminals if they entered here the wrong way! Ice is just enforcing the law, if your unhappy about that, just deport with them! —Dan H.

ICE are the ones behaving like criminals. Masked, lawless thugs without warrants or due process, beating and even killing U.S. citizens

with impunity. 90% of immigrants being detained have no criminal record and many are going through the proper procedures towards citizenship. They are being arrested at their immigration appointments. The majority of Americans are smart and kind enough to see their abuse of power and cruelty. —Ben P.

As a Mennonite I’m grateful that we are

CINDY CLARK

out there doing what we do. I’m also glad that people are seeing what Mennonites believe and who we are. —Katherine C.

From a friend in Coralville, I am so proud of the efforts of your church community in so many ways. —Vicki L.

They were very peaceful yet got their message across! —Molly B.M.

Iowa House Republicans advance bills to eliminate local civil rights protections, allow parents to force LGBTQ kids into ‘conversion therapy’ (Feb. 10)

So called conversion therapy is tantamount to child abuse. —Ben S.

Conversion therapy is pseudoscience and incredibly damaging to the patient. It doesn’t work, it’s just abuse. —Katie R.

Can we take away the parent right that enables them to allow their child to marry underage? Let’s do that one. —Dawn Z.

This used to be a good state to live in. Now it’s just hate mongering, legislative bullying. This state will spend millions of dollars and insane amounts of time passing bills that further disenfranchise a tiny sliver of the population before it will ever address actual things that need attention, like education and infrastructure. —Rachel M.

Bill making it near impossible to designate Iowa waterways as impaired due to fecal bacteria contamination advances (Feb. 11)

This is truly insane. Sure, this body of water has high fecal bacteria, but we should give the shit in the water due process. Let’s hold off until we can do cyberpunk poop analysis to drill down on the exact fecal species. Wtf. —I.B.P.

Sure, let’s call up the Columbo of pig shit before taking a swim. —Alex C.

So is state senator Holt going to suggest Iowa’s community colleges offer a degree in animal poop analysis?? —Janice F.

Can we identify the fecal contamination impairing our government as “legislative”? —John K.

God just when you think it can’t get stupider!! I understand their desire to know where

Frederick Newell , founder and executive director of the Iowa City nonprofit Dream City, was honored with a Lifetime Achievement Award at the Heritage Legacy Awards in Clive on Feb. 7. Founded in 2006, Dream City offers resources and networking opportunities for local youth, families and entrepreneurs with a focus on Black Iowans, hosting workshops, youth leadership conferences, pop-up markets, free dinners, concerts, after-school programs, business mentorship and much more. Newell is also an employee in the Iowa City Community School District and a pastor at Purpose Place Church, which serves as the nonprofit’s base. The Heritage Legacy Awards are given at the annual I’ll Make Me a World in Iowa festival, celebrating African American arts, culture and communities since 1998.

hancher auditorium made Billboard magazine’s 2026 list of “Top Music Venues”—which included everything from Preservation Hall in New Orleans to The Sphere in Las Vegas—in the “Keeping it Indie” category. Billboard wrote the Iowa City venue “has become a quiet powerhouse for indie touring in the Midwest,” and “perfectly balances concert hall precision and intimate energy, hosting artists like Stereolab, Jason Isbell, and Neko Case.” The design of the 2016 auditorium, from its acoustics to its “smooth logistics,” are praised, along with its sightly location on the Iowa River in Iowa City.

Two Iowa buildings designed by the Des Moinesbased askStudio earned 2025 Design Awards from the Association of Licensed Architects (ALA) in November. The awards recognize “projects that demonstrate innovation, impact, and design excellence across a variety of categories and scales,” according to the ALA. The winning structures are Elite Octane, a dry mill ethanol plant in Atlantic, and Dobson Pipe Organ Builders, an instrument shop in Lake City. Dobson’s 50-year-old workshop was lost in a 2021 fire, but supporters from around the world helped them build the new, state-of-the-art facility from AskStudio, with a 46-foot-high ceiling for erecting their renowned organs.

INTERACTIONS

the pollution is coming from, but obviously we don’t need to know the species of animal to determine if the water is a health risk! If they want to pay for the science to determine animal species, fine—but why should that keep the DNR from listing that waterway?? —Lindsey F.

Oh I think we all know where the poop is rolling downhill from. —Michelle L.

It’s all pig shit. There, I identified it. —Zach G.

pedophiles. If this was a satire we’d all go ‘that’s too clumsy and heavy handed, they should make it more subtle’ but it’s the actual world we’re in! —Nate H.

There’s denying that there is a problem and then there’s prohibiting calling it a problem. —Borby K.

How ‘bout them Iowa Bears, though? Pretty cool, huh? —Jim P.

The Dow is over 50,000! —Dave B.

Iowa House bill would impose new restrictions on minors at public libraries, create criminal penalties for librarians (Feb. 13)

Books are vitamins for the soul. —Gordon W.M.

It’s bananas that these chuds are using ‘we gotta protect kids!’ as a way to justify attacks on public libraries at the exact same time that the Epstein files are coming out, showing that they’re all pedophiles or friends of or donors to

As a voracious child reader who read at a reading level way above her peers, I checked out STACKS of books every month from the IC Public Library. This seems like the stupidest attempt at controlling kids EVER. Most kids are walking around with a cell phone that gives them 24/7 access to all kinds of things. Parents with concerns can put controls in place for their child- that requires ACTION on their part. The rest of the kids should not be cordoned off. Even less effective than a border wall. What are Iowa representatives doing to improve healthcare, reduce cancer rates, market farm crops, protect our State’s natural resources and ensure we have top notch education? Start there. —T.S.A.

Letter to the editor: Connect the dots and join the resistance against Flock and the surveillance network (Feb. 16)

We need to shut the FLOCK up now! —Gregory D.

Cedar Rapids gives all Flock data to Brenna Bird willingly. What do you think happens to it from there? Did you consent to state and federal agencies knowing your whereabouts at all times? Did you opt in to your real-time location data being sold

by a large corporation? We also know that CRPD upgraded the license plate reader cameras to high definition remotely operated cameras capable of tracking people - not license plates - without city council’s knowledge. And city council has not made any public statements about this or questioned this decision. —Nicole W.

They’re showing up on rural roads. It’s not just a city problem now. —Alex W.

One day after exiting the Senate race, Nathan Sage endorses Josh Turek, calls Zach Wahls ‘not authentic’ (Feb. 17)

He could have just endorsed Turek. That would have impressed me more. —Nancy D.

I learned a hard lesson via Tulsi Gabbard that you cannot judge a person’s genuineness from a couple of public interactions with them. I spent a lot of time with Zach and his family during my campaign and you can’t fake that kind of compassionate family dynamic. He cares about others, a lot. Very disappointed in Sage’s statements and I predict they may backfire for Turek. —Jodi C.

Extremely disappointed in Sage here. How you finish something matters. He had the opportunity to show a lot of class here, and he took a different route. Sad because I really liked the guy too. The Zach Wahls I know is about as solid as they come, and that’s why I’m prouder than ever to support him. —Stacey W.

Raise your hand if you were asked by the Wahls campaign to comment on this article. —Kay K.

Zach is like a younger brother/ nephew to me. We first bonded 15 years ago over our shared experience of having two moms; his moms are my dear friends and we’re all members of the UU religious community. I was the treasurer for his first statewide campaign. He knows I have a fairly broad reach online. He didn’t ask me to do shit. Obvs I support Zach to defeat Hinson, but I would have enthusiastically supported Nathan in the general and I will enthusiastically support Josh in the general, if that’s the way the primary cookie crumbles. —Adam I.

Iowa Senate committee approves bill forcing medical training programs to accommodate unvaccinated students (Feb. 19)

What’s next? Special accommodations for surgeons who don’t want to cut into human bodies? —Steven G.

We let misinformed, uneducated opinions be presented as valid stances by media for years because controversy generates traffic. This is what we get. —Josiah S.

Wait. Isn’t this affirmative action? I thought we weren’t doing that anymore? —Trinity R.

If you don’t believe the science of vaccines you don’t belong in healthcare! —Julie K.

MAHA is a eugenics program. And MAGA is the recruitment tool for the army of morons who are helping implement it. —Scott K.

Expect law suits from loved ones without functioning immune system who are exposed to these Typhoid Marys allowed in tiny airless exam rooms. Shame on the stupidity being elevated in this state. —Kate B.H.

In Case You Missed It

Catch up on LV’s top arts stories from February.

Sundance 2026 features documentaries on Iowa teacher Jane Elliott, the chicano Movement and public access TV

By Ariana Martinez, Feb. 4

‘art is my escape’: Paintings, drawings, a Popsicle stick sculpture and other intricate work make up the 2026 art from the Inside Out exhibition

Feb. 6

By Seth Coughlin,

review: The Milk carton Kids and Sierra hull present two sides of folk in one big night at the Englert

By Carly Fedler, Feb. 13

Spellbinding Novels Featuring Trans Characters Reads to Harvest Hope for the Planet

March in Iowa will bring winter thaws and spring cold snaps. Time will jump forward on the 8th, spring arrives on the 20th, and International Trans Day of Visibility will round out the month on the 31st. In light of the latter, here are four of my favorite books with trans characters that I wish had existed when I was growing up.

Sir Callie and the Champions of Helston by Esme SymesSmith is a great middle-grade novel. Callie knows three things to be true at the start of the book: they are not a girl, they will be a knight and their father loves them. All three of these assertions are doubted and tested time and time again, but Callie’s determination and strength make them a force to be reckoned with.

A celebration of family and friendship, Cemetery Boys by Aiden Thomas weaves magic and tradition into the world we know today. The book takes place on the eve of the Day of the Dead and follows Yadriel as he uses magic to try and solve the mystery of his cousin’s death—but accidentally summons the ghost of his classmate instead. As Yadriel and Julian begrudgingly work together, a story of discovery and love (both old and new) unfolds.

I fell in love with Pride and Prejudice at age 8 via the 2005 movie adaptation with Kiera Knightley. When I read Most Ardently by Gabe Cole Novoa, I was brought back to myself at age 13, reading the original text for the first time. The story centers on Oliver, the second eldest child of the Bennets. While Oliver and Lizzie are completely separate characters, their relationships with their individual Darcys are built from the same foundation of mutual respect, understanding and acceptance.

Canto Contigo by Jonny Garza Villa took me by surprise. I went into it expecting Rafie and Rey’s rivals-to-lovers storyline, but was blown away by the discussions of grief, explorations of identity, and the plentiful exhibitions of Mexican culture and Mariachi music. Equally steeped in joy and woe, this ultimately uplifting book shows the importance of taking a chance on yourself.

—Arlette Uribe-Gonzalez, Des Moines Public Library

GEarth Expo

Saturday, April 11, 1-4 p.m., Robert A Lee Recreation Center, Iowa City

wendolyn Brooks wrote, “We are each other’s harvest. We are each other’s business. We are each other’s magnitude and bond.” I often return to this quote because it beautifully highlights how the ways we interact, create community and share responsibility can create the world we want. Here are some great titles that honor our connection to the land and advocate for food systems rooted in health, equity and resilience in a rapidly changing world.

It’s never too early to learn about biodiversity and protect our planet. Alberto Salas Plays Paka Paka Con la Papa by Sara Andrea Fajardo is a gorgeous children’s picture book sharing the story of Alberto Salas, a Peruvian conservation scientist obsessed with protecting and preserving potatoes. The author uses simple Indigenous Quechua and Spanish vocabulary, which adds exciting movement and rhythm. The illustrations are fabulous, some literally shimmering. Warning: You may never look at a potato the same way again!

How to Change Everything by Naomi Klein is specifically tailored for youth aged 10 and up. It contextualizes the climate crisis we find ourselves in and offers tangible ways for young people to advocate for the planet. Klein offers a well-researched body of information in a calm, detailed way, highlighting youth around the globe who are standing up to mobilize their communities. She has called young people a fire that could save us all, and invites every young person to add their spark.

To know nature is to love nature, and there may not be a greater lover and harbinger of the natural world in poet form than Mary Oliver. Devotions is a collection of Oliver’s most treasured poems about shared humanity and our intricate connection to our ecosystems. If you want to revel in grace, beauty and profound simplicity while detoxing your body and soul, this is the book for you.

We are Each Other’s Harvest by Natalie Baszile is a brilliant anthology on the legacy of Black U.S. farmers from Emancipation to today. Told through highly readable essays, poems, photographs and first-hand conversations, Baszile is astute at describing the systematic impediment and erasure of Black landownership, but also the resilience and the future of Black farming.

Sean Sherman is a Minneapolis-based Indigenous Oglala Lakota chef—a proponent of indigenous ingredients and cooking techniques. Sherman’s brand-new book Turtle Island shares the interconnectedness of people, land and histories from the perspective of the three-time James Beard Award-winning Sioux chef. Learn how to eat snout to tail, or skip to the plant-forward recipes. A fascinating read!

If you’re inspired to grow something of your own, check out the Seed Library or ask about ICPL garden volunteer opportunities by emailing victoria-fernandez@icpl.org.

—Victoria Fernandez, Iowa City Public Library

March a-LIST: MUSIC

DES MOINES/AMES

Mon, March 2, 6 p.m., Fabrizio w/ Connar Moon, xBk Live

Tue, March 3, 6 p.m., Tinsley Ellis, xBk Live Thu, March 5, 7 p.m., Tyler Farr, Wooly’s Thu, March 5, 7:30 p.m., Gaelic Storm, Hoyt Sherman Place Fri, March 6, 6 p.m., Rittz w/ Dropout Kings, xBk Live Fri, March 6, 7 p.m., Voix De Ville: A Noce Folly, Noce Fri, March 6, 7 p.m., Jeni Grouws: More Songs from the Bottom Shelf, xBk Annex

Sat, March 7, Femme Fest, Locals Presented by No Such Sound, Femme Fest celebrates Women’s History Month in style, bringing the best in femme-fronted punk and ska bands from around the Midwest (Peach Vomit, Irish Sunglasses, The Starts Go Out) to mash out with local favorites like Lame Ass Mother Phuckers, BanjoKat, MORE CHEESE and more.

Sat, March 7, 9 p.m., Latin Night w/ Son Peruchos, Noce Sat, March 7, 7 p.m., Chicago Farmer & The Fieldnotes w/ Weary Ramblers, xBk Live Sun, March 8, 5 p.m., The Po’ Ramblin’ Boys w/ Black Dirt, xBk Live Sun, March 8, 6 p.m., Altan 40th Anniversary Tour, The Ingersoll Sun, March 8, 6:30 p.m., Volumes Presents: The Mirror Touch Release Tour, Wooly’s Mon, March 9, 6 p.m., Sex Mex w/ Greg Wheeler and the Poly Mall Cops, xBk Live Mon, March 9, 7 p.m., Steven Curtis Chapman, Hoyt Sherman Place Mon, March 9, 7 p.m., punk nite presents: girls to the front!, Maggie’s Rumble Room Mon, March 9, 7 p.m., The Floozies + Too Many Zooz, Wooly’s Tue, March 10, 6 p.m., Hudson Freeman w/ Brian Gerald Bulger, xBk Live Tue, March 10, 7 p.m., The Des Moines Big Band, In Residence, Noce Tue, March 10, 7 p.m., Hawthorne Heights, letlive., Creeper, Wooly’s Tue, March 10, 7:30 p.m., Jeff Tweedy w/ Sima Cunningham, Hoyt Sherman Place

Wed, March 11, 6 p.m., Songwriter Lounge Open Mic Night, xBk Annex

Wed, March 11, 6 p.m., Tommy Castro & the Painkillers, xBk Live

Wed, March 11, 7 p.m., Railroad Earth, Wooly’s Wed, March 11, 7:30 p.m., An Evening With Toto, Hoyt Sherman Place

Thu, March 12, 6 p.m., Bermuda Search Party w/ The Carousel and Dirty Blonde, xBk Live

Thu, March 12, 7:30 p.m., Courtney Patton & Jason Walsmith, The Ingersoll Fri, March 13, 6 p.m., JS Streible: Songs, Stories, Poems & More, xBk Annex Fri, March 13, 6 p.m., Southbound and Mission in the Rain, xBk Live Fri, March 13, 7 p.m., Torch Songs: Lauren Vilmain w/ Her Jazz Orchestra, Noce Fri, March 13, 7 p.m., Andy Juhl, Locals Fri, March 13, 7 p.m., Wheatus, Wooly’s Fri, March 13, 7:30 p.m., Trisha Yearwood, Hoyt Sherman Place Fri & Sat, March 13 & 14, 7:30 p.m., Weary Ramblers, The Ingersoll Sat, March 14, 6 p.m., DemiCon Lite: Music, xBk Annex Sat, March 14, 7 p.m., Merkules, Wooly’s Sat, March 14, 7 p.m., Nikolai & The Dirty Guys, Locals

Sat, March 14, 7:30 p.m., Soulcage w/ rapture and hot Kunch, xBk Live Fresh off the June release of their debut album Monstrophe, Des Moines’ Soulcage continues to make a name for itself within the city’s storied heavy rock and metal pantheon. The evening sees support from fellow locals Hot Kunch and Kansas numetal band Rapture.

Sun, March 15, 6 p.m., ghostwives, The Nunnery, Quiet Takes, xBk Live Sun, March 15, 7 p.m, Josiah Queen, Jervis Campbell and Gable Price, Val Air Ballroom Mon, March 16, 6 p.m., Haunt and Intranced, xBk Live Tue, March 17, 6 p.m., St. Paddy’s Day Party w/ The Crowfoot Rakes, xBk Live Tue, March 17, 7 p.m., Two Feet w/ Sub Urban, Brothel, Wooly’s

Wed, March 18, 7 p.m., Cyrille Aimee, Noce Thu, March 19, 6 p.m., LaMP, xBk Live

Thu, March 19, 7 p.m., The NOLA Jazz Band, Noce Fri, March 20, 6:30 p.m., Secret Formula, Locals Fri, March 20, 7 p.m., Fust & Merce w/ Walker Rider, xBk Live

Sat, March 21, 6 p.m., Deeds & Co, xBk Annex Sat, March 21, 7 p.m., Tyler Richton & The High Bank Boys, Wooly’s Sat, March 21, 7 p.m., Display Case, Jordan Arndt & the Howlers, Weatherhead, Locals

Sat, March 21, 7 p.m., TWEN w/ Monsoon, xBk Live Sun, March 22, 6 p.m., Charlie Parr w/ Sam Locke Ward, xBk Live Mon, March 22, 6 p.m., Lake Drive w/ Flwers, Callback and Rutabaga, xBk Live Tues, March 24, 7 p.m., The Happy Fits, Wooly’s Tues, March 24, 7 p.m., The Des Moines Big Band, In Residence, Noce Wed, March 25, 7 p.m., The Summer Set, senses, People R Ugly, Good Boy Daisy, Wooly’s Thu, March 26, 7 p.m., The Blake Shaw Big(ish) Band, Noce Thu, March 26, 8 p.m., Marty Stuart and his Fabulous Superlatives, Hoyt Sherman Place Fri, March 27, 7 p.m., Brad & The Big Wave, Locals Fri, March 27, 7 p.m., Stephane Wrembel, Noce Fri, March 27, 7 p.m., San Holo, Wooly’s Fri, March 27, 7:30 p.m., Jake Owen, Hoyt Sherman Place

Sat, March 28, 6:30 p.m., Attacked by Badgers, Hookshot, Three Finger Betty, Locals Sat, March 28, 7 p.m., Coyote Island, xBk Live Sun, March 29, 7 p.m., DAVVN, Jack the Underdog, On Hiatus, Arcade Riot, xBk Live Sun, March 29, 7:30 p.m., BBNO$, jungle bobby, Val Air Ballroom Mon, March 30, 6 p.m., Lilly Hiatt, xBk Live Tues, March 31, 7 p.m., The Des Moines Big Band, In Residence, Noce Wed, april 1, 6 p.m., Eddie 9V w/ Cherokee Social Fri, april 3, 7 p.m., Astro Brat, Worst Impressions, Bullets & Butterflies, The Modern Era, Locals

IOWA CITY

Sun, March 1, 6:30 p.m., Wix Patton, Gabe’s Tue, March 3, 7 p.m., Penelope Road w/ Harvey Street, Gabe’s Wed, March 4, 7:30 p.m., Gaelic Storm w/ JigJam, The Englert Thu, March 5, 6 p.m., Iowa to Illinois Tour ft ChiSongWriter, Tone Da Boss & More, Gabe’s Thu, March 5, 7:30 p.m., Dar Williams w/ Joy Clark, The Englert

contact Buzz

Power Play

PTheir new album is called Home, but don’t expect a simple stomp-clap from this dynamic Des Moines band.

BY JOhN BUSBEE

atrick MacCready was a music-curious kid, but he didn’t take well to traditional music education.

“I grew up in Pella and got guitar lessons from a local shop. I found it too scary, and I actually had a falling out with an instructor in the school band because the instruction part was too scary for me,” said the lead singer of Jinnouchi Power. “Sitting with a guy and going through chords and stuff was too much. So, I put the guitar in the corner of my room when I was 8.”

“When I was 16, I met a friend who had the same interests as I did. We taught each other how to play stuff. Then I figured out how to record on my own.”

MacCready took these new skills and ran to Des Moines. “It was the nearest big city, and I wanted to meet some people and form a band.” He found a bandmate and friend in Forest Cochran. The two moved into a house together and formed Jinnouchi Power.

“He’s the bass player. He grew up here, so he knew a bunch of people and said, ‘Hey, everybody, I am really into this music and I really support this.’ That was really cool,” MacCready explained. “Although we have had a couple of different drummers and guitar players, Forest and I have stayed the same.”

The anime Summer Wars provided the band’s name. The sci-fi family drama revolves around a family with the surname Jinnouchi, which roughly

translates to “power from home” or “power from inside.” MacCready was inspired. He dreamed up a fictitious power company, Jinnouchi Power, designing specialty jumpsuits, name tags and a slogan: “America’s Favorite Electric Company.”

Seven years of conceptual work went into their 2022 debut album Kaleidokoi. It was a great experience, MacCready said, but by the time it was done, he couldn’t help but feel the band had already evolved beyond it.

“IT’S TUrNED INTO ThIS DIaLOGUE I GET TO haVE WITh MY WhOLE cOMMUNITY, aND WE GET TO BUILD SOMEThING, aND IT’S rEaLLY cOOL.”

— PATRICK MacCREADY

“I wish I had a mentor in the earlier days to let me know that what I was doing was good,” he said. “It seemed like the first five or six years, we were only opening for touring bands and not getting people to [our] shows. But … I realized that by making music and playing shows here, I became part of this

community in a way that I didn’t think was going to happen. I had an idea of ‘oh, you make songs, you put a record out, people hear it, they start liking you, and then you get more successful.’ Now, it’s turned into this dialogue I get to have with my whole community, and we get to build something, and it’s really cool.”

While the band struggles to categorize their sound, they understand who’s listening. “The people who do like rock and roll and still want a wholesome time have become that core of our audience,” according to MacCready.

Jinnouchi Power’s new album, Home, released in February, was created with that community in mind. (Read LV’s review on pg. 57.) It’s more personal and less conceptual, stripping back the jumpsuits to explore aspects of MacCready’s life as a husband, father and uncle.

“Home didn’t have the pressure that the first album had,” he said. For one, it was self-produced in their own abode rather than through a formal sound studio, as Kaleidokoi had been. The visuals on the album were inspired by the first house MacCready and Cochran lived in, based on a series of photographs taken of the house before they moved out.

Home meditates on family, both blood and chosen, close and extended. The current iteration of the quartet includes MacCready, Cochran, Kale Hawks (keyboard, vocals, trumpet), and Alex Pargulski (drums). But the constant with Jinnouchi Power is how MacCready, the songwriter, and Cochran, the album producer, work together. MacCready brings a near-complete song to Cochran, who pushes it over the edge with an added chord change or other enhancement.

“Everything is easy now, because there’s no expectation of what the album will be when it’s done,” said MacCready. “In the last couple of years, it’s been the process that’s important to me. That’s when I learn new skills, make discoveries.”

Jinnouchi Power has two albums’ worth of music developed. One of the albums will include both new songs and retooled old ones, including some that are continually requested by fans. The band hopes to infuse new energy and perspective into their early catalogue. “The other [album] will be pretty challenging for the listener with weird stuff for our fan base. If we give them something challenging, they will accept the challenge and explore the lyrics, the music and the expanded approach.”

MacCready refers to his thought process as a memory palace. If you’re meeting Jinnouchi Power for the first time, consider this an invitation to step inside the front door and tour its well-lit, everexpanding corridors.

“Once you enter, as you go deeper, it’s going to be rewarding to see where all the little tangents go,” MacCready said. “I imagine it’s like someone following the musical rabbit holes. The silliness and the absurdity are all part of our adventures.”

Jinnouchi Power. Courtesy of Tyler Erickson

MUSIC

Thu, March 5, 8 p.m., Sicard Hollow w/ The Lonesome Thrillbilles, Wildwood Fri, March 6, 6 p.m., Ricky Chilton, Wildwood

Fri, March 6, 7 p.m., halfloves w/ anthony Worden & The Illierati and James Tutson, Gabe’s It’s a triple header at Gabe’s on March 6 as beloved Eastern Iowa band Halfloves celebrates the 10th anniversary of their eponymous album, joined by rockersongwriters Anthony Worden & the Illiterati and James Tutson. The Halfloves won plenty of hearts and minds when the record debuted a decade ago… back when things just felt… simpler. Or so we thought. Celebrate that time.

Sat, March 7, 8 p.m., Ace Hood w/ Duke Deuce & Dizzy Wright, Gabe’s

Sat, March 7, 8 p.m., an Iowa Tribute to Todd Snider, Wildwood Todd Snider was a regular visitor in the state of Iowa, and we were blessed he came through as often as he did before his untimely death in November. In that unmistakable Nashville way, Snider blended a singer-songwriter aesthetic with the woes of a worn-down country rocker. This March, Iowa City celebrates his legacy for a good cause— at a tribute show benefiting the Iowa City Songwriters Festival, set for its second round this fall. Grab a bottle of beer and a pool cue as songwriters from around the area put their best Alpine hats on, backed by a house band of Iowa Americana mainstays.

Sun, March 8, 5:30 p.m., Butcher Babies w/ Eva Under Fire, Switchblade Saturdays, St. October & Wyvern, Wildwood Mon, March 9, 6 p.m., Brokencyde – Teach Me How To Scene Tour, Wildwood Mon, March 9, 6:30 p.m., saturdays at your place w/ Retirement Party & Kerosene Heights, Gabe’s Wed, March 11, 7 p.m., Burlington Street Bluegrass Band, Wildwood Fri, March 13, 7 p.m., Brad & The Big Wave, Wildwood Fri, March 13, 9 p.m., Jordana w/ Kelcey Ayer, Gabe’s Mon, March 16, 6 p.m., The Convalescence, Wildwood

Tues, March 17, 8 p.m., Haunt & Intranced, Wildwood Wed, March 18, 6 p.m., Vicious Rumors w/ RessurectioN MarY & Fungal Mass, Wildwood Thu, March 19, 8 p.m., 97 Flood w/ New Neighbors, Pie Day & Blist Her, Gabe’s Fri, March 20, 6 p.m., Tyler Richton & The High Bank Boys, Wildwood Fri, March 20, 7 p.m., Crazy & The Brains w/ Hans Gruber & The Die Hards, Gabe’s Sat, March 21, 6 p.m., A Sense of Purpose w/ Exit Wounds, Visions of Terror & Infernal Instinct, Gabe’s Sun, March 22, 6:30 p.m., Mia Asano, Wildwood Sun, March 22, 7:30 p.m., The Robert Cray Band, The Englert Tue, March 24, 6 p.m., VentanA w/ Aeternum & St. October, Wildwood Tue, March 24, 8 p.m., MINKA w/ Hambone & The Maple Babies, Two Boyfriends & Early Girl, Gabe’s Wed, March 25, 7 p.m., Burlington Street Bluegrass Band, Wildwood Thu, March 26, 6 p.m., Origami Button w/ Snooze, Gabe’s Fri, March 27, 7 p.m., Red Cedar Chamber Music: Return to Roots, James Theater Sat, March 28, 7:30 p.m., Marty Stuart and His Fabulous Superlatives, The Englert Sat, March 28, 9 p.m., Kickstand Productions present Sploinky Rave, Gabe’s Sat, March 28, 8 p.m., The Fretliners, Wildwood Sun, March 29, 7 p.m., Snoochie Boochie, Gabe’s

Mon, March 30, 7 p.m., 93&Alive - In Your House Tour, Gabe’s Wed, apr 1, 7 p.m., BLAX w/ Taiyamo Denku, Open Minded, Eren Kahn & New Era, Gabe’s Thu, april 2, 8 p.m., RiFF RAFF, Wildwood Fri, april 3, 6 p.m., Todd Day Wait w/ Sam Joens, Wildwood Fri, april 3, 8 p.m., Clarion w/ Forest, Bed & Stelladrone, Gabe’s

CEDAR RAPIDS

Thu, March 5, 7 p.m., Leslie Mendelson, CSPS Hall

Fri, March 6, 5 & 8 p.m., The carson Parker Trio, Opus concert cafe Every first Friday of the month, KCCK-FM and Orchestra Iowa present jazz in downtown Cedar Rapids’ Opus Concert Cafe. This month features the Carson Parker Trio. Parker, who was picked as the sole pianist for the National Jazz Band of America in 2023, is joined by bassist Blake Shaw and drummer Zane Gedler.

Nonstop

If anyone could turn an “anti-homecoming concert” into a new Iowa City institution,

it’s Andre Perry. BY KENT WILLIaMS

Ifirst met Perry standing in front of the bar at The Mill (R.I.P.). He was memorable for his manner: he pays attention, asks probing questions, looks you in the eye and seems to actually care about what you say. At the time he had a band, The LonelyHearts, and was working on an MFA in Nonfiction Writing at the University of Iowa. The Mill hired him as their music booker.

“I’ve got three homes: D.C., San Francisco and Iowa City,” Perry told me over a call. “D.C. is where I came up. San Francisco, where I moved when I was 21, 22. I lived there five years, but I think the amount of experience and learning that happened there made it one of the most impactful places that I’ve lived. Then I moved here [Iowa City] to come to school, and as you know, I’ve been here for 20 years.”

Perry and friends like Craig Ely created the Iowa City Mission Creek Festival in 2006, an off-shoot of

Stop/Time Festival Friday & Saturday, April 3 & 4, various times and venues

Halfloves,

“WE’rE hONOrING aLL ThaT INNOVaTION ThaT’S haPPENED OVEr ThE YEarS ... ThaT’S BEEN a ThING ThaT IS IN OUr DNa. WE’rE rEaLLY INTErESTED IN ThOSE LEFT TUrNS ThaT arTISTS WhO cOME OUT OF a DIFFErENT TraDITION MaKE.” — ANDRE PERRY

Jeff Ray’s Mission Creek fest in San Francisco. In 2010, Perry was hired to lead the Englert Theatre. He left the role in 2021 to serve as executive director at Hancher Auditorium.

His responsibility, as he sees it, is to ask, “How can we open up doors, give students [and] us as community members an opportunity to engage with or make art?”

“That’s part of what I live for,” he said. “Anything that’s gonna push that along, I’m all in.”

In April, Perry’s team at Hancher will present Stop/ Time, billed as a brand-new, two-day, multi-venue, multi-artist festival. Like Mission Creek, programming will extend across the UI campus and Iowa City community, including the Englert, Voxman Concert Hall, the Masonic Lodge, Gabe’s and Riverside Theatre. International artists Branford Marsalis and Tortoise, local musicians such as Miracles of God and Pieta Brown, as well as up-and-coming jazz artists will be featured.

It’s hard not to be impressed by what Perry’s done in two decades in Iowa City. He wasn’t alone in building the artistic institutions he’s directed, but his enthusiasm is especially contagious. LV caught up with Perry about what to expect at Stop/Time, how

he courts art patrons at Hancher and who he sees as his audience (spoiler: everyone).

What were the inspirations that informed which artists were booked for Stop/Time?

We’re learning. It’s year one. If you’re to ask me in two months, I’ll probably know more than I know today. It’s just the spirit of innovation, specifically in music, but also in all these other disciplines of the arts. We’re really interested in connections between downtown Iowa City, the campus and the University of Iowa. You’ve got this university that has really invested in creative culture for over 100 years. Those of us who are also in the community, maybe we went there, maybe we didn’t, but we start building our own things downtown and then beyond, out to the farmlands.

We’re honoring all that innovation that’s happened over the years. You think of the teachers and artists who maybe weren’t associated with the university, the students who come through, that’s been a thing that is in our DNA. We want to honor the person who learned to play classical music, or learned to play jazz, whether in the community or the conservatory, then just went in a totally different direction. We’re

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Book stores ✓ Game Stores ✓ Libraries

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Museums ✓ Music Venues ✓ Bike Shops ✓ Boutiques ✓ Hair Salons ✓ Yoga Studios ✓ Doctors

Contractors...

From left: Pieta Brown Zak Neumann / Little Village; Jeffrey Lewis Duncan Cruickshank, via the artist; Ambrose Akinmusire via the artist; Evicshen Lorenz Van Berckelaer, via the artist; Collage by Kellan Doolittle / Little Village

MUSIC

Sat, March 7, 9:30 a.m., Art & Soul

Blues Brunch & Silent Art Auction

Feature Kevin Burt, CSPS Hall

Sat, March 7, 7:30 p.m., St. Practice

Day with Wylde Nept, Ideal Theater Sat, March 7, 8 p.m., Alash Ensemble, CSPS Hall

Sat, March 7, 7:30 p.m., Bugs Bunny at the Symphony, Paramount Theatre

Fri, March 13, 7 p.m., Ideal Idol Vol V: Semi Finals, Ideal Theater Fri, March 13, 7:30 p.m., The Ten Tenors, Paramount Theatre

Wed, March 18, 7 p.m., The MOJO - Dennis ‘DaddyO’ - McMurrin Trio, Opus Concert Cafe

Thu, March 19, 7 p.m., Teada, CSPS Hall

Fri, March 20, 7 p.m., Ideal Idol

Vol V: Finals, Ideal Theater

Sat, March 21, 7:30 p.m., Masterworks IV, Paramount Theatre

Sat, March 21, 8 p.m., The Rocking Dead | Jett Threatt, Ideal Theater

Tue, March 24, 6 p.m., Key Change - #5, Opus Concert Cafe

Thu, March 26, 7 p.m., Casket Robbery, CSPS Hall

Fri, March 27, 8 p.m., EDM Night, Ideal Theater Sat, March 28, 7:30 p.m., Cadence Chamber Music, Opus Concert Cafe

Sat, March 28, March Metal Madness: round 2, Ideal Theater Cedar Rapids proves once again that it’s the epicenter of all things metal in the state of Iowa. The all-local lineup consists of KnuckleheaD, Dark Agenda, Cobra Headtrip and Anti-Kingdom and promises to turn things up at the Ideal.

Thu, april 2, 7 p.m., Yagody, CSPS Hall Fri, April 3, 5 p.m., Chris Merz Very Happy Band, Opus Concert Cafe

CEDAR FALLS/ WATERLOO

Fri, March 13, 7 p.m., Backhand Blue, The Loft, Waterloo

Sat, March 13, 7 p.m., rush cleveland Trio w/ TVOhL, The Loft, Waterloo Rush Cleveland, even after six decades in the music scene, shows no signs of slowing down. The Iowa Blues Hall of Famer plays the Loft with Will Quegg on drums and Gordy Sankey on bass. The elder statesman of blues are joined by Waterloo locals the Value of Human Life.

Sat, March 28, 7 p.m., Phoenix Curse, St. October and Heir of Sorrow, The Loft, Waterloo

Sat, april 4, 8 p.m., 404 Day 2026 - 10 Years of Shitty Rock Music w/ Bullets and Butterflies, The Modern Era, Sorry, Pluto, The Loft, Waterloo

QUAD CITIES

Tue, March 3, 6 p.m., Victor Jones, Raccoon Motel

Wed, March 4, 6 p.m., Jason Eady w/ Marques Morel

Thu, March 5, 6 p.m., David Wimbish of The Collection w/ Jesse James Deconto of the Pinkerton Raid, Raccoon Motel

Fri, March 6, 7 p.m., Adam Weiner aka Low Cut Connie, Raccoon Motel

Fri, March 6, 8 p.m., Chicago Farmer & The Fieldnotes, Common Chord

Sat, March 7, 7 p.m., Clementine w/ Company Dimes, Raccoon Motel

Sat, March 7, 7 p.m., V. Vecker w/ Lucas Berns, Rozz-Tox, Rock Island

Wed, March 11, 6 p.m., Dj Obie, Raccoon Motel

Thu, March 12, 6 p.m., Quiet Takes w/ The Nunnery, Raccoon Motel

STOP/TIME

really interested in those left turns that artists who come out of a different tradition make. How do we celebrate that?

Discovery remains important to me, and to our team. There’s a lot of stuff we know that’s cool that just doesn’t get on as many stages. We live in a community that supports that, but you still have to tend to it. Stop/Time is a pilot program for spreading out in the community a little more.

I think we have such great spaces in this community, in town, official, non-official, on campus, off campus. I think celebrating them and doing stuff in them is part of continuing to push the culture forward. We’re gonna do a thing on the Pentacrest. We’re going to have this poet do what we’re almost calling the Stop/ Time Convocation, where we come together to hold a service. This brass band, the Westerlies, is coming out to play this collection of traditional American and shape-note music. Family Folk Machine, half of their choir is going to sing on it. Some of the kids in the School of Music brass are gonna come out and play. It’s a celebration of that space.

Kat and the Hurricane, photo by Willow Ray, via the artist

Fri, March 13, 6 p.m., Midwest Queer Showcase: Kat and the hurricane w/ Early Girl & Emily the Band, raccoon Motel We don’t know if we can write anything better than the band descriptors on the flyer for the Midwest Queer Showcase. So go check out the “neon grunge princess punk” of Iowa City’s Early Girl, the “trans synth rock/sad lesbian music” of Madison, Wisconsin’s Kat and the Hurricane, and the “queer girl indie pop” of Peoria’s Emily the Band at this colorful show.

Sat, March 14, 7 p.m., Chained Up Alice: Alice In Chains Tribute, Raccoon Motel Sat, March 14, 8 p.m., Amateur Selectors Series, Rozz-Tox, Rock Island

Thu, March 19, 6 p.m., Carriers w/ DD Island & Zach Moulton (of Silverada), Raccoon Motel

Fri, March 20, 7 p.m., Brad & The Big Wave, Raccoon Motel

Fri, March 20, 7 p.m., JJJJJerome Ellis, Lia Kohl, Zachary Good, Rozz-Tox, Rock Island Fri, March 20, 7:30 p.m., Quad City Singers: America The Beautiful, Common Chord

Sat, March 21, 8 p.m., Sit Next By Us w/ Lis & Scottie, Rozz-Tox, Rock Island Sun, March 22, 6 p.m., Minka, Raccoon Motel

We’re only joking when we call it the “AntiHomecoming Concert.” But instead of being a massively popular band or rap artist or DJ, it’s going to be a ragtag group of writers and poets and singers and brass players. We’re just gonna set up, right in the center of town by the Old Capitol.

The adjustment of going to hancher, even from the Englert, must have been a step up professionally, but you’re dealing with a completely different set of people, particularly the people that underwrite the shows, contributors. You have to actively court and charm those people a bit. For me, it’s … I don’t want to say easy, but I just say what’s going on, and try to always be speaking from

the heart. There’s no real prep, there’s just, “Here’s what’s important. Thank you for supporting.” Just being straight-up with people. Part of my job is to, at least as I see it, help people figure out how they can meaningfully invest in the community they’re in.

I know not everyone loves that, but for me, it’s part of how we determine the culture and the support and the foundations that we have in this town, in this area. My work at the university is just one little sliver of that. Many other people are doing that all over our community.

So to your question, was that an adjustment? Sure, in that, some of the folks are new, and you’re getting to know people, trying to understand where people are coming from. But I think I very much understood that that was a big part of the job. I really believe in the project, which is not just Hancher, it’s Performing Arts at Iowa. Larger than that, it’s being committed to the creative culture of the campus and the community that’s around us.

Do you have plans for the future of h ancher that you can talk about, or how you want to see hancher changing over time? What are your ambitions? My ambitions are very transparent. How do we continue to build a revelatory arts culture at the University of Iowa that’s going to benefit the students, those who live here, those who work there, those who live in this whole state? How do we keep pushing that forward? How do we bring in support for students? How do we bring in support for the teachers? How do we collaborate with the community? That’s it. The vision and the mission and the drive is to get to everyone.

Andre Perry at Witching Hour, 2017. Zak Neumann / Little Village

MUSIC

Sun, March 22, 7 p.m., Takaat w/ Glurge + Friendless, rozz-Tox, rock Island Takaat, the rhythm section of Mdou Moctor, return to Rozz-Tox for another evening of poly-rhythmic sonic chaos. The group is joined by the dirgepop stylings of Minneapolis band Glurge and the virtuosic drumming of percussionist Jon Mueller, a.k.a. Friendless.

Thu, March 26, 6:30 p.m., Fathom and More, Common Chord

Fri, March 27, 7 p.m., Sexcult w/ Shadow Hounds, Phantom Threat & Fungal Mass, Raccoon Motel

Fri, March 27, 7 p.m., Pet Peeves + Fatbaby, Rozz-Tox, Rock Island

Sat, March 28, 7 p.m., Educational David w/ Running Man & Saltydog, Raccoon Motel

Sun, March 29, 6 p.m., Greg Wheeler & The Poly Mall cops w/ Mr. Softheart & cough N Flop, raccoon Motel Des Moines’ Greg Wheeler & The Poly Mall Cops are coming to the Quad Cities on a high, fresh off the drop of their latest album Slimephone Surveillance and subsequent write-up in the UK’s Classic Rock magazine. The garage punk slimers are joined by fellow DSM titans Mr. Softheart and locals Cough N Flop.

Thu, april 2, 6 p.m., Iris Blue, Raccoon Motel

Fri, april 3, 7 p.m., The Whips, Raccoon Motel

Sat, april 4, 7 p.m., Kelly Moran w/ Randall Hall, Rozz-Tox, Rock Island

DUBUQUE/ MAQUOKETA

Fri, March 6, Slid, The Reach Outs, The Lift

Sat, March 7, 9 p.m., ramona’s ryot, The Lift Ramona Ryot, the self-described punk-rock piss-bar demon of Iowa, always comes through with all-star casts of drag performers, both local and beyond.

Sat, March 7 & Sun, March 8, Ralph Kluseman & Friends, Bell Tower Theater

Fri, March 13, 7:30 p.m., Monarch Sessions: David G. Smith, Maquoketa Brewing Sun, March 15, 3 p.m., The Black Velvet Band ALIVE!, Maquoketa Brewing Sun, March 15, 3 p.m., Ballyheigue, The Lift

Fri, March 27, 9 p.m., Velour, Caley Conway, The Lift Fri, March 27, 7 p.m., Live Music with Sophie Coyote, Maquoketa Brewing Sat, March 28, Riff & The Heist, Dead Amsterdam, The Lift

Peak Iowa

Show a Little Grit

Velvet-voiced polymath Paul Robeson—a future target of the House UnAmerican Activities Committee—entranced an Iowa audience 94 years ago.

BY MIKE KUhLENBEcK

On the evening of Feb. 4, 1932, an eager crowd gathered at the Hoyt Sherman Place auditorium for a recital of spirituals by a man whose bass-baritone voice was already legendary. Paul Robeson was an all-American football player, Columbia-educated lawyer, and star of both a hit musical and a West End Shakespeare production.

A Des Moines Tribune writer described Robeson as a “magnificent figure in meticulous dress” with a “boyish grin and his sly, informal and humorous singing style.” Accompanist Lawrence Brown, who is credited with encouraging Robeson to pursue singing on the concert stage, joined him for at least two songs.

Among those in attendance was Harlan Miller, “one of Iowa’s best-known newspapermen” who started the “Over the Coffee” column in 1925 before becoming city editor for the Des Moines Register the following year.

“His singing of ‘Were You There?’ was as deep a religious experience as any two of Billy Sunday’s sermons,” Miller writes, referring to the Ames-born baseball player turned revival tent preacher. “‘Didn’t My Lord Deliver Daniel!’ evoked a moment of awesome silence followed by fervent applause which testifies more eloquently than Sunday school statistics that we are still a Biblical folk.”

The Tribune was especially taken by an encore in which Robeson, who is said to have learned as many

as a dozen languages in his lifetime, “reached across an ocean and a continent into the somber soul of Russia.”

“This song, a touching and simple prayer in its melody, was a flash revealing the linked fates of the Negro and the Russian serf even in the unintelligibility of the Russian words.”

Robeson told the Tribune, “Some day there will be a great Negro composer, or a great composition out of Negro music, but not while Brahms and Wagner are followed as models by American composers.”

The Tribune’s headline read, “City Pleased By Robeson: Spiritual Verses of Negro Dramatic,” while the Register reported, “Robeson’s Voice Catches Heart: Each Spiritual is an Emotional Rite.” Sadly, there are no film or audio records of the performance, nor a set list.

“Each song reached a climax of dramatic effect, always finely and delicately drawn, never gross and exaggerated,” the Tribune reported. “With his dramatic craftsmanship, Robeson possesses a remarkably precise enunciation which prevents any listener’s failure to grasp a point of humor and humility.”

Fellow sonorous-voiced actor James Earl Jones saw Robeson for the first time that night, standing in the back of the sold-out auditorium.

“I could feel his magnetic energy coming through his voice and rock my body,” Jones recalled in a 2007 documentary on Robeson’s lost legacy. “I could feel a rocking of my body.”

Paul Robeson was born the youngest of five children in 1898 in Princeton, New Jersey, son of a formerly enslaved clergyman. It was in Reverend William Drew Robeson’s church where the young Robeson learned many of the songs that would become part of his concert repertoire, and gave him his earliest lessons on how to speak and engage an audience.

“What my father taught me way back: Compete with your own brains, your own talents,” Robeson later said in an interview.

Robeson had suffered the brutal indignities of racism since childhood, which followed him to Rutgers University as one of only two Black students. At 6-foot3 and 200 pounds, he was considered a born athlete. But when he tried out for the football team in 1915, the white players ganged up on him, breaking his nose and dislocating his shoulder.

Undeterred, Robeson returned to the field. He knocked down three of his attackers, ensuring they

Paul Robeson (right) with fellow football player Fritz Pollard. Public Domain

never laid another hand on him. He went on to be one of the top-ranked players in the country two years in a row, becoming an All-American and bona fide football star.

Valedictorian of his undergraduate class, Robeson attended Columbia University, where he obtained a law degree. During his time at Columbia, he was drawn into the world of amateur theater.

The New York City legal firm of Rutgers alum Louis Stotesbury, who specialized in real estate law, hired Robeson in 1923. What was supposed to be a promising legal career was stalled once again by Robeson’s skin color. Fearing that white clients and judges would be “uncomfortable” with a Black lawyer, the firm had Robeson working behind the scenes, preparing briefs and other assignments where he wouldn’t have to appear in a courtroom. When a white secretary refused to take dictation from him and hurled a racial epithet, enough was enough.

From that day on, the promising young attorney made sure he would always be out front and center.

Robeson turned to singing and acting, appearing in playwright Eugene O’Neill’s All God’s Chillun’ Got Wings and earning critical acclaim for his performance as Brutus Jones in a 1924 revival of O’Neill’s political satire The Emperor Jones. O’Neill personally invited Robeson to play the lead, a train porter who manipulates his way to power over a Caribbean country. Robeson reprised the role for the 1933 film version.

Robeson would act in various stage and eventually film productions, including work by groundbreaking independent Black filmmaker Oscar Micheaux. Robeson’s earliest roles on celluloid were silent, so his extraordinary voice couldn’t be heard, but he retained a strong screen presence that made him impossible to ignore.

Robeson was hand-picked by composer Jerome Kern and lyricist Oscar Hammerstein for the role of Joe in their new musical Show Boat, based on Edna Ferber’s bestselling 1926 novel of the same name. The show debuted on Broadway at the Ziegfeld Theatre in 1927 and opened in London’s West End in 1928. Its most popular number, “Ol’ Man River,” became a major hit, and is the song most associated with Robeson’s legacy. Ferber—whose childhood in Ottumwa, Iowa, partially inspired Show Boat—saw Robeson perform in a 1932 revival in New York. “I have never seen an ovation like that given any figure of the stage, the concert hall, or the opera,” Ferber wrote of the show. “It was completely spontaneous, whole-hearted, and thrilling .... That audience stood up and howled. They applauded and shouted and stamped .... The show stopped. He sang it again. The show stopped. They called him back again and again. Other actors came out and made motions and their lips moved, but the bravos of the audience drowned all other sounds.”

Some of the song’s lyrics, however, troubled Robeson and other Black audiences, plagued with the racial stereotypes he spent his whole life trying to dismantle.

In 1930, Robeson starred in the title role of William Shakespeare’s Othello at the Savoy Theatre in London, becoming one of the first Black actors to play the part on a major English or American stage. The Davenport Democrat and Leader on July 31, 1932, perceptively noted Robeson’s casting was “a stunt not so likely in these bigoted United States,” where white actors in blackface were standard.

“I’m conscious of the fact that I’m a Negro actor playing in London,” Robeson said in an interview.

“If I fail, not only is it my failure, it’s the failure of 18 million American Negroes. It’s the failure of 200 million people on the continent of Africa, and wherever I go, therefore, you sort of reach beyond yourself.”

The proceeds from the 1933 revival of All God’s Chillun’ Got Wings went to Jewish refugees at the urging of British actress and writer Marie Seton. Robeson later credited this as an early part of his political awakening.

At Seton’s insistence, Robeson and his wife Eslanda traveled to the Soviet Union in 1934, where many artists

saw a new world being born. At a stopover in Berlin to change trains, Robeson had to stand his ground against a gang of uniformed Nazi goons to allow his group to catch their train.

Robeson was impressed by the lack of racism he encountered in the Soviet Union, and remarked, “Here, I am not a Negro but a human being for the first time in my life. I walk in full human dignity.” Similar remarks would be misquoted by the press throughout his career, and would later have dire consequences.

When Hollywood adapted Show Boat into a feature film released in 1936, Robeson insisted the n-slurs in the lyrics be changed. He prevailed, and the worst line was softened to, “Darkies all work on the Mississippi, darkies all work while the white folk play.”

In later performances, he altered the lyrics again, stripping the song of its more derogatory elements to reflect his determination in the face of oppression. “You gets a little drunk, and you lands in jail” was changed to, “You shows a little grit and you lands in jail,” and,

Paul Robeson in Othello. Public Domain

ART & EXHIBITION

DES MOINES/AMES

Through March 19, Body an exhibition curated by Kelly Devitt, Polk County Heritage Gallery

March 6 through March 28, Chris Vance Bloom, Moberg Gallery

Fri, March 6, 5 p.m., Chris Vance Bloom opening reception, Moberg Gallery Thu, March 12, 5:30 p.m., “Honey, You’re a Wonderful Model: Maria Lassnig’s Animated Films” Gallery Talk w/ Ashton Cooper, Des Moines Art Center Sat, March 21, 1 p.m., “Honey, You’re a Wonderful Model: Maria Lassnig’s Animated Films” Exhibition Tour, Des Moines Art Center Sat, april 4, 1 p.m., “Iowa Artists 2026: Henry Payer: Aagakinak Haciwi: We Live Opposite Each Other” Exhibition tour, Des Moines Art Center

IOWA CITY

Through Feb., Steven Erickson exhibition, ArtiFactory

Fri, March 6, 5 p.m., PS1 and Daydreams comics present: Ice cream Gallery Walk, Daydreams comics Little Village historically supports storytelling through illustrated panels, so we thought we’d bring special attention to the ICE CREAM (Iowa City Expo for Comics and Real Eclectic Media) event during ICDD’s Spring Gallery Walk event. Local artists Jonathan Sims, Camila Núñez-Bergsnieder and Ira Rat will be present with examples of their work to peruse and purchase. Comics forever!

Through March 15, In the Studio: Art at Iowa in the 1940s, Stanley Museum of Art Through april 19, Weaving Narratives: African Textiles in Iowa, Stanley Museum of Art Though July 26, Flex: Masculinities in the Arts of Global Africa, Stanley Museum of Art

CEDAR RAPIDS

Through May 17, Art is the Word: Text in Art, Cedar Rapids Museum of Art Wed, March 4, 12:15 p.m., Art Bites: Art is the Word: Text in Art w/ Julia Jessen, Cedar Rapids Museum of Art Fri, March 20, 5:30 p.m., Gallery Opening Reception: Release of Ghosts, CSPS Hall Wed, april 1, 12:15 p.m., Art Bites: Art is the Word: Text in Art w/ Julia Jessen, Cedar Rapids Museum of Art Fri, april 3, 5:30 p.m., Gallery

Opening Reception: I’ve Told So Many Skies About You, CSPS Hall Fri, april 3, 5:30 p.m., Gallery Opening Reception: Inspirations on Canvas, CSPS Hall

QUAD CITIES

Through June 21, A Surreal Lens: Photography From the Figge Collection, Figge Art Museum

Through aug. 2, Preston Singletary: Raven and the Box of Daylight, Figge Art Museum

“Tired of living and afraid of dying,” became, “I must keep fighting until I’m dying.”

In 1937, the elected government of the Republic of Spain was fighting for its life against the insurrection led by General Francisco Franco (supported financially and militarily by Nazi Germany and fascist Italy). Robeson went to Spain in support of the Republic’s soldiers and the international volunteers who had joined the fight against fascism. He performed songs to boost morale among the Republican forces in the bloody civil war, which Franco and the fascists eventually won, leading to a 36-year-long dictatorship in Spain.

On Nov. 5, 1939, Robeson sang “Ballad for Americans,” written by lyricist John La Touche and music by Earl Robinson, on the CBS radio show The Pursuit of Happiness. Originally titled “The Ballad for Uncle Sam,” the song was written for the Federal Theatre Project production “Sing for Your Supper” that opened in April earlier that year. Robeson’s rendition, recorded by RCA Victor in 1940, was a hit with the public and became an anthem of equality and unity during the U.S. entry into World War II.

Robeson rallied Americans for the Allied cause, singing to packed crowds and selling war bonds. After the war against fascism and imperialism ended in a victory for the Allies, the U.S. government turned to what was perceived as the threat of the Soviet Union, the so-called “Red Menace.”

Through aug. 16, Technology/Transformation: Wonder Woman, Figge art Museum Back in the ’70s, multimedia artist Dara Birnbaum collected hours of scenes from the Wonder Woman television series and assembled them into a broader critique of the media’s tendency to oversexualize and oversimplify women. In the words of the artist, “I’m a secretary, I’m a Wonder Woman, and there’s nothing in between.”

DUBUQUE/ MAQUOKETA

Mondays through March, 1-4 p.m., Open Studio, Bluff Strokes Art Center Fri, March 6, 6 p.m., First Friday Gallery Opening, Planted, Dubuque Fri, March 20, 12 p.m., Talking About Art Series: Art in Context, Bluff Strokes Art Center

Robeson returned to Iowa to campaign for Progressive Party presidential candidate Henry A. Wallace in the Democrat’s home state for the 1948 campaign. This time, Iowans were singing a different tune.

The crowds that once warmly embraced Robeson turned a cold shoulder to both him and his candidate. Both men were red-baited as “commies” or “commie sympathizers” for their progressive views, especially their call for peaceful co-existence with the Soviet Union. The men were denied entry into several venues.

On April 13, 1948, Robeson spoke to a crowd at the Waterloo CIO labor hall on behalf of Wallace, touching on many subjects ranging from the failure of the twoparty system to the need to oppose the Taft-Hartley Bill, which weakened the rights of workers.

“I have known what it feels like to fight ever since I played football in New Jersey,” Robeson said, according to the Waterloo Daily Courier. “I have become part of the new party because I think it stands with the rank and file of labor.”

In other parts of the country, particularly in the Deep South, Wallace and supporters were greeted

“MY FaThEr WaS a SLaVE, aND MY PEOPLE DIED TO BUILD ThIS cOUNTrY, aND I’M GOING TO STaY hErE aND haVE a ParT OF IT JUST LIKE YOU. aND NO FaScISTMINDED PEOPLE WILL DrIVE ME FrOM IT. IS ThaT cLEar?”

— PAUL ROBESON

more violently, with constant threats to their safety and well-being.

The House Un-American Activities Committee’s investigations into the alleged “Communist Conspiracy” soon festered into McCarthyism. In 1950, the U.S. State Department revoked Robeson’s passport, claiming he was a danger to national security, leading to nearly a decade-long battle by Robeson to get it back. Years later, he was subpoenaed by the committee to testify before Congress in a public hearing.

When Robeson appeared on July 12, 1956, he challenged the constitutionality of the HUAC investigation, politely reminding them he was an attorney. Refusing to name names, he invoked the Fifth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. Goaded by a committee member who asked Robeson why he didn’t stay in Russia, Robeson, never one to suffer fools gladly, calmly but firmly answered:

“Because my father was a slave, and my people died to build this country, and I’m going to stay here and have a part of it just like you. And no fascist-minded people will drive me from it. Is that clear? I am for peace with the Soviet Union and I am for peace with China, and I am not for peace or friendship with the fascist Franco, and I am not for peace with fascist Nazi Germans, and I am for peace with decent people in the world.”

Robeson got his passport back, but the damage had been done. He was blacklisted from the entertainment industry and from public life. Even his alma mater Rutgers scrubbed his name from the football records, although it has since been restored. The controversy took its toll on him professionally, as well as his health.

The glory days of his career far behind him, Robeson died on Jan. 23, 1976.

Robeson chose his calling carefully, as he reminds us in his “The Artist Must Take Sides” speech from 1937.

“The challenge must be taken up. Time does not wait. The course of history can be changed, but not halted. Fascism fights to destroy the culture which society has created; created through pain and suffering through desperate toil, but with unconquerable will and lofty vision. Progressive and democratic mankind fight not alone to save the cultural heritage accumulated through the ages, but also fight today to prevent a war of unimaginable atrocity from engulfing the world.”

SOCIAL SATURDAY

ENTIRELY KIDS

MARCH 14, 2026 | 11 AM – 2 PM

Enjoy hands-on art making, gallery experiences, interactive workshops, storytime, and more at this free, family-friendly event!

11:15 – 11:30 am Storytime

12 – 12:30 pm Pied Piper: All-Together Orchestra

1 – 1:30 pm Pied Piper: Artsoundscape 1 – 2 pm Guided Tour 1:45 – 2 pm

Large group Hokey Pokey

Generous support provided by This program is part of the Principal® Foundation Youth Learning and Engagement Initiative. Visit

Get Out and Do Something!

Good venues can serve as essential third spaces for neighbors to come together and witness, celebrate and commiserate. They’re also easy to take for granted. Each time you buy a ticket and attend a performance, you’re helping to increase the viability of your favorite spaces and keep Iowa’s arts economy strong. These top-notch spots are just the start.

DES MOINES

1. West Des Moines Public Library 4000 Mills Civic Pkwy

3. Des Moines Community Playhouse 831 42nd St

4. Fleur Cinema & Café 4545 Fleur

5. Noce 1326 Walnut St #100 6.

10. Beaverdale Books 2629 Beaver Ave

11. Varsity

12. xBk Live 1159

13. Des Moines Civic Center 221 Walnut

IOWA CITY

15. Coralville Center for the Performing Arts 1301 5th St, Coralville 16. ArtiFactory 120 N Dubuque St

17. Public Space One North 229 N Gilbert St

18. The James Theater 213 N Gilbert St

19. Gabe’s 330 E Washington St

20. The Englert Theatre 221 E Washington St

21. Prairie Lights 15 S Dubuque St

22. FilmScene on the Ped Mall 118 E Colllege St

23. Riverside Theatre 119 E College St

24. Iowa City Public Library 123 S Linn St

CEDAR RAPIDS

25. Trumpet Blossom Cafe 310 E Prentiss St

26. Public Space One South 538 S Gilbert St

27. FilmScene at the Chauncey 404 E College St

28. Porchlight Literary Arts Center 1019 E Washington St

29. The Black Angel 630 Iowa Ave

30. Hancher Auditorium 141 Park Rd

31. Wildwood 4919 Walleye Dr SE

32. Wilson’s Orchard & Farm 4823 Dingleberry Rd NE #1

Raccoon Motel 315 E 2nd St, Davenport 48. The Last Picture House 325 E 2nd St, Davenport

Common Chord 129 Main St, Davenport 50. The Atlas Collective 1801 5th Ave, Moline, IL

54. Playcrafters Barn Theatre 4950 35th Ave, Rock Island, IL

Illustrations by Lani Krull / LittleVillage

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