Little Village issue 263 - May 1-14, 2019

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ISSUE 263 May 1–14, 2019

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A celebration to benefit the University of Iowa Stanley Museum of Art

Featuring The Nadas, with Dave Zollo & The Body Electric

Thursday, June 6th Big Grove Brewery 1225 S Gilbert Street, Iowa City 5:00 PM doors  7:00 PM music $20 in advance  $25 at the door Little Village Tickets: https://bit.ly/2v7yK8H

VOL. 27 ISSUE 263 May 1–14, 2019 ALWAYS FREE LITTLEVILLAGEMAG.COM PUBLISHER MATTHEW STEELE DIGITAL DIRECTOR DREW BULMAN Jason Smith / Little Village

ART DIRECTOR JORDAN SELLERGREN MANAGING EDITOR EMMA MCCLATCHEY ARTS EDITOR GENEVIEVE TRAINOR NEWS DIRECTOR PAUL BRENNAN CONTRIBUTING EDITOR ALLANA C. NOYES VISUAL REPORTER—PHOTO ZAK NEUMANN VISUAL REPORTER­—VIDEO JASON SMITH FOOD & DRINK DIRECTOR FRANKIE SCHNECKLOTH BUSINESS STRATEGIST CLAIRE MCGRANAHAN DISTRIBUTION GARY GREGORY, TREVOR LEE HOPKINS, BRIAN JOHANNESEN MARKETING COORDINATOR,

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The university’s vocal non-tenure track faculty embrace union status.

How one woman went from deadbolts and baseball bats to an open door policy.

Nadah El Shazly rebuffs “musical political correctness.”

PAUL BRENNAN

ELISA FERRER MOLINA

DEREK TATE

4 - Letters & Interactions 6 - The Broccoli Beat 7 - Brock About Town 8 - Labor 12 - UR Here

14 - En Español 16 - Bread & Butter 18 - A-List 21 - Events Calendar 41 - Ad Index

42 - Dear Kiki 43 - Astrology 44 - Local Albums 45 - Local Books 47 - Crossword

Workers of the UI, Unite!

Lock ’er Up

Egyptian Underground

GRAPHIC DESIGNER JAV DUCKER ADVERTISING ADS@LITTLEVILLAGEMAG.COM LISTINGS CALENDAR@LITTLEVILLAGEMAG.COM CONTRIBUTORS KATHLEEN ARCHER, ZACH BERG, AUDREY BROCK, ALAN CHIES, THOMAS DEAN, ELISA FERRER MOLINA, BLAIR GAUNTT, MELANIE HANSON, BETH HUDSON, JOHN

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A L W A Y S

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ISSUE 263 May 1–14, 2019

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LETTERS 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.

Correction: Following the publication of the April 17 issue, Little Village was contacted by a member of the late Judge Ansel Chapman’s family, who explained an anecdote in the article “There are Jews in Iowa?” was wrongly attributed to him. Little Village regrets the error.

DEMOCRATS! WAKE UP! Nominate Cathy Glasson to challenge Joni Ernst in 2020. Like the majority of Republican/Tea Party senators, Ernst is more interested in maintaining political power and Trump’s approval than serving the interests of Iowans or the American peoples.

Iowa has been out of political balance since Senator Tom Harkin retired. We should not have two Republican senators, especially those who “put politics ahead of their constitutionally defined duty to provide advice and consent regarding judicial nominations.” (John Nicholas, Horsemen of the Trumpocalypse) This was done with Chuck Grassley as Senate Judiciary Committee chair, and with Ernst in the Christine

Blasey-Ford testimony by her silence. Herself a victim of sexual assault, Ernst showed no empathy for Blasey-Ford, in denial like Peter—preferring to remain in Trump’s good graces, and allow Kavanagh a lifetime appointment to the Supreme Court.

Ernst’s election to the Senate can be attributed to the Koch’s dark money network: the Kochtopus. Jane Mayer (Dark Money) writes that in 2014, at a June secret Koch meeting, leaked tapes (available on YouTube) of the event caught Senator Joni Ernst, who in her words, was a “little-known state senator from a very rural part of Iowa,” crediting the Kochs with transforming her, like Eliza Doolittle, into a national star. “Exposure to this group and through this network and the

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opportunity to meet so many of you,” Ernst said, “were really what started my trajectory.”

The second greatest contributor to Ernst’s trajectory is/was via Kochtopus member the NRA (Daily Iowan, 3/19/18). Therefore, she is well-funded—but the race is not always to the swift or the well-funded. It relies on voters.

Democratic women and Independent voters can make a difference in this battle for the soul of the U.S. Senate. They are the Deborahs and Jaels (Judges 4) of the electorate. We must lead the battle and hammer the “tent pin” into the Ernst reelection campaign.

This hammering was done in the midterm, when white, suburban, college-educated women realized that Blasey-Ford was telling their story—and changed the House of Representatives.

We can change the Senate by selecting and supporting and electing Cathy Glasson as Iowa’s junior senator. —Mary Gravitt Letter to the editor: Iowa City students are striking for their lives, and we should support them You should be proud of yourselves for taking the initiative to learn about global warming and its impact. But, beyond that, you should be proud of taking a stand and trying to inform your school administrators of their ignorance that will affect your lives! Keep it up until someone has the decency to listen to you! —Renee

No music, no problem: Area bars and restaurants that provide a space to eat in peace Wow, and here I’m interested in more music options and venues when going out, not less.

Especially if it leads to musicians actually being paid for their time and skill. —Randy P. Seems like this article could’ve just been about peaceful places to eat instead of putting down local artists to the point of saying they “hold families hostage”... are you kidding me? Talk about a

W NO LABLE I AVA

2018 Water Consumer Confidence Report

The Iowa City Water Consumer Confidence Report provides information about the City’s drinking water treatment process, quality, and who to contact with questions. The report is required by the EPA and can be viewed at icgov.org/ccreport.

To request a printed copy, call 319-356-5160.

Top quality drinking water is the primary commitment of the City’s Water Division, operating out of a state-of-the-art water treatment facility delivering a steady, reliable supply of fresh, clean drinking water to consumers. Our staff of 32 water professionals uses sustainable practices to ensure the health and vitality of our community’s water supply.

Have questions about your drinking water? Contact the Water Division at 319-356-5160 or visit icgov.org/water.

LITTLEVILLAGEMAG.COM/LV263 May 1–14, 2019 5

T H E B R O C C O L I B E AT

‘Marijuana’ Roots

T

here are literally hundreds of words one may use to describe their favorite THCpacking plant, but the default name for decades—used by both stoners and anti-cannabis legislators—has been “marijuana.”

The first official English-language appearance of the word, which is Mexican Spanish in origin, seems to be in H.H. Bancroft’s 1874 ethnography The Native Races of the Pacific States of North America, in which he describes the marriage customs of the Chichimecs, one of the “wild tribes of Mexico”: “The bride’s parents then send round to the houses of their friends a bunch of mariguana, a narcotic herb, which signifies that all are to meet together at the bride’s father’s on the next night ... The meeting is inaugurated by smoking; then they chew mariguana, during which time all preliminaries of the marriage are settled.”

While tokes and edibles are inspired ways to bond with your future in-laws, the exotic sound of this word “mariguana” (later spelled with an h or a j) and its association with foreign cultures was well-suited for America’s cannabis prohibition movement.

“There are 100,000 total marijuana smokers in the U.S.,” Harry Anslinger, the first commissioner of the Federal Bureau of Narcotics, said in the 1930s, “and most are Negroes, Hispanics, Filipinos and entertainers.

Their Satanic music, jazz and swing result from marijuana use. This marijuana causes white women to seek sexual relations with Negroes, entertainers and any others.”

Such propagandistic ideas are rooted in xenophobia and racism, but is “marijuana” itself? The word’s exact origin is dubious.

Anslinger claimed it derived from the Aztec word for “prisoner” (malihuan) but this is unlikely, since cannabis is not indigenous to the region; legend has it the name came from the Spanish woman’s name Mari-Juana, but this is also unverified.

Etymology aside, the connotations of the word seem to be context-driven, from its codification in the Marihuana Tax Act of 1937 to Kid Cudi’s 2010 ode to the drug, “Marijuana.”

Is it time to retire the term? Only marginalized communities, The Guardian’s Alex Halperin wrote in 2018, “have the moral authority to decide if marijuana is a racist word which should be avoided or an important reminder of a more racist past.”

––The Cannabis Columnist 6 May 1–14, 2019 LITTLEVILLAGEMAG.COM/LV263

INTERACTIONS

negative point of view. —Erin R.H.

someone’s cabinet. —Kasie M.

Dave Loebsack will not run for reelection in 2020

He was pro war, anti-environment, pro oil, pro corporation. Bye. —Jenny A.

Thanks for all your good work, Dave! I also appreciate your decision to retire from the House at this point and offer your wisdom in other ways.

And, I hope, to just enjoy some measure of retirement, which is truly wonderful. Here’s to our district’s continued commitment to governing for the common good! —Dorothy W.

Can’t wait to see who rises to the occasion.

—Elisabeth L.

Time for some new blood, like we did in District 1. Also, he might be leaving to serve on

Mayor Jim Throgmorton won’t seek reelection Mayor Throgmorton has done a fine, fine job, and I thank him for his service. —Ginalie S. Who will take the Iron Throne? —Latisha M.

S T R E S S F R A C T U R E S

JOHN

MARTINEK

BROCK ABOUT TOWN

Audrey for Mayor

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ello, Iowa City, and welcome to the first rally of my campaign to become your next mayor. I suppose you’re all wondering why I’ve called you here today. Well, unfortunately, it’s not just for light conversation and fantastic snickerdoodles. Thank you, Celeste, for those. No, I’ve corralled you into this slightly damp church basement to discuss a serious issue plaguing our community: cars.

I think we should do away with them.

Now, I know what you’re thinking. “Audrey, this is America. Our society is structured in such a way that the ability to drive a car is practically required for being an autonomous person. Learning to drive is a rite of passage, road trips an American pastime. If I stopped driving, my whole life would come to a standstill. Besides, how else am I supposed to get cases of seltzer home from the damn store?” I hear you. But think about everything we stand to gain: We could drastically reduce our carbon footprint, improve our collective cardiovascular health by engaging in more low-impact exercise and get closer to our neighbors on public transportation. There was this study in the New Yorker— Question, Tony? “An ulterior motive”?

What gives you that idea? Fine, fine. I can’t lie to you guys. The myriad negative impacts of unsafe driving have always been a problem for other people, but now they’re starting to affect me, hence the big red CRISIS sticker I put on all your e-vites.

You guys know that three-way stop outside the Iowa City Public Library, right? Yeah, well, I was crossing it the other day, and I made direct eye contact with the sweaty banker dude in the Camaro before he did the little nod that means he’s deigning to let you cross the street.

So I do, and I’m almost across when I feel something suspiciously like the front bumper of a Camaro very lightly hitting my thigh. I look up, and there he is, looking at something on his iPad. I see no solution other than to ban cars outright.

What do you mean, “an overreaction”? I could’ve died, you guys. What’s your solution?

An anti-texting law? Those are completely ineffective. No, we don’t need to hear the “evidence,” I—We’re not taking any more questions at this time. In 2019, vote Audrey Brock for mayor: Never get bumped again!

––Audrey Brock LITTLEVILLAGEMAG.COM/LV263 May 1–14, 2019 7

COMMUNITY

The Right to Strike Tumult at the University of Iowa reflects the history—and present state—of organized labor in Iowa.

BY PAUL BRENNAN

T

he Iowa Board of Regents thought the public comment period at its April 18 meeting was finished. They were wrong.

As Board President Michael Richards announced comments were closed, several people wearing the bright orange T-shirts of Faculty Forward Iowa (FFI) approached the microphone set up for public comments in the University of Iowa Leavitt Center.

“This public comments section is not over,” said FFI member Liz Weiss, a lecturer in UI’s Frank N. Magid Center for Undergraduate Writing.

FFI was organized early last year by members of UI’s non-tenure track faculty, in an effort to improve their working conditions and gain a voice in how the university is governed.

Non-tenure track faculty teach more than half the classes UI undergraduates take and typically have heavy workloads, with much lower salaries than tenured factory, few benefits, little job security and few opportunities for career advancement.

Faculty Forward is a national labor group for non-tenured track faculty that is part of the Service Employees International Union. FFI started as a somewhat informal association, and it didn’t begin to organize itself as a union until January.

Members had come to the Board of Regents meeting to advocate for a change in UI policy that would give non-tenure faculty access to catastrophic sick leave, which non-tenure track members of the University of Northern Iowa’s faculty have.

For two months, FFI had been trying without success to get the regents or UI

A sign hung by FFI at the Old Capitol Town Center in Iowa City, May 1, 2018. Zak Neumann / Little Village

administration to discuss making changes to the university’s sick leave policy. Members tried again—again, unsuccessfully—during the public comments period that Richards was trying to close.

Holding a bullhorn, Weiss said, “We’re here to speak to you, we’re here to be heard by you and here to seek some action.”

The regents weren’t interested.

As FFI members began describing the difficulties of working while coping with chronic medical conditions, or related stories of colleagues who faced choices between working and taking enough time off for needed medical treatments, the regents left the room.

The members of FFI and a few supporters— about 20 people altogether—declared they’d continue the “extended comments period” until the regents agreed to discuss catastrophic sick leave policy.

The scene that afternoon in the Leavitt Center conference room reflected the current state of organized labor in Iowa: A small number of protesters with government jobs were appealing to a group of well-connected, well-fed people (there was a buffet of dessert items behind the waist-high barrier separating the regents from the public), who walked away instead of talking.

Only 7.7 percent of Iowa workers were

union members in 2018. Additionally, the percentage of public sector workers in unions in Iowa is roughly four times greater than the percentage of unionized private sector workers.

Historically, Iowa hasn’t been friendly territory for labor unions. In 1947, it became one of the first states outside the Deep South to adopt a right-to-work law, which made it illegal to require employees to join or pay dues to a union, even if that employee receives all the benefits the union secures for its members.

Seventy years after that, Republican Gov. Terry Branstad signed a law gutting collective bargaining rights for almost all public sector employees.

The collective bargaining system dismantled in 2017 had been created in 1974 by Gov. Robert Ray, also a Republican, with bipartisan support in the legislature. The Public Employment Relations Act was a compromise, creating a framework to resolve labor disputes between unions and state and municipal governments through legally binding mediation and arbitration. As part of the compromise, public sector employees gave up the right to strike.

The 2017 changes, which passed on party-line votes in the Republican-led legislature, reduced mandatory collective bargaining to just one issue: wages. Every

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1947

Iowa’s first union, Dubuque Typographical Union No. 22, is formed, starting a period of labor organizing in the city.

Dubuque has a pro-labor majority on the city council, after union-backed “Labor Reform” candidates are elected.

The Democratic and Republican parties of Dubuque combine to run candidates on a fusion ticket in order to defeat Labor Reform candidates.

President Franklin Roosevelt signs the National Labor Relations Act, making union organizing and collective bargaining easier.

25,000 union members picket the Iowa State Capitol as the legislature passes a right-to-work law.

8 May 1–14, 2019 LITTLEVILLAGEMAG.COM/LV263

1974

2017

Gov. Robert Ray Gov. Terry Branstad signs the Public signs changes to the Employment Relations Public Employment Act, creating a legally Relations Act, binding framework for gutting collective collective bargaining bargaining for by public sector public sector unions. unions.

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READER POLL Are you a member of a labor union?

Yes 29% No 71%

other issue—including health care, retirement benefits and workplace safety—can only be negotiated if the employer agrees to include it in negotiations. And whatever mediation or arbitration takes place is no longer neutral, but is now weighted in favor of the employer.

(The legislature did allow unions representing state troopers, police officers, firefighters and park rangers to continue negotiating contracts under the 1974 rules. It’s probably no coincidence that those are the unions most likely to have wide popular support, and their

members are more likely to vote Republican than other public sector workers.)

Some government bodies, such as the Iowa City Community School District, continued to include benefits and other workplace issues in contract negotiations with its unions. The Board of Regents did not.

Speaking to Little Village earlier this year, Laura Szech of the Campaign to Organize Graduate Students (COGS), the union that has represented UI graduate student workers since 1996, described what happened to contract talks after the 2017 changes. “[The regents’ representatives] brought us a one-page wage document and wouldn’t negotiate at all,” she said.

The UI administration has kept the benefits that were in the last pre-2017 COGS contract, writing them into university policy. But because those benefits are no longer guaranteed in a contract, the union will have no legal recourse if the administration decides to change or eliminate benefits. COGS couldn’t even protest by going on strike. The part of the 1974 law making public sector strikes illegal is still in effect.

Statistics on union membership show the

impact of the 2017 changes. In 2016, 29.3 percent of Iowa’s public sector workers belonged to a union. That number dropped to 21.4 percent in 2018. During the same period, the percentage of union members in the state’s private sector saw a very slight increase, from 5.1 percent to 5.2 percent.

That was how things stood when members of the non-tenure track faculty came together last year to form FFI. “We’re spread too thin to give our students the attention they deserve, and the attention we want to give them,” Liz Weiss told Little Village in April 2018. “I think anyone invested in the long-term health of this university in particular, or higher education in general, has to address the issues that we’re raising. The way things are is not sustainable.”

Those issues were laid out in a letter that 60 FFI members delivered to UI President Bruce Harreld’s office on April 18, 2018: “better job security, transparency, improved support, compensation and benefits, and inclusion in academic communities.”

Harreld wasn’t in his office when the letter was delivered, FFI members were told.

Even if he had been, it wouldn’t have made

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a difference. Harreld would not meet with FFI representatives, because he said it was a union.

“I will not meet with them…” Harreld told the Daily Iowan in May 2018, “because I don’t want to get accused of tampering [with union organizing] in one way or the other.” (The university has consistently declined to comment on its relations with FFI, when contacted by Little Village.)

At the time, FFI wasn’t attempting to organize as a union, and considered itself no different than other groups of concerned faculty members Harreld and his fellow UI administrators regularly sat down with.

Harreld’s refusal to meet didn’t stop FFI. Two weeks after delivering the letter, members marched to Harreld’s official residence to deliver another copy. No one answered when they rang the doorbell, so they held a brief rally and taped the letter to the front door.

Five days later, a dozen FFI members staged a sit-in at Harreld’s office. It wasn’t a raucous, ’60s-style sit-in. The protesters sat quietly, grading papers and doing other work, waiting for Harreld to speak with them.

When the FFI members arrived at 10 a.m,, they were told Harreld wasn’t there and probably wouldn’t come in that day. They stayed anyway. At 5 p.m., they were told the office was closing and they had to leave. They didn’t. Someone called the UI Police. FFI didn’t budge.

Around 6 p.m., Peter Matthes, senior advisor to Harreld and vice president for external relations, and Laura McLeran, another senior advisor to Harreld and the assistant vice president of external relations, met with the protesters. A deal was struck for a series of meetings between UI officials, including Harreld, and FFI. As a result of those meetings, UI agreed to make non-tenure track faculty eligible for health insurance, dental insurance, dependent coverage, sick leave accruement and retirement benefits. That was Aug. 7. The meetings were supposed to continue.

But on Aug. 15, Dean Joseph Kearney sent an email to FFI. It informed them that UI administrators consider a “Dear Colleagues” message FFI posted on its Facebook page to raise awareness of the group, and which ended “We invite you to join us,” to be union organizing.

“In order to avoid any claims that these meetings are in violation of [Iowa’s labor laws], we have decided to discontinue future meetings,” Kearney wrote.

FFI replied that it wasn’t organizing as a union—it didn’t collect dues, it wasn’t structured as a union local—but it was UI’s turn not to budge.

“Since they kept calling us a ‘union,’ we decided to embrace it,” Annie Sand, a lecturer in the rhetoric department and a founding FFI member, told Little Village.

In January, FFI announced on Facebook it would “proudly” start calling itself a union, because “we already are a union in the oldest, where-it-allstarted sense of the word: we are workers who are joining forces to fight for the working conditions we deserve, and for the democratic right to participate in workplace decisions that deeply affect our lives and those of our loved ones.”

But being a union doesn’t give FFI any legal standing to bargain on behalf of its members with UI. Sand said she and her colleagues realize that Iowa law makes it very difficult for a public sector union to become recognized as an official bargaining unit, and FFI may never qualify.

But that doesn’t matter, Sand said. FFI started recruiting dues-paying members in January, and 110 of the approximately 430 members of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences non-tenure track faculty had joined by the beginning of March. FFI created a formal structure and is preparing to elect officers. It also has its first goal as a union: changing UI’s policy on catastrophic sick leave.

Cont. >> on pg. 28

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COMMUNITY

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UR Here

True Abundance in a World of Scarcity What more could you possibly want of this world? BY THOMAS DEAN

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n recent weeks and months, I seem to have been bombarded with pleas for monetary contributions, all promising a world of abundance if the scarcity in question can be resolved. Most, if not all, of these causes are worthy, and in the world we have constructed for ourselves, these groups and organizations cannot be faulted for requests for resources. We have created a human world where too many good ideas are chasing too few dollars.

Even among pressures such as these, my mind turns to the natural world. Like the troubled speaker of Wendell Berry’s famous poem “The Peace of Wild Things,” who, in despair and fear over the modern world, retreats “where the wood drake rests ... and the great heron feeds,” finding grace and freedom in “the presence of still water,” I, too, turn to nature for solace and guidance.

Among the most powerful of continuums that define our lives is that of scarcity and abundance. Modern capitalism and modern society are based on scarcity—the idea that the best and most important resources, ideas, fashions and so forth are scarce, difficult to obtain and thus expensive.

Abundance, which underlies the thinking of hunter-gatherer societies up to contemporary thinkers and writers on sustainability, tells us the world is overflowing with all we need—that is, if we define “what we need,” even “wealth,” as what the world provides us rather than as exploitation of the earth.

The prairie is much on my mind these days as I have written so much about it in recent months. As well, with May underway, the explosion of abundant new life in the tallgrass has launched. One of the most important essays in my life is Paul Gruchow’s “What the Prairie Teaches Us.” I carry the essay’s message with me every time I visit, think about or write about the prairie—what is the prairie teaching me?

The prairie has so much to teach about abundance. Gruchow doesn’t use the word “abundance,” but he does tell us that “there are thousands of species of living things on the prairie,” that “it is lovely ... in a hundred

12 May 1–14, 2019 LITTLEVILLAGEMAG.COM/LV263

A bumble bee digs into some bee balm at Hickory Hill. Jordan Sellergren

thousand ways and in a million details” and indeed that “the prairie grows richer as it ages.” Self-renewal is the quintessence of abundance.

It’s not difficult to understand that the prairie provides enough to itself to be a self-sustaining ecosystem. Numbers tell that rational story. The original 150-250 million acres of tallgrass prairie—once the largest ecosystem in what is now the United States—boasted at least 500 different plant species (including 70 grasses), 150-250 bird species, more than 30 reptile and amphibian species, over 30 mammals, 1,500 insect species and countless microorganisms.

But the abundance of the prairie is not merely a numbers game. A prairie in full bloom astonishes me. I might encounter a hundred different plants across just a few acres of a prairie hike, but the tallgrass’ abundance lies more in the exuberance of

its collective beauty and spirit. Our human lives may often seem rich and bountiful, but the artificial constructs of “civilization” pale against an explosion of blazing star, prairie sunflower, columbine, bluestem and grama, accompanied by a sighing wind and a warbling meadowlark.

The prairie created and supported itself in this incredible bounty for thousands of years.

As human hands attempt to restore what has been destroyed, abundance rises once again in joyful eruption. One of the fundamental questions of living sustainably on this earth is, “What is enough?” As I gaze out onto the proverbial sea of grass dotted with yellow, purple and red wildflowers, prairie tells me— teaches me—“This is enough. What more could you possibly want of this world?”

Thomas Dean is also finding the lessons of abundance in the North Woods this month.

LITTLEVILLAGEMAG.COM/LV263 May 1–14, 2019 13

COMMUNITY En Español

Puertas POR ELISA FERRER MOLINA

A

l llegar a Iowa City, una de las cosas que más me sorprendió fue lo fácil que era entrar en las casas: cruzar el porche, abrir la puerta de un sólo pestillo y dentro. Las sentí poco seguras. Venía de Madrid donde antes de salir de mi piso daba cinco vueltas de llave y cerraba al menos tres cerraduras en mi puerta blindada. Dar vueltas de llave cada vez que salía, dar vueltas de llave cada vez que entraba se convirtió en un ritual cansado, exigente.

En un ritual que rozaba la pesadilla cuando olvidaba algo dentro y tenía que volver a abrir y cerrar cada uno de los cerrojos. Como en un castillo, con sus fosos, sus murallas.

Aquí en Iowa sólo tengo una cerradura.

Sólo una y a veces siento que la puerta se puede abrir de una patada. Los primeros días, no os voy a engañar, dormía con miedo, un bate de béisbol al lado de mi cama para defenderme (como en las películas). Me angustiaba pensar que un ladrón, un psicópata, un loco cualquiera podía entrar en mi casa con un simple forcejeo. Me despertaba de rato en rato. Con cada ruido que escuchaba (son muchos en una casa de madera) sentía que alguien se había colado en mi cocina y rebuscaba entre mis cuchillos (al menos, los que tengo están poco afilados). Mi respuesta ante esa posible presencia era cubrirme la cabeza con la sábana como si estuviera confeccionada con un material antibalas, como si pudiera protegerme de un asesino en serie.

Pero la sensación de pánico duró muy poco.

Sin darme cuenta, me acostumbré y ahora me gustan las puertas fáciles de abrir. Ahora me gustan las puertas abiertas.

Las puertas abiertas me transportan a otra época. Me transportan al lugar donde nací, donde crecí. A mi niñez. Porque, aunque viví en Madrid los últimos años, vengo de un pueblo pequeño, L’Alcúdia de Crespins.

Ahora allí las puertas también son blindadas, pero cuando yo era pequeña estaban abiertas de par en par. El salón de casa de mis abuelos parecía la plaza del pueblo, los vecinos entraban para contarles cualquier chisme o pedirles un favor, para saludarles. Porque cuando llegaba el buen tiempo, las casas se abrían. Caía la tarde y en lugar de ver la televisión, los vecinos salían a la calle con sus sillas plegables, se sentaban en círculo y charlaban hasta que llegaba la hora de dormir.

14 May 1–14, 2019 LITTLEVILLAGEMAG.COM/LV263

Shane O’Shaughnessy

Los niños jugábamos en la calle sin que nuestros padres nos vigilaran. Nos caíamos al suelo y el asfalto nos arañaba las rodillas, pero no nos hacía daño. Íbamos solos en bici y llamábamos a nuestros amigos sin necesidad de teléfono. Nos asomábamos a sus casas y gritábamos: ¿Está Carmen? ¿Sale a jugar? ¿Está Ana? ¿Está Raúl? Y la calle se convertía en la luna y éramos los primeros astronautas en pisarla; un plató de televisión y éramos artistas; el circo y éramos acróbatas.

En Iowa City, cuando voy a visitar a mis

Doors

BY ELISA FERRER MOLINA TRANSLATED BY KATHLEEN ARCHER

W

hen I came to Iowa, I was surprised by how easy it was to get in the house: cross the porch, unlock a deadbolt and you’re in. The doors didn’t feel safe to me.

I had moved from Madrid where, in order to leave my apartment, I had to turn the key five times and lock at least three deadbolts on a steel-reinforced door. Turning the key each time I left and turning the key every time I came home became a SIN DARME CUENTA, ME ACOSTUMBRÉ Y AHORA worn-out, demandME GUSTAN LAS PUERTAS FÁCILES DE ABRIR. ing routine—a ritual AHORA ME GUSTAN LAS PUERTAS ABIERTAS. that quickly turned into a nightmare if I forgot something inside and had to unlock and relock each one of the deadbolts; my apartment suddenly akin to a castle with amigos, llamo a la puerta y gritan, ¡entra, moats and ramparts. está abierto!, y su salón es como recuerdo Here in Iowa I have just one lock. Only era el de mis abuelos. Mientras paseo por la one, and sometimes it seems like you could calle Clinton o Washington, Bloomington o open the door with one swift kick. I’m not Linn, cierro los ojos y vuelvo a ser acróbata, going to lie—the first few days, I went to astronauta, artista. Voy en bicicleta y pedaleo bed scared, a baseball bat next to my bed sin miedo a caerme, sin miedo a que el asfor self-defense (just like in the movies). falto me arañe las rodillas. Y, a ratos, apenas I worried that a thief, a psychopath, some recuerdo que una vez tuve una puerta con crazy guy could get into my house without doble blindaje, un fuerte con cerrojos que me even struggling. Sometimes I woke up in the asfixiaba.

LittleVillageMag.com

middle of the night. Every noise I heard—and there are so many in a wooden house—made me think someone had snuck into my kitchen and was rummaging through the knife drawer (at least most of them are dull). Once or twice, I reacted to this possible intrusion by covering my head with the sheet as if it were made of bulletproof material—as if it could protect me from a serial killer. But the feeling of panic didn’t last long. Without realizing it, I adapted, and now I like easily opened doors.

Now I like open doors.

Open doors take me back to another time.

They take me to the place where I was born, where I grew up, to my childhood. Although I lived in Madrid the last several years, I’m from a small town, L’Alcúdia de Crespins.

The doors there are reinforced now, but when I was little, they were left wide open. My grandparents’ living room was like the town square: the neighbors would come in to share some gossip, ask a favor, or say hello. When the weather was good, all the doors were left open. Instead of watching TV at night, the neighbors went out in the street with their folding chairs and sat in a circle, chatting until it was time to go to bed.

All of us kids played in the street without parental supervision. We fell on the ground and the asphalt scraped our knees, but it didn’t hurt. We rode bikes and met up with our friends without ever having to use the phone.

We’d just show up at their houses and yell, “Is Carmen there? Can she come out to play?” “Is Ana there?” “Is Raúl home?” The street became like the moon, and we were the first astronauts to walk on it; a television set, and we were actors; a circus, and we were acrobats.

In Iowa City, when I visit my friends, I knock on the door and they shout, “Come in, it’s open!” Their living room is like my grandparents’ was. While I’m walking along Clinton Street, Washington, Bloomington or Linn, I close my eyes and once again I’m an acrobat, an astronaut, an actress. I ride my bike and am not afraid of falling, not afraid of scraping my knees on the asphalt. And sometimes, I hardly remember that I once lived behind a reinforced door in a stifling, deadbolted fortress.

Elisa Ferrer Molina is from Spain, and she is a current MFA student in Spanish creative writing at the University of Iowa.

Kathleen Archer is pursuing an MFA in literary translation at the University of Iowa. She translates from French and Spanish.

David bromberg quintet & loudon wainwright III saturday, may 18 @ 7:30 p.m.

todd rundgren

CO-PRESENTED WITH MAMMOTH LIVE SPONSORED BY RYLAN AND ROSS DEVALOIS OF MIDAMERICA SECURITIES CO

SunDAY, june 2 @ 7 p.m.

sunday, june 16

lake street dive - sold out

ENGLERT SUMMER SERIES | WITH NICOLE ATKINS | SPONSORED BY RYLAN AND ROSS DEVALOIS OF MIDAMERICA SECURITIES CO august 5-9

acting out!

THE ENGLERT THEATRE’S SUMMER YOUTH ACTING CAMP ENGLERT WAVELENGTH SERIES | SPONSORED BY LITTLE VILLAGE friday, august 9

todd snider thursday, september 5

an evening with

justin furstenfeld of blue october AN OPEN BOOK TOUR

friday, september 6

kathleen madigan HOT DOGS AND ANGELS TOUR saturday, september 21

elizabeth moen englert.org 221 E. Washington St, Iowa City (319) 688-2653

BREAD & BUTTER

LittleVillageMag.com/Dining

LV Recommends:

Goosetown Cafe 203 N Linn St, Iowa City, 319-351-1924

D

oes Iowa City really need another breakfast and brunch restaurant?

If it’s as diverse in flavor and subtly inventive as Goosetown Cafe, then yes.

What I’ve found after repeated trips to the brunch, lunch and dinner spot that opened in Iowa City’s Northside nearly a year ago is a place that’s hugely confident, a trait not many newer restaurants have. That confidence shows in a menu and a design with contrasting characteristics, but held together by quality.

Walking in, Goosetown looks both modern and retro. The bright white square bar that sits in the middle of the restaurant is a brash, young style choice. The exposed brick walls and wooden tables are in line with the current go-to style of a hipper kind of restaurant.

Accented with brown leather booths in the back that look straight out of the 1950s and mid-century modern chairs throughout, it’s not a clash of old and new, but a celebration of both.

The menu follows a similar balance.

From steak and eggs with asparagus, cherry tomatoes and brick of a hashbrown ($15) to the Goosetown Standards with two eggs, hashbrown, sourdough toast and a choice of meat ($9), the breakfast menu is grounded in staples, though these staples lack the kick in flavor most of the other dishes pose.

The Fried Egg Sliders ($9) are a good example of a simple dish executed to satisfaction. Three sunny eggs are served on three Hawaiian rolls. With aioli, sharp cheddar and a choice of meats or avocado, they are light and simple.

The sweeter side of breakfast is where Goosetown cooks have the most confidence.

The Brioche French Toast ($12) serves thick slices of heaven: brioche served in rich maple crème anglaise dotted with wonderfully sharp fruit reductions and topped with honey butter and a hint of powdered sugar. Along with the Dutch Baby Pancake ($7), which is topped in crème anglasie and berry preserves, these dishes are both filling and vibrantly fruity.

Then there’s the House Pop Tart ($5).

16 May 1–14, 2019 LITTLEVILLAGEMAG.COM/LV263

Goosetown Cafe’s duck pot pie. Zach Berg

Though it may sound too much like something a ’90s kid dreamt up, they are served hot, impossibly flaky and always with a different fruit filling—pumpkin, caramel apple, rhubarb, aronia berry. Again, Goosetown takes something you think you know and makes it a surprise.

Brunch and breakfast are only the beginning. Lunch and dinner options are even more adventurous. Take the sage-topped Duck Pot Pie ($15), or the Bibimbap Grain Bowl ($13) with its rainbow of ingredients like kimchi, cucumber, carrot, red onion and the savory, sweet, spicy miracle that is Gochujang paste.

They seem like dishes served at separate restaurants, but are bold with flavors.

During my latest visit, I had the potently flavorful and subtly spicy Shrimp and Grits

($14) with Gruyere and bacon grits and chimichurri marinated shrimp. Plated simply but beautifully, with the darkened shrimp sitting above the grits, it was a dish filled with experiences: the smokiness of bacon, the spice of chimichurri, the crisp shrimp.

Those main dishes paired with sandwiches and salads ($6-13) make lunch and dinner at Goosetown as viable an option as breakfast.

Add to that a robust selection of custom cocktails, beers and wines, and it’s a restaurant that can serve many needs.

There are a few dishes that cost a lot, like the Atlantic Salmon with sweet potato risotto, vegetables and kabocha cream ($24), but just know you don’t have to drop $20 to enjoy Goosetown. No matter what you spend, you’re in good hands.

—Zach Berg

STRENGTHEN

Preserve the historic Englert Theatre and FilmScene on the ped mall

GROW

Create a state-of-the-art cinema and nurture our festivals

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Building the

GREATEST SMALL CITY for THE ARTS

LEARN HOW YOU CAN HELP REALIZE OUR COLLABORATIVE VISION AT

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CULTURE

LittleVillageMag.com

A-List

Ahwar & Peace Egyptian artist Nadah El Shazly on musical freedom and the “borderline insanity” brought out by her work.

BY DEREK TATE

T

here are songs of great sadness, written in the early 20th century

by Egyptian Arabs and recorded mechanically. They’re written in a forgotten style, slightly grating on the ears, but evoking a sense of melancholy and nostalgia.

These are the sounds which guide the latest musical ventures of experimental multi-instrumentalist Nadah El Shazly. In a recent phone call, she remembered the moment she first discovered the tunes in the years leading up to the release of her first album.

“I was really inspired by the openness and the really brilliant dynamic between the musicians and their playing,” El Shazly said.

“For some reason it resonated with me.”

In the past few years, El Shazly, a native of Cairo, Egypt, has proven to be a prominent voice in the growing experimental music scene of North Africa. Her 2017 release, Ahwar, a melting pot of dueling musical modes and experimental production, was met with international acclaim. More recently, El Shazly appeared as a guest vocalist alongside Middle Eastern septet Karkhana on their latest LP, Carte Blanche, in collaboration with American musicians Sir Richard Bishop and W. David Oliphant.

In mid-April, El Shazly began her North American tour, consisting of 22 dates, which includes a show in Iowa City at the beginning of May as part of the Feed Me Weird Things series. This tour features a new set of musicians not previously heard in El Shazly’s live shows. The personnel consists of double bass-player Thierry Amar (of Godspeed You! Black Emperor) and multi-instrumentalist Devin Brahja Waldman, both of whom helped record El Shazly’s latest album. The set-up of bass, synthesizer and alto saxophone is a bit more stripped back than previous iterations of El Shazly’s live crew, but she says the new musicians will add a never-before-seen angle to the music.

“For someone who knows the album, I think it’d be exciting to hear it from a different perspective and a different arrangement,” El Shazly said. “It will be like revisiting the sound but also being able to experience it 18 May 1–14, 2019 LITTLEVILLAGEMAG.COM/LV263

Alan Chies

FMWT #21: Nadah El Shazly w/ Sivan Cohen Elias, Trumpet Blossom Cafe, Iowa City, Thursday, May 9, 9 p.m., $12-15

differently. The working stuff is pretty open and it has a lot of improv parts, but that really depends on the musicians themselves and where they take it.”

It’s this idea of openness in the dynamics of musicians, both recorded and on-stage, that drew El Shazly to the old recordings which inspired Ahwar. The inspiration can be heard almost immediately on the opening track, “Afqid Adh-Dhakira,” which features a distorted sample of a tune by an Egyptian recording artist from the late 19th century before descending into an atmospheric freefor-all of competing instrumental voices, all the while guided by El Shazly’s haunting contralto vocals. Sometimes harmonious and fulfilling, other times cacophonous and unresolved, Ahwar remains conceptually consistent, each track containing those recurring elements of openness, freedom and improvisation.

“For me it’s a very personal album that brought out very personal feelings of

confusion and borderline insanity,” El Shazly said. “But it’s also dealing with questions of protection and love as well. The lyrics are really intimate and personal but kind of expressed in a way that brings together aesthetics of old music with, just, the modern stuff we see on the internet.”

While immensely personal, El Shazly credits much of the album’s conception to the underground scene in Cairo, where musical freedom is expressed from bands of all genres. There, musicians are able to share musical ideas and experiment in an explorative, deconstructionist environment.

“It’s very intense and there’s a lot of things that you wouldn’t think would work together but they work really nicely, actually,” El Shazly said. “You go and see a show and it’s always very refreshing to see what’s happening with new projects.”

El Shazly herself had participated in a

IT’S THE FIGHT OF THE CENTURY. AND THEY WOULD KNOW. series of musical ventures before the conception of Ahwar. From performing as a punk vocalist to playing traditional jazz to composing electronica tunes, El Shazly’s storied musical history was quite diverse before settling with the current avant-garde/free jazz/ rock hybrid sound of her current project. The transition was ultimately due to a desire for change, a step away from more controlled performances and towards improvisation.

This is the rejection of what El Shazly dubs “musical political correctness.” She describes the phrase as a person’s own delineation of music and how they subconsciously correct themselves while making music. It’s the underlying desire to feel safe and comfortable and normal in the music-making process—a desire which El Shazly has been confidently ignoring.

“It’s like, if you hear an instrument and think you shouldn’t use it because it’s not how the genre should sound like, or if you were to want to use a certain instrument but you’re scared of it because it represents another culture or thing and you don’t know how to push forward or how to detach it from its culture. All of these things can be part of musical political correctness.”

However, even with its efforts to maintain musical freedom and to push the envelope of what “correct” music means, perhaps Ahwar’s most relevant attribute is that initial attempt to merge the old and the new, to reintroduce musical styles from the past and style them with the fervorous colors of the present. But even then, those older elements are subject to getting lost in translation, El Shazly explains. The old ideas could be misinterpreted. Ultimately, El Shazly decided she must come to terms with the reality that the magic of those recordings couldn’t truly be reintroduced.

But beyond the experimentation and the striving for musical independence, El Shazly says her music is above all meant to achieve a personal sense of self-care and discovery.

“Primarily it’s to keep my sanity and to do something that I really love. I think also it’s to continue to be adventurous and discovering the potential of music and what you can do and the amount of things you can do with it,” El Shazly said. “That’s what I always like to do.”

TCR PReSE

NTS

STARRING

MAR

DUNNE VS. BINDER

   

Derek Tate is studying journalism and geography at the University of Iowa. He likes to play the baritone. He thinks he’s getting good, but he can handle criticism.

E SAY-ABAIR D IN L ID V A EDY BY D A NEW COM ON N THOMAS O O M L Y R R AND CHE TY NORTON

may 31 - june 16

   

get tickets now! theatrecr.org | 319-366.8591 PA R T O F T H E G R A N D O N S E R I E S

TCR • 102 THIR D STR EET • DOWNTOWN CEDAR RAPIDS

D A O L N W O D APP

THE R E V O ISC D O T RN

E T S EA IOWA TS

EVETNED BY E CURA G A L L VI E L T LIT

LittleVillageMag.com/App 20 May 1–14, 2019 LITTLEVILLAGEMAG.COM/LV263

EDITORS’ PICKS

STAFF PICKS

CALENDAR WHAT ARE WE DOING?

MAY 1–14, 2019

EVENTS AROUND THE CRANDIC MAY 1–14, 2019

Still from ‘Ask Dr. Ruth’

Planning an event? Submit event info to calendar@littlevillagemag. com. Include event name, date, time, venue, street address, admission price and a brief description (no all-caps, exclamation points or advertising verbiage, please). To find more events, visit littlevillagemag.com/calendar.

Please check venue listing in case details have changed.

Wed., May 1 Iowa City Open Coffee, Merge, Iowa City, 8 a.m., Free (Weekly) THIS WEEK: THADDEUS MEDICAL SYSTEMS

One Million Cups, Merge, Iowa City, 9 a.m., Free (Weekly) Iowa City Wednesday Farmers Market, Chauncey Swan Ramp, Iowa City, 5 p.m. (Weekly) Bobaflex, Dark Sky Choir, Death By Disaster, NonGrata, Beyond the Heavens, Wildwood Smokehouse & Saloon, Iowa City, 6 p.m., $15-20 FEATURING DJ ENVISION

Rounds with FBG Duck. Hosted by Chelsie Nelson, Gabe’s, Iowa City, 7 p.m., $25-30 FOLK/COUNTRY

Alastair Moock w/ Frances Luke Accord, CSPS Legion Arts, Cedar Rapids, 7 p.m., $16-19

Ruth-Top Tonic Hour, FilmScene, Iowa City, Friday, May 10, 5 p.m., $2530 Despite myriad visits to FilmScene, I’ve

somehow never seen the cinema’s rooftop patio. What better time to raise the roof (lol) than my birthday? On the most blessed of days, May 10, FilmScene will host a themed cocktail party for the premiere of the documentary Ask Dr. Ruth, a profile of groundbreaking TV sex therapist and Holocaust survivor Ruth Westheimer, now 90 years old and showing no signs of slowing down. A ticket includes two Dr. Ruth-inspired cocktails (served on FilmScene’s “Ruth-top”), a full-sized bottle of Joanna’s Tonic Syrup, free popcorn and, of course, admission to the movie. A fan of 2018’s Won’t You Be My Neighbor? and RBG? Get a little naughtier with your biographical documentary game, and make Dr. Ruth proud.

—Emma McClatchey

POST-SCREENING DIALOGUE W/ POLITICAL PARTY LIVE

‘Knock Down The House, Film Scene, Iowa City, 7 p.m., Free POETRY READING: ‘THE LAST VISIT’ / ‘PERCEIVED DISTANCE FROM IMPACT’ AND ‘DISTRESS TOLERANCE’

Chad Abushanab and Kam Hilliard, Prairie Lights Books & Cafe, Iowa City, 7 p.m., Free

Buckethead, Wildwood Smokehouse & Saloon, Iowa City, Friday, May 10, 8 p.m., $25 Y’all. This is not a drill. Buckethead is

coming to town again. The virtuosic guitarist, cloaked in mystery (well, obscured by a mask and capped in a bucket), is winding down his 2019 tour, which kicked off in March.

Iowa City will be the sixth-to-last stop on a long-ass trip that has seen him performing almost daily for two and a half months. The incomparable maestro was at Gabe’s a year

ago for a Monday night show, and we must have done something right, because he’s hitting town on a Friday this go-round, so you have no excuses. The show is all-ages and scheduled for a tight two hours, no opener, with door time a full two hours before start.

Get there early and snag the perfect spot for a not-to-be-missed sonic experience.

—Genevieve Trainor JCMG 2019 Plant Sale and Flea Market, Johnson County Fairgrounds, Saturday, May 11, 8:30 a.m., Free; Master Gardener Plant Sale, Marion American Legion, Saturday, May 11, 8 a.m., Free What are

we doing? We’re spending our savings at plant sales! The winter was unforgiving and the spring has been abundant and plentiful. While we’re all sighing a collective gasp of appreciation for the months to come, why not treat ourselves and the earth this magnificent season and put some damn plants in the ground?

For those like me who’ve just discovered the pleasures of landscaping, promptly becoming the most boring people alive for anyone not devoted to transforming their backyards into living sanctuaries, there is a place for us. A wonderful place, where crazed, single-minded masters and amateurs alike can fork over their paychecks and truly get a return on their investments year after year––if they don’t squander everything on annuals.

––Jordan Sellergren LITTLEVILLAGEMAG.COM/LV263 May 1–14, 2019 21

EDITORS’ PICKS OPENING NIGHT! RUNS THROUGH MAY 5

Cirque du Soleil Corteo, U.S. Cellular Center, Cedar Rapids, 7:30 p.m., $39-118 Open Mic Night, Penguin’s Comedy Club, Cedar Rapids, 8 p.m., Free (Weekly) SIOUX CITY SOUL

Ultra Violet Fever, Gabe’s, Iowa City, 9 p.m.

Open Stage, Studio 13, Iowa City, 10 p.m., Free (Weekly) THIS WEEK: ‘MOM AND DAD’

Late Shift at the Grindhouse, Film Scene, Iowa City, 10 p.m., $4 (Weekly)

Thu., May 2 OPENING PERFORMANCE! RUNS THROUGH MAY 26

‘Church Basement Ladies,’ Old Creamery Theatre, Amana, 2 p.m., $12-32.50 I.C. Press Co-op open shop, Public Space One, Iowa City, 4 p.m., Free (Weekly) Preucil Preschool Art Show Open House, Public Space One, Iowa City, 4:30 p.m., Free Meet Me at the Market, NewBo City Market, Cedar Rapids, 5 p.m., Free (Weekly) Iowa Youth Writing Program Fundraiser, Geyer’s Oven, Oxford, 5 p.m., $10-15 41 YEARS OF THE OLLIE

Lookback Library X Ughism Art Exhibit, Eduskate Board Shop, Cedar Rapids, 6 p.m., Free

OUR SERVICES, WITH DISCOUNTS AVAILABLE FOR STUDENTS AND UI EMPLOYEES:

454 FIRST AVENUE, CORALVILLE, IA 52241 319-338-1815

hello@arnottkirklaw.com

• Immigration • Family and Juvenile Law • Business Law and Litigation • Business Formation - LLCs and Corporations • Uniform Commercial Code • Estate Planning and Probate • Real Estate • Criminal Defense • Insurance • Expungement • Drivers License Reinstatement

LITTLEVILLAGE MAG.COM Iowa City Meditation Class: How To Transform Your Life, Quaker Friends Meeting House, Iowa City, 6:30 p.m., $5-10 (Weekly) Line Dancing and Lessons, Wildwood Smokehouse & Saloon, Iowa City, 6:30 p.m., Free (Weekly) Thursday Night Live Open Mic, Uptown Bill’s, Iowa City, 7 p.m., Free (Weekly) Open Mic Night, Artisan’s Sanctuary, Marion, 7 p.m., $5 suggested donation ESSAY READING: ‘HERE IS WHERE I WALK: EPISODES FROM A LIFE IN THE FOREST’

Leslie Carol Roberts, Prairie Lights Books & Cafe, Iowa City, 7 p.m., Free Daddy-O, Parlor City Pub and Eatery, Cedar Rapids, 7 p.m., Free (Weekly) Live Jazz, Clinton Street Social Club, Iowa City, 8 p.m., Free (1st & 3rd Thursdays) FAYETTEVILLE, AR FUNK ROCK

An Evening with Groovement, Gabe’s, Iowa City, 8 p.m., $10 Karaoke Thursday, Studio 13, Iowa City, 8 p.m., Free (Weekly) FOLK REVITALIZED

The Tallest Man on Earth, Englert Theatre, Iowa City, 8:30 p.m., $35-55 REMIXED CLASSICS

The Mystic Cats w/ Brass Tower, Iowa City Yacht Club, 9 p.m., $5

cans COMING SUMMER 2019 experience at reunion brewery

deliciously distinct beers & high quality grub | 319-337-3000 | reunionbrewery.com

YOUTH & STUDENT PRICING AVAILABLE CALL THE TICKET OFFICE FOR MORE DETAILS

Thank you!

All of us at Hancher thank everyone who joined us— in the auditorium, on campus, and in the community— during the 2018/2019 season!

We’ll announce the 2019/2020 season on May 8.

Tickets will go on sale to the general public on July 1.

Top row: Steep Canyon Rangers on the Hancher Green (Tim Schoon). Smith Lobby before a Hancher Culinary Arts dinner, Philadelphia Orchestra, and the cantilever above Hancher’s main entrance (Justin Torner). Second row: Kristin Chenoweth on New Year’s Eve (Zak Neumann). Rufus Reid and Johnson County Landmark in Catlett Hall, and inside Hancher Auditorium (Justin Torner). Third row: Alsarah & the Nubatones (Justin Torner). New Year’s Eve fireworks (Zak Neumann). Fourth row: Luisa Caldwell artwork hanging in the Stanley Café, community workshop with Soweto Gospel Choir, and Rahim AlHaj in the classroom (Justin Torner). The 2019 Hancher Guild Youth Art Show (Zak Neumann).

Great Artists. Great Audiences. Hancher Performances.

Discover more at hancher.uiowa.edu.

LITTLEVILLAGEMAG.COM/CALENDAR

TOP PICKS: QUAD CITIES Delicate Steve w/ Fascinator, Triple Crown Whiskey Bar & Raccoon Motel, Davenport, Thursday, May 2, 7 p.m., $12 The instrumental, guitar-driven music

of Delicate Steve keeps listeners on their toes. You’ll hear progressive rock, twangy folk, ’70s pop, fuzzed-out garage elements and more you can pick up on throughout his set. The guitar virtuoso has collaborated with Paul Simon, Kanye and many others.

Experimental electro-psych artist Fascinator opens the show. RIYL: Ratatat, White Denim, Rubblebucket —Paige Underwood Short Horn w/ Mo Carter & Co, Tambourine, Tommy’s Bar, Moline, Friday, May 3, 9 p.m., Free Indie sing-

er-songwriters ease you into Short Horn’s heavyweight post punk. This show is a guaranteed authentic QC experience, from the bands to the bar. Sound & Vision presents: Tommy’s Annual Spring Fling! Everyone on this ticket is a pro, with cumulative decades of experience in the local industry and beyond. —Melanie Hanson

MAY 1–14, 2019

DIRECTOR CLAIRE DENIS

HIGH LIFE

Nadah El Shazly w/ Signal Decay, RozzTox, Rock Island, Friday, May 10, 9 p.m., $10-13 Experimental singer, composer and

multi-instrumentalist Nadah El Shazly of Cairo is making a stop in the QC on her first ever U.S. tour. Nadah and company beautifully tangle elements of traditional Egyptian music with modern electronic to create an enchanting soundscape. The droney trumpet sounds of Signal Decay will begin the night. You can catch Nadah El Shazly twice by heading to Iowa City Thursday, May 9.

Don’t miss the LV interview with her on pg.

18. —PU

STARRING ELISABETH MOSS

HER SMELL

NATIONAL THEATRE LIVE

Goddamn Gallows w/ 20 Watt Tombstone, the Smokes, Rock Island Brewing Company, Rock Island, Friday, May 10, 9 p.m., $12 Generally speaking,

FILMMAKER SPOTLIGHT

GRIDSHOCK

punk rockers and country fans are natural enemies. They unite under the banner of psychobilly, a communion of biblical proportions. It’s like when a tiger hangs out with a goat or a dog walks upright. 20 Watt Tombstone contributes alt blues noise rock, checking off two of my top five favorite live genres. —MH

BONUS: ROOFTOP COCKTAILS!

ASK DR. RUTH

via the artists’ Facebook

SCENESTERS SELECTS

via the artist

A REMARKABLE MAN

Mariachi Band” is a branch of a Chicago Latino arts community calling themselves Salsation. The quartet combines improv comedy, which is impressive on its own, with musical improv, which requires a whole other level of care and cooperation: The only other time I’ve seen the combo succeed was with a duo who’d been married for 10 years. —MH

Quad City Symphony Presents: Har Mar Superstar, The Rust Belt, East Moline, Saturday, May 11, 7 p.m., $25

Minneapolis R&B-infused pop musician Har Mar Superstar will be playing two sets on this night—one with his band and the other backed by the Quad City Symphony Orchestra. Har Mar’s performances are already memorable, so I can only anticipate that the accompaniment of the QCSO will make it a next-level, not-to-be-missed experience.

—PU

OPENS MAY 3

THE MADNESS OF GEORGE III

HIGH SCHOOL FILM CLUB

Los Improviachis, Circa 21 Speakeasy, Rock Island, Saturday, May 4, 8 p.m., $12-15 “The World’s Only Improvised

OPENS MAY 3

HESBRUGH

ILLUMINATING DOC

HAIL SATAN? NOW

2

SCREENS!

MAY 5

MAY 7

OPENS MAY 10

MAY 12-14

OPENS MAY 17

OPENS MAY 17

EDITORS’ PICKS

Fri., May 3

ALSO SATURDAY, MAY 4

Jiggy (Mark Jigarjian) w/ Nate Abshire, FEATURING: JOSÉ COVO, ELISA FERRER MOLINA,

Penguin’s Comedy Club, Cedar Rapids, 8 p.m.,

INÉS GALLO DE URIOSTE, NATALIA HERNÁNDEZ,

$12-15

MARIANA MAZER AND ANGELA PICO PINTO

University of Iowa Spanish MFA Graduate

The Science Project w/ Orion Walsh, JM

Reading, Prairie Lights Books & Cafe, Iowa City,

Lansdowne, Justin Swafford, Iowa City Yacht Club,

5 p.m., Free

9 p.m., $7

THIS WEEK: BERNEMANN BROTHERS BAND

MELODIC PUNK OUT OF CHICAGO

Rock the Block, NewBo City Market, Cedar

Meat Wave w/ Younger, Hitter, Gabe’s, Iowa

Rapids, 6 p.m., Free (Weekly)

City, 9:30 p.m., $10

FAC Dance Party, The Union, Iowa City, 7 p.m.

SoulShake, Gabe’s, Iowa City, 10 p.m., Free

(Weekly)

(Weekly)

IOWA CITY PUBLIC LIBRARY ANNUAL

Sasha Belle Presents: Friday Night Drag &

FUNDRAISER

Dance Party, Studio 13, Iowa City, 10:30 p.m.,

Looking Forward: Connie Schultz and Sarah

$5 (Weekly)

Smarsh in Conversation, Englert Theatre, Iowa City, 7 p.m., Freewill donation: $125

Sat, May 4

Run of the Mill’s Variety Show Fundraiser, The Mill, Iowa City, 7 p.m., $5 suggested donation

Iowa City Sunday Farmers Market, Chauncey Swan Ramp, Iowa City, 7:30 a.m. (Weekly)

NASHVILLE SOUTHERN ROCK

Coming to CSPS Hall Wed May 1 Alastair Moock w Frances Luke Accord Thu May 2 First Thursday Fri May 3 Mile Twelve Wed May 8 Jeffrey Foucault Thu May 9 The Steel Wheels Sat May 11 Hannah Sanders & Ben Savage Wed May 15 Sam Baker Fri May 17 Rebecca Loebe Sat May 18 Russian Guitar Festival Sun May 19 John Gorka May 24-25 SPT Theatre Sun May 26 Luke Gullickson Art, music and theatre in Cedar Rapids since 1992 www.legionarts.org 319.364.1580

The Steel Woods w/ Dan Tedesco, Blue Moose

Marion Farmers Market, Taube Park, Marion, 8

Tap House, Iowa City, 7 p.m., $15-18

a.m. (Weekly)

OPENING NIGHT! RUNS THROUGH MAY 12

Spring Plant and Art Sale, Indian Creek Nature

City Circle Presents: ‘The Scarlet Pimpernel,’

Center, Cedar Rapids, 9 a.m.

Coralville Center for the Performing Arts, 7:30 p.m., $14-29

May the Fourth STEM Celebration, Iowa Children’s Museum, Coralville, 10 a.m., Free with

OPENING NIGHT! RUNS THROUGH MAY 26

admission

‘The Hunchback of Notre Dame,’ Theatre Cedar Rapids, 7:30 p.m., $25-53

Guest Vendor Market, NewBo City Market, Cedar Rapids, 10 a.m. (Weekly)

YOUNG, FRESH BLUEGRASS

Mile Twelve, CSPS Legion Arts, Cedar Rapids, 8

AREA SUBSTANCE ABUSE COUNCIL ART DISPLAY

p.m., $16-19

Each Mind Matters, NewBo City Market, Cedar Rapids, 10 a.m.

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LITTLEVILLAGEM AG.COM/CALENDAR Family Storytime, Iowa City Public Library,

CLOSING NIGHT

10:30 a.m., Free (Weekly)

Dreamwell Theatre Presents: ‘Tragedy: A Tragedy,’ Public Space One, Iowa City, 7:30 p.m.,

I.C. Press Co-op Open Shop, Public Space One,

$10-13

Iowa City, 12 p.m., Free (Weekly) Keith Reins, Sanctuary Pub, Iowa City, 8 p.m., MUSIC @ 1, DRAG SHOW @ 4

Free

The Quire Fundraiser & Charity Show, Iowa City Yacht Club and Studio 13, 1 p.m., $5

CAMP EUFORIA BATTLE OF THE BANDS

A-Z, the Horse Theory, Reggae Rapids, the GET DECKED OUT FOR THE

BeSides, Scamper., the Megababes, Gabe’s,

DERBY BEST DRESSED CONTEST

Iowa City, 8 p.m., $5

Kentucky Derby Viewing Party, Big Grove Brewery & Taproom, Iowa City, 3 p.m., Free

FEED ME WEIRD THINGS #20: OTHERWORLDLY EXPLORATIONS

ALSO SUNDAY, MAY 5

Louise Bock (Taralie Peterson of Spires That

Maifest, Downtown Amana, 4 p.m., Free

In The Sunset Rise) w/ Ramin Roshandel, Trumpet Blossom Cafe, Iowa City, 9 p.m., Free-$8

Iowa Chapbook Prize, Prairie Lights Books & Cafe, Iowa City, 5 p.m., Free

Elation Dance Party, Studio 13, Iowa City, 9 p.m., $5 (Weekly)

Bijou Open Screen, FilmScene, Iowa City, 5 p.m., Free

TWIN CITIES ELECTRONIC

Manic Focus w/ Russ Liquid, Blue Moose Tap FEATURING: SIVAN COHEN ELIAS, JEAN-

House, Iowa City, 9 p.m., $14-16

FRANÇOIS CHARLES, EMILY WHEELER, WILL YAGER, WOMBAT

BIJOU AFTER HOURS

iHearIC, Uptown Bill’s Coffee House, Iowa

Secret Screening, FilmScene, Iowa City, 11 p.m.,

City, 7 p.m., Freewill donation

Free-$6.50

LIVE PRO WRESTLING FROM SWCPRO

Sun., May 5

Hawkamania X: May the 4th Be with You, Wildwood Smokehouse & Saloon, Iowa City, 7:30 p.m., $10

Guest Vendor Market, NewBo City Market, Cedar Rapids, 10 a.m. (Weekly)

FEATURING JANICE CHANDLER-ETEME, SOPRANO AND RICHARD ZELLER, BARITONE

Hiawatha Farmers Market, Guthridge Park,

Orchestra Iowa Presents: German Requiem,

Hiawatha, 10 a.m. (Weekly)

Paramount Theatre, Cedar Rapids, 7:30 p.m., $16-55

St. John the Baptist Greek Orthodox Church Spring Greek Dinner, Scottish Rite Temple, Cedar Rapids, 11 a.m., $7-14

 2790 N DODGE ST., IOWA CITY (319) 569-1722

COMMUNITY >> Cont. from pg. 10 “We started gathering ideas for this back in December, when a couple of our colleagues were faced with the really unfortunate circumstance of having, in one case, a cancer diagnosis and not being able to work, but not having enough sick days built up to get him to the point that he could apply for disability,” Sand said.

Tenured members of the faculty can assist their colleagues who have exhausted their sick leave by contributing accrued vacation days to their colleagues, who can then use them as extra sick days. But since non-tenure track faculty don’t accrue vacation days, they can’t participate in this system.

The University of Northern Iowa lets any faculty member contribute part of their sick leave to any colleague in need of extra sick days. FFI wants UI to adopt that system.

FFI circulated petitions in support of making the change and collected almost 400 signatures, according to Sand. They presented the petition to UI’s administration, who told them to take the idea to the regents. FFI sent a representative to propose the change during the public comments section of the Feb. 28 regents meeting in Ames.

The regents did not respond. (Typically, the regents sit silently during comments. Often they don’t even look at the speakers.)

FFI had several speakers advocate for the sick leave change during the public comments section of April 18 meeting.

The regents did not respond. That’s when Liz Weiss stepped forward with a bullhorn.

An hour into the “extended comments period,” it was announced that, in another room, representatives of the regents were talking to FFI representatives. After 30 more minutes of personal stories and slogan-chanting—“What do we want? Fair medical leave! When do we want it? Now!”—it was announced the two sides had agreed to schedule a meeting to discuss the sick leave changes.

Asked what FFI had learned from its dealings with UI administrators and the regents, Sand said, “You can leave the table and refuse to talk to us, but because of our collective power, we can bring you back again.”

“There’s a lot of power in the old-school sense of the union,” she said. “That power doesn’t come from having the university, or even the state, recognize our validity as a union. We have the power just by being the collective that we are.”

Paul Brennan regrets not reaching over the barrier and grabbing a brownie from the Board of Regents’ buffet at the April 18 meeting. They looked tasty.

28 May 1–14, 2019 LITTLEVILLAGEMAG.COM/LV263

LITTLEVILLAGEMAG.COM/CALENDAR

Upcoming Events: EVERY MONDAY - PARCHMENT LOUNGE - 6:30 PM

TOP PICKS: DES MOINES

MAY 1–14, 2019

free write session hosted by Iowa Writer's House EVERY WEDNESDAY - ANDREW'S BAR EXAM - 7:00 PM

MAY 10 9 PM

Mina Jazz Quartet

MAY 11 8 PM

Bluetone Jazz Collective

MAY 16 8 PM

Double Feature Open Mic

JUNE 21 8 PM

from Mad Tiger

Dead Coast Presents: Claire Adams MONDAYS ARE HAPPY HOUR EVERY HOUR! SUNDAYS ARE 1/2 OFF ALL PIZZA ALL DAY! (319) 351-5692 • 405 S GILBERT ST, IOWA CITY

World Labyrinth Day, Des Moines, May 4, All Day, Free Labyrinths have existed in

civilizations around the world for thousands of years. They are designed to center their participants in contemplation and movement, which differentiates them from say, a corn maze. There are no mistakes or wrong turns in navigating a labyrinth, but rather just one path that takes many twists and turns as it guides you slowly and methodically towards the exit. Kind of like life! The May 4 celebration will take participants through four labyrinths located around the downtown area and will include stops at local businesses for special events along the way.

Peelander-Z w/ Me Like Bees, Wooly’s, May 7, 7:30 p.m., $10-12 I accidentally

caught a Peelander-Z set years ago when I was loading in for a late show at the Vaudeville Mews. The self-proclaimed “Japanese Action Comic Punk” band’s live show is like a candy-coated cross between Of Montreal and Gwar. Originally hailing from the planet of Peelander, the band is currently on a tour of Earth in support of their 10th studio album, GO PZ GO, out now on Austin’s Chicken Ranch Records. The album is classic Peelander-Z, packing no-nonsense punk rhythms into two-minute bangers about nonsense like aliens, comb-overs and a house made out of cookies.

#KnowJustice: Origins—5th Annual Art Exhibit, ArtForce Iowa, May 9, 6 p.m., $10-20 ArtForce Iowa is a local nonprofit fo-

cused on enhancing the lives of youth in need through artwork and creative skills-based education. The organization matches artist mentors with students to teach everything from hip-hop beat production to creative writing to painting. The annual #KnowJustice Art Exhibit is an opportunity for the students to exhibit artwork focusing on personal and contemporary social and political issues. This year’s exhibition is called Origins and will feature themes of family, childhood, culture and upbringing.

Twin Peaks w/ Post Animal, Wooly’s, May 10, 7:30 p.m., $16-18 Of all the psych-

tinged, throwback, rock ‘n’ roll acts that flooded the various airwaves over the past decade, few seem to have had the staying power of Twin Peaks. Through four albums, the Chicago-based group has taken tropes from the mid-2000s garage rock revival into newer and newer territory. Their latest album, Sweet ’17 Singles, cleans a lot of the grime of previous releases, rooting their blissed-out guitar blasts in near-power pop tendencies.

The band is on tour over the next month, stopping through Des Moines on May 10 for this show at Wooly’s with Chicago buds, Post Animal.

—Trey Reis LITTLEVILLAGEMAG.COM/LV263 May 1–14, 2019 29

EDITORS’ PICKS BENEFIT FOR

Theatre, Cedar Rapids, 7:30 p.m.,

MARY’S FARM SANCTUARY

$28

Tails & Ales Featuring Homebrewed, Big Grove Brewery &

Heidi Burson Band, Parlor City

Taproom, Iowa City, 1 p.m., Free

Pub and Eatery, Cedar Rapids, 4 p.m., Free

Sunday Funday, Iowa City Public Library, Iowa City, 2 p.m., Free

FEATURING SIXCHAKRA,

(Weekly)

CELESTIAL DHARMA, RILATHON, MISTAH, FLIGHT

National Theatre Live: ‘The

Divine Minds Therapy Sessions

Madness Of George III,’ Englert

#2: Swampwoofer Takeover,

Theatre, Iowa City, 2 p.m., $9-18

Gabe’s, Iowa City, 8:30 p.m., $1015

READING: ‘DRAGONFELL’ / ‘GONDRA’S TREASURE’

Pub Quiz, The Mill, Iowa City, 9

Sarah Prineas and Jennifer

p.m., $1 (Weekly)

Black Reinhardt, Prairie Lights Books & Cafe, Iowa City, 3 p.m., Free

Mon., May 6

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Orchestra Iowa Presents:

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German Requiem, Paramount

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LITTLEVILLAGE MAG.COM/CALENDAR Open Mic, The Mill, Iowa City, 7

Practice in the Prairie, Indian

p.m., Free (Weekly)

Creek Nature Center, 6 p.m., Free (Weekly)

‘Past Notes: An Anthology of High School Writing,’ Prairie

POST-SCREENING DISCUSSION

Lights Books & Cafe, Iowa City, 7

WITH DIRECTOR VANESSA MCNEAL

p.m., Free

‘Gridshock,’ FilmScene, Iowa City, 6 p.m., Free-$6.50

Comedy Open Mic with Spencer & Dan, Yacht Club, Iowa City, 9

Eastern Iowa Arts Academy

p.m., Free (Weekly)

Presents: Rock Into Spring, Theatre Cedar Rapids, 6 p.m., $10

‘Good Boys,’ FilmScene, Iowa City, 9 p.m., Free

Blues Jam, Parlor City Pub and Eatery, Cedar Rapids, 7 p.m., Free

Say Anything Karaoke, Gabe’s,

(Weekly)

Iowa City, 10 p.m., Free (Weekly) Weekly Old-Timey Jam

Tue., May 7

Sessions, Trumpet Blossom Cafe,

Food Truck Tuesdays, NewBo

Dance Party with DJ Batwoman,

City Market, Cedar Rapids, 11 a.m.

Iowa City Yacht Club, 9 p.m., Free

(Weekly)

(Weekly)

Iowa City, 7:30 p.m., Free (Weekly)

LITTLEVILLAGEMAG.COM/CALENDAR

TOP PICKS:

WATERLOO/CEDAR FALLS MAY 1–14, 2019

EDITORS’ PICKS Comedy & Karaoke, Studio 13, Iowa City, 9 p.m., Free (Weekly) Karaoke Tuesdays, The Mill, Iowa City, 10:30 p.m., Free (Weekly)

Wed., May 8 United Way JWC 100th Year Celebration Kickoff, Big Grove Brewery & Taproom, Iowa City, courtesy of Surf Zombies

7 a.m., $15 Iowa City Open Coffee, Merge, Iowa City, 8 a.m., Free (Weekly) THIS WEEK: MIDWEST MUSIC ACADEMY

One Million Cups, Merge, Iowa City, 9 a.m., Free (Weekly)

Panda’s Home—Compagnia TPO, Gallagher Bluedorn Performing Arts Center, Cedar Falls, Saturday, May 4, 10 a.m. & 1 p.m., $11.75-26.75

Compagnia TPO, a dance troupe based in Prato, Italy, has created a living, interactive set for an engaging production aimed at enthralling children and adults alike. The dance performance employs traditional instruments as it tells the story of a panda wandering in a bamboo forest, exploring the five elements of Wu Xing— wood, fire, earth, metal and water.

Waterloo-Cedar Falls Symphony Presents: Turkish Delight, Brown Derby Ballroom, Waterloo, Saturday.

May 11, 4 & 7 p.m., $6.75-29.75 This

program, postponed from its original February date because of the bitterly cold temperatures in the area then, leans heavily on the works of Mozart for its exploration of the Turkish obsession in 18th century Vienna. The Waterloo-Cedar Falls Symphony will be hosted in the intimate space of the Brown Derby Ballroom, evoking a sense of those Viennese parties where the Turkish sound was so desired.

The full program includes: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart—Abduction from the Seraglio, selected movements from the Donaueschinger Harmoniemusik; Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart—Alla turca, finale from K 331 arranged by C.A. Goepfert (1768-1818); Louis Spohr— Notturno in C, Op. 34, selected movements; and Michael Haydn—Marcia Turchesca.

32 May 1–14, 2019 LITTLEVILLAGEMAG.COM/LV263

Waterloo Community Playhouse Presents a Staged Reading of ‘For Colored Girls who have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow is Enuf,’ McElroy Theatre, Waterloo, Saturday, May 11, 7 p.m., $5 Any time Ntozake

Shange’s seminal choreopoem is performed, if you can get there, go. The production I was part of in Cedar Rapids was talked about by the community for years after. It drew corners of the community into the theater who wouldn’t typically go. The seamless interweaving of poetry and drama anchors this play; the intersection of reality and beauty make it transcendent. And even today, in 2019, 43 years after this play’s premier, the voices and stories of black women, or any women of color, are not centered in this way nearly often enough. This staged reading also takes place Friday, May 17 at 7 p.m. and Sunday, May 19 at 2 p.m.

Iowa City Wednesday Farmers Market, Chauncey Swan Ramp, Iowa City, 5 p.m. (Weekly) Burlington Street Bluegrass Band, The Mill, Iowa City, 6 p.m., $5 (2nd & 4th Wednesdays) MIDWESTERN COUNTRY BLUES

Jeffrey Foucault, CSPS Legion Arts, Cedar Rapids, 7 p.m., $17-21 Inaugural Monthly Wednesday Jam Sesh with Thuh Chocolate Hogboys, Gabe’s, Iowa City, 7 p.m., Free Open Mic Night, Penguin’s Comedy KClub, Cedar Rapids, 8 p.m., Free (Weekly) WEST VIRGINIA PUNK/NOISE

Waxjaw w/ Midwest Waves, Sex Garbage, Bain Marie, Trumpet Blossom Cafe, Iowa City, 9 p.m., $7

Surf Zombies w/ Matt Woods, Spicoli’s Reverb—Live Music and Bar Arcade, Waterloo, Saturday, May 11, 8 p.m., $8

Cedar Rapids favorites the Surf Zombies are surfin’ up north to bring their wild, reverb-soaked surf rock to the scene. The instrumental ensemble has been making its magical noise for the past 13 years. Their most recent disc, Return of the Skeleton, released last fall, is a whirlwind of delectable, danceable tunes.

Give it a listen, and once you’ve fallen in love with their sound, make it a double header and catch them twice—they’ll also be at the Iowa Brewing Company in Cedar Rapids (which brews the delicious Surf Zombies IPA) on May 4 at 3 p.m. as part of the brewery’s threeday third anniversary party.

Open Stage, Studio 13, Iowa City, 10 p.m., Free (Weekly) THIS WEEK: ‘KNIFE+HEART’

Late Shift at the Grindhouse, Film Scene, Iowa City, 10 p.m., $4 (Weekly)

Thu., May 9 Theatre Cedar Rapids 2019 Ladies’ Brunch: Topsy Turvy, Cedar Rapids Country Club, $70 I.C. Press Co-op open shop, Public Space One, Iowa City, 4 p.m., Free (Weekly)

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EDITORS’ PICKS Meet Me at the Market, NewBo

Iowa City Meditation Class: How

City Market, Cedar Rapids, 5 p.m.,

To Transform Your Life, Quaker

Free (Weekly)

Friends Meeting House, Iowa City, 6:30 p.m., $5-10 (Weekly)

HONOREES: DANIEL HAYES, ANDRE PERRY, DALE TODD,

Line Dancing and Lessons,

DR. MARY WILCYNSKI

Wildwood Smokehouse & Saloon,

The Academy SPS 13th Annual

Iowa City, 6:30 p.m., Free (Weekly)

Tribute, Hotel at Kirkwood Center, Cedar Rapids, 5:30 p.m., $60

NOVEL READING: ‘LUCY, GO SEE’

Marianne Maili, Prairie Lights National Czech and Slovak

Books & Cafe, Iowa City, 7 p.m., Free

Museum and Library Presents: History on Tap—Protecting

ECO FILM FESTIVAL

Iowa’s Bees, Rapid Creek Cidery,

‘Revolution: The Fight to Save

Iowa City, 5:30 p.m., Free

Our Oceans,’ Iowa City Public Library, 7 p.m., Free

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Uptown Bill’s, Iowa City, 7 p.m., Free

U.S. Cellular Center, Cedar Rapids, 6

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STRING FOLK

Beer Garden Concert Series,

The Steel Wheels, CSPS Legion

Lion Bridge Brewing Company, Cedar

Arts, Cedar Rapids, 7 p.m., $16-19

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LITTLEVILLAGE MAG.COM/CALENDAR Daddy-O, Parlor City Pub and

Fri., May 10

Eatery, Cedar Rapids, 7 p.m., Free (Weekly)

FILMMAKERS JESS M. ROY, AARON LONGORIA, VILTE VAITKUTE

WARM, BRIGHT MELODIES

Intimate Realities:

Peter Mayer & Brendan Mayer,

Undergraduate Honors Thesis

The Mill, Iowa City, 7:30 p.m.,

Presentation, FilmScene, Iowa

$20-25

City, 1 p.m., Free

Karaoke Thursday, Studio 13,

THIS WEEK: NAOMI W/

Iowa City, 8 p.m., Free (Weekly)

SCARLET LETTER (EASTERN IOWA ARTS ACADEMY)

WONKY GROOVE MUSIC (DENVER)

Rock the Block, NewBo City

Dandu w/ Glass Femur, the Port

Market, Cedar Rapids, 5 p.m., Free

Authority, Gabe’s, Iowa City, 9

(Weekly)

p.m., $7 RUTH-TOP TONIC HOUR

Rebellion Burlesque Monthly

‘Ask Dr. Ruth,’ FilmScene, Iowa

Show, Iowa City Yacht Club, 9 p.m.,

City, 5 p.m., $25-30

$5-10 Writing Certificate Capstone FEED ME WEIRD THINGS #21: THE

Reading & Reception, Prairie

EGYPTIAN UNDERGROUND

Lights Books & Cafe, Iowa City, 5

Nadah El Shazly w/ Sivan Cohen

p.m., Free

Elias, Trumpet Blossom Cafe, Iowa City, 9 p.m., $12-15

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EDITORS’ PICKS CEDAR RAPIDS CRAFT BEER WEEK

Mina Jazz Quartet, Sanctuary Pub, Iowa City, 9

Third Annual Iowa Brewers Olympics, NewBo

p.m., Free

City Market, Cedar Rapids, 5 p.m., Free INTIMATE DUO PERFORMANCE W/ ITALIAN

Friday Night Out, Ceramics Center, Cedar

GUITARIST ROBERTO LUTI

Rapids, 6:30 p.m., $40 (2nd Friday)

Luke Winslow-King w/ Brian Johannesen, The Mill, 9 p.m., $10-12

COUNTRY SINGER/SONGWRITER

Kelsea Ballerini: Miss Me More Tour w/ Brett

SoulShake, Gabe’s, Iowa City, 10 p.m., Free

Young, Brandon Ratcliff, U.S. Cellular Center,

(Weekly)

Cedar Rapids, 7 p.m., $25-45 Sasha Belle Presents: Friday Night Drag & FAC Dance Party, The Union, Iowa City, 7 p.m.

Dance Party, Studio 13, Iowa City, 10:30 p.m.,

(Weekly)

$5 (Weekly)

CALIFORNIA GUITAR VIRTUOSO

Sat., May 11

Buckethead, Wildwood Smokehouse & Saloon, Iowa City, 8 p.m., $25

Iowa City Sunday Farmers Market, Chauncey ALSO SATURDAY, MAY 4

Swan Ramp, Iowa City, 7:30 a.m. (Weekly)

Brian Hicks w/ Fritz Nothnagel, Penguin’s Comedy Club, Cedar Rapids, 8 p.m., $12-15

Marion Farmers Market, Taube Park, Marion, 8 a.m. (Weekly)

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MINNESOTA BLUEGRASS

Kind Country w/ Halfloves, Mansfield

Master Gardener Plant Sale, American Legion

Avenue, Sleeping Jesus, Gabe’s, Iowa City, 8

Auxiliary, Marion, 8 a.m.

p.m., $10 Johnson County Master Gardeners 2019 OPENING NIGHT! RUNS THROUGH MAY 26

Plant Sale & Flea Market, Johnson County

‘The Legend of Georgia McBride,’ Giving Tree

Fairgrounds, Iowa City, 8 a.m.

Theater, Marion, 8 p.m., $26 Guest Vendor Market, NewBo City Market, Cedar BROTHER DUO MELANCHOLY FOLK FROM

Rapids, 10 a.m. (Weekly)

UPSTATE NY

Tough Old Bird w/ Lilly Aline, Trumpet Blossom

FINAL PERFORMANCES

Cafe, Iowa City, 9 p.m., $7

‘Judy Moody & Stink: The Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad Treasure Hunt,’ Old Creamery Theatre,

GRUNGY ROCK OUT OF DES MOINES

Your Opportunity to Engage with Arts and Culture

IOWA CITY EASTSIDE

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Izzy Starchild and the Psychedelic Rose, Iowa City Yacht Club, 9 p.m., $7

Amana, 10 a.m. & 1 p.m., $10.50

LITTLEVILLAGEMAG.COM Family Storytime, Iowa City Public Library, 10:30 a.m., Free (Weekly) I.C. Press Co-op Open Shop, Public Space One, Iowa City, 12 p.m., Free (Weekly) CEDAR RAPIDS CRAFT BEER WEEK

15th Annual Benz Beer Fest, Benz Beverage Depot, Cedar Rapids, 1 p.m., $30-40 Family Folk Machine Presents: Many Voices/ One Voice—We Are One Community, Englert Theatre, Iowa City, 2 p.m., Free TEXAS COUNTRY

2nd Annual Randy Rogers Band Outdoor Festival w/ Kyle Park, Mike and the Moonpies, First Avenue Club, Iowa City, 5 p.m., $25-50 DARK ELECTRONIC

Hot Pink Satan w/ Precious Child, DJ Dark Inq, Iowa City Yacht Club, 6 p.m., $7 BLUES/FOLK

Rob Lumbard and Chuck Mitchell, Artisan’s Sanctuary, Marion, 7 p.m., $10 FUNK/SOUL

Soul Sherpa, The Mill, Iowa City, 8 p.m., $7 COUNTRY/AMERICANA

Alex Williams, Wildwood Smokehouse & Saloon, Iowa City, 8 p.m., $12-20 Big Fun Band, Parlor City Pub and Eatery, Cedar Rapids, 8 p.m., Free Bluetone Jazz Collective, Sanctuary Pub, Iowa City, 8 p.m., Free

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Hannah Sanders & Ben Savage, CSPS Legion Arts, Cedar Rapids, 8 p.m., $17-21 BLUE OX FESTIVAL PRE PARTY

Flash In A Pan w/ Porchburner, Memphis

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Dives, Humdinger, Gabe’s, Iowa City, 8:30 p.m., $10 CEDAR RAPIDS ROCK/PUNK

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The Unincorporated w/ Scamper., Friendly Fire: On, Lefthand Lover, Iowa City Yacht Club, 9 p.m., $7-10 Elation Dance Party, Studio 13, Iowa City, 9 p.m., $5 (Weekly)

Sun., May 12 Guest Vendor Market, NewBo City Market, Cedar Rapids, 10 a.m. (Weekly) Hiawatha Farmers Market, Guthridge Park, Hiawatha, 10 a.m. (Weekly) SCENESTERS SELECTS: DISCUSSION LED BY JACK HARRIS AND FORREST ESTES

‘Brazil,’ FilmScene, Iowa City, 2 p.m., $8-9 Sunday Funday, Iowa City Public Library, Iowa City, 2 p.m., Free (Weekly) FILMMAKERS P. SAM KESSIE, TRACI HERCHER, KAI SWANSON

MFA Thesis Screening, FilmScene, Iowa

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Mon., May 13 Coralville Farmers Market, Coralville Community Aquatic Center Parking Lot, 5 p.m.

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‘Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind,’ FilmScene, Iowa City, 5:30 p.m., $8-10.50 CEDAR RAPIDS CRAFT BEER WEEK

‘Beerfest’ Screening, Iowa Brewing Company, Cedar Rapids, 6 p.m., Free

LITTLEVILLAGEMAG.COM Open Mic, The Mill, Iowa City, 7 p.m., Free (Weekly) VOICE LIKE A DAVID LYNCH DREAM SEQUENCE

Molly Burch w/ Andy Jenkins, The Mill, Iowa City, 8 p.m., $10-12 Comedy Open Mic with Spencer & Dan, Yacht Club, Iowa City, 9 p.m., Free (Weekly) Say Anything Karaoke, Gabe’s, Iowa City, 10 p.m., Free (Weekly)

Tue., May 14 Food Truck Tuesdays, NewBo City Market, Cedar Rapids, 11 a.m. (Weekly) CEDAR RAPIDS CRAFT BEER WEEK

Shrimp Boil, Lion Bridge Brewing Company, Cedar Rapids, 5:30 p.m., $25

www.revivaliowacity.com SCENESTERS SELECTS: DISCUSSION LED BY HARRY WESTERGAARD AND MADDY BOSCALJON

117 E. College St. Iowa City | Ped Mall | 319.337.4511

‘Harold and Maude,’ FilmScene, Iowa City, 5:30 p.m., $8-10.50 Practice in the Prairie, Indian Creek Nature Center, 6 p.m., Free (Weekly) Blues Jam, Parlor City Pub and Eatery, Cedar Rapids, 7 p.m., Free (Weekly) TOURING CHILDREN’S THEATER, ONE NIGHT ONLY

ArtsPower Presents: ‘Anne of Green Gables,’ Coralville Center for the Performing Arts, 7 p.m., $15-20 Weekly Old-Timey Jam Sessions, Trumpet Blossom Cafe, Iowa City, 7:30 p.m., Free (Weekly) Dance Party with DJ Batwoman, Iowa City Yacht Club, 9 p.m., Free (Weekly) Comedy & Karaoke, Studio 13, Iowa City, 9 p.m., Free (Weekly) Karaoke Tuesdays, The Mill, Iowa City, 10:30 p.m., Free (Weekly)

C E L E B R AT E YO U R G R A D !

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IOWA CITY OLD TRAIN DEPOT

DEAR KIKI

D

ear Kiki, I’ll get right to the point. How do I ask my partner that I want a finger (maybe even fingers) in the bum? We’ve been together for nearly three years and there’s a lot of love and trust between us, but I just can’t find the words to ask.

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Dear On Point, Ah, that age-old dilemma! There are probably as many different answers to this question as there are people out there wondering it right now.

First and foremost, no matter your or your partner’s experience level, remember to always be cognizant of good hygiene: yours and theirs. Give them all the reassurances they need that you’re keeping it clean back there, but also make certain that whatever digit they’re using has the nail trimmed close and the cuticles smooth. Be sure, too, that there are no cuts or scabs or sores. It should be as blemish-free as any other appendage you put into any other of your holes—more so, because the risk of infection is greater.

Now, for the neophyte: You say “(maybe even fingers)” as though, perhaps, you’re not even sure yourself what you want. Which is fine! But exploring new things with a partner is a decidedly different vibe than confidently asking for something you know you’ll enjoy.

If this is the case, you need to search your heart and determine exactly why you’re asking first. Because your partner will ask (or, if they are as reticent as you, write to me later about) whether you want to explore because you are bored.

Whenever someone wants to branch out sexually in an established relationship, pride and self-worth come barreling into play. Is what your partner currently does no longer fulfilling you? Are you looking to “spice things up” because you’re no longer turned on by them? It shouldn’t matter what your answers to these questions are—what matters is that you know the answers for yourself ahead of time and that you are 100 percent honest with your partner about them.

If what you’re looking for is a relationship

LittleVillageMag.com/DearKiki

kickstart, you should frame your question that way—and you should be aware of and open to the fact that your partner might have some suggestions and requests of their own. It’s perfectly healthy to need that after several years together. But it’s also perfectly healthy for your partner to feel shaken by the admission and need some extra reassurance.

One fun way to broach these topics if you’re exploring together is to find some (feminist or otherwise progressive and non-exploitative) porn to watch together. If you do your research first, you can find one that involves what you’re hoping to try, and when it happens on screen, note that it looks fun and you’d like to try it.

If you have, in fact, walked this road before (on your own or with other partners), know you like it and simply want to insert it (*cough cough*) into this current relationship, the conversation is different. You don’t need to maneuver as many feelings, perhaps—but you do have to do as much soul searching: in this case, less exploring why you want it and more exploring why you’re hesitant to ask. Do you think your partner will judge you morally? Are you concerned their reaction will be more one of scatalogical disgust?

If it’s the former, just take a deep breath and forge ahead. This is a bandage you need to rip off! If you suspect your partner is in moral opposition to something you find normal and pleasurable, that’s an unpleasant but necessary conversation to have at this point in your relationship, because it may reveal deeper disconnects.

If it’s the latter, you may want to consider alternatives, at least when getting them used to the idea. Would you be open to objects other than their fingers in there? A trip to your local (or online) sex toy store would be a fun, lowkey way to kickstart that conversation. Just because they may have hang ups about it doesn’t mean they don’t want to please you, and finding a middle ground should be fun. xoxo, Kiki

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Questions about love and sex in the Iowa City-Cedar Rapids area can be submitted to dearkiki@littlevillagemag.com, or anonymously at littlevillagemag.com/ dearkiki. Questions may be edited for clarity and length, and may appear either in print or online at littlevillagemag.com.

ASTROLOGY

BY ROB BREZSNEY

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): I invite you to explore the frontiers of what’s possible for you to experience and accomplish. One exercise that might help: Visualize specific future adventures that excite you. Examples? Picture yourself parasailing over the Mediterranean Sea near Barcelona, or working to help endangered sea turtles in Costa Rica, or giving a speech to a crowded auditorium on a subject you will someday be an expert in. The more specific your fantasies, the better. Your homework is to generate at least five of these visions.

GEMINI (May 21-June 20): “We must choose between the pain of having to transcend oppressive circumstances, or the pain of perpetual unfulfillment within those oppressive circumstances,” writes mental health strategist Paul John Moscatello. We must opt for “the pain of growth or the pain of decay,” he continues. We must either “embrace the tribulations of realizing our potential, or consent to the slow suicide in complacency.” That’s a bit melodramatic, in my opinion. Most of us do both; we may be successful for a while in transcending oppressive circumstances, but then temporarily lapse back into the pain of unfulfillment. However, there are times when it makes sense to think melodramatically. And I believe now is one of those times for you. In the coming weeks, I hope you will set in motion plans to transcend at least 30 percent of your oppressive circumstances.

CANCER (June 21-July 22): You Cancerians can benefit from always having a fertility symbol somewhere in your environment: an icon or image that reminds you to continually refresh your relationship with your own abundant creativity; an inspiring talisman or toy that keeps you alert to the key role your fecund imagination can and should play in nourishing your quest to live a meaningful life; a provocative work of art that spurs you to always ask for more help and guidance from the primal source code that drives you to reinvent yourself. So, if you don’t have such a fertility symbol, I invite you to get one. If you do, enhance it with a new accessory.

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): In my horoscopes, I often speak to you about your personal struggle for liberation and your efforts to express your soul’s code with ever-more ingenuity and completeness. It’s less common that I address your sacred obligation to give back to life for all that life has given to you. I only infrequently discuss how you might engage in activities to help your community or work for the benefit of those less fortunate than you. But now is one of those times when I feel moved to speak of these matters. You are in a phase of your astrological cycle when it’s crucial to perform specific work on behalf of a greater good. Why crucial? Because your personal well-being in the immediate future depends in part on your efforts to intensify your practical compassion.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): “We are whiplashed between an arrogant overestimation of ourselves and a servile underestimation of ourselves,” writes educator Parker Palmer. That’s the bad news, Virgo. The good news is that you are in prime position to escape from the whiplash. Cosmic forces are conspiring with your eternal soul to coalesce a well-balanced vision of your true value that’s free of both vain misapprehensions and self-deprecating delusions. Congrats! You’re empowered to understand yourself with a tender objectivity that could at least partially heal lingering wounds. See yourself truly!

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): The country of Poland awards medals to couples that have stayed married for 50 years. It also gives out medals to members of the armed forces who have served for at least 30 years. But the marriage medal is of higher rank, and is more prestigious. In that spirit, I’d love for you to get a shiny badge or prize to acknowledge your devoted commitment to a sacred task—whether that commitment is to an intimate alliance, a noble quest or a promise to yourself. It’s

time to reward yourself for how hard you’ve worked and how much you’ve given.

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): Scorpio poet Sylvia Plath wrote, “I admit I desire, / Occasionally, some backtalk / From the mute sky.” You’ll be wise to borrow the spirit of that mischievous declaration. Now is a good time to solicit input from the sky, as well as from your allies and friends and favorite animals, and from every other source that might provide you with interesting feedback. I invite you to regard the whole world as your mirror, your counselor, your informant.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): In January 1493, the notorious pirate and kidnapper Christopher Columbus was sailing his ship near the land we now call the Dominican Republic. He spotted three creatures he assumed were mermaids. Later he wrote in his log that they were “not half as beautiful as they are painted [by artists].” We know now that the “mermaids” were actually manatees, aquatic mammals with flippers and paddle-shaped tails. They are in fact quite beautiful in their own way, and would only be judged as homely by a person comparing them to mythical enchantresses. I trust you won’t make a similar mistake, Sagittarius. Evaluate everything and everyone on their own merits, without comparing them to something they’re not.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): “I want what we all want,” writes novelist Jonathan Lethem. “To move certain parts of the interior of myself into the exterior world, to see if they can be embraced.” Even if you haven’t passionately wanted that lately, Capricorn, I’m guessing you will soon. That’s a good thing, because life will be conspiring with you to accomplish it.

Your ability to express yourself in ways that are meaningful to you and interesting to other people will be at a peak.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): Using algorithms to analyze 300 million facts, a British scientist concluded that April 11, 1954 was the most boring day in history. A Turkish man who would later become a noteworthy engineer was born that day, and Belgium staged a national election. But that’s all. With this non-eventful day as your inspiration, I encourage you to have fun reminiscing about the most boring times in your own past. I think you need a prolonged respite from the stimulating frenzy of your daily rhythm. It’s time to rest and relax in the sweet luxury of nothingness and emptiness.

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): The Blue Room is a famous Picasso painting from 1901. Saturated with blue hues, it depicts a naked woman taking a bath. More than a century after its creation, scientists used X-rays to discover that there was an earlier painting beneath The Blue Room and obscured by it. It shows a man leaning his head against his right hand.

Piscean poet Jane Hirshfield says that there are some people who are “like a painting hidden beneath another painting.”

More of you Pisceans fit that description than any other sign of the zodiac. You may even be like a painting beneath a painting beneath a painting—to a depth of five or more paintings. Is that a problem? Not necessarily. But it is important to be fully aware of the existence of all the layers. Now is a good time to have a check-in.

ARIES (March 21-April 19): “How prompt we are to satisfy the hunger and thirst of our bodies,” wrote Henry David Thoreau.

“How slow to satisfy the hunger and thirst of our souls!” Your first assignment in the coming days, Aries, is to devote yourself to quenching the hunger and thirst of your soul with the same relentless passion that you normally spend on giving your body the food and drink it craves. This could be challenging. You may be less knowledgeable about what your soul thrives on than what your body loves. So your second assignment is to do extensive research to determine what your soul needs to thrive.

LITTLEVILLAGEMAG.COM/LV263 May 1–14, 2019 43

LOCAL ALBUMS

The Ruralists The Birth of Birds FULLYRURALIZED.BANDCAMP.COM

I

’m new to Iowa (well, I’ve been here almost 18 years, but New Jersey only has a much more reasonable 21 counties to comprehend, dammit), so I had to look up where Sioux Center is to get a sense of where the Ruralists hail from.

It’s further north than Sioux City (which I have heard of) but not as far north as Sioux Falls (which I think is actually in South Dakota).

It’s no wonder that the (also Sioux Center-based) record label that released 2018’s The Birth of Birds, the Ruralists’ first full-length, is named Northwest of Nowhere.

It’s also incredibly appropriate for an album that feels for all the world like Canadian post-rock from a decade or so ago, albeit with a deeply, honestly Iowan twist. There must be something about living in the great white not-quite-so-North that causes an artist to open their heart to the question of just what music can do, if you live with it in the dark long enough.

The contemplative and heady

Submit albums for review: Little Village, 623 S Dubuque St., IC, IA 52240

lyrics, too, are like stumbling on a lost Sunset Rubdown record, though perhaps more visceral and less ethereal. Tracks like “Sky Full of Birds,” “Newborn Skin” and “Kid Memory” offer the keenest sense of this. “Aren’t we more than our lonely old hearts?” the band asks on “Sky Full of Birds,” and “Newborn Skin” has the most delicious moments of relentless drums before dropping the wall of sound for simple, near-solo vocals.

“Eggs” does this, too, while also being easily the strongest and most elegant and beautiful nod to the overarching bird theme of the record. A metaphor as relentless as the drumming, the tune imagines hatchlings who ought to “jump right back inside and pull the shards of shell back over their pretty little heads,” even while singer and primary songwriter Luke Hawley refuses to do so: “I know how I’m always shouting about the end of the world, sky falling down,” he sings.

“You would be too if you would only pick up your head and look around.”

The Birth of Birds is the most Iowan of albums, with vocals that almost (but never quite) embrace the near-twang of the distinctly Iowan flavor of Americana that infuses the state’s most prominent offerings. The Ruralists sound like someone took Spencer Krug and William Elliott Whitmore, twisted them together into a fuse, and lit it.

metal can do, and why I love it: It traps you in a six- or seven-minute track that’s more puzzle box than “song,” and doesn’t let you escape from fully experiencing even a second of it. Skin of Earth is doom metal at its best. But it’s also, somehow, more. About halfway through track three, “Lou Rawls,” for example, there’s a Skin of Earth tone shift, a melodic lift that pulls Burn Barrel you out of your complacency SUMPPUMPRECORDS.BANDCAMP.COM and demands a different sort of attention. ith only four tracks, Like many albums released by clocking in at 26:44, it’s Sump Pump, who regularly put likely that Skin of Earth’s Burn out some of my favorites each Barrel—released at the tail end year, Burn Barrel is a record that of 2018 as an omen, a prediction, you don’t want to end. And it ends, as many of them do, abruptly, leaving you reeling, THERE’S A TONE SHIFT, still in that fog.

A MELODIC LIFT THAT But the final track in this PULLS YOU OUT OF YOUR case, “Jenny,” also ends with COMPLACENCY AND a few spoken lines from a DEMANDS A DIFFERENT 1972 Leonard Cohen poem, SORT OF ATTENTION. “Any system you contrive without us will be brought down.” It is engaging and conspiratorial, and it serves as a a benediction for the year to call to action. It’s an ending that come—should rightly be called doesn’t end, but propels us foran EP. But damn, it doesn’t feel like one. It feels like it punches ward instead, into the world, to through a spot right beneath your access and engage it. ribcage, reaches back all the way If you need a reason to keep goto your spine and drags you foring when the world is full of chaos ward, unrelenting, through a fog. and feels desperate, Burn Barrel And while you’re with it, there’s is it. We’re all in this together, and no start or finish, no deception of this is our soundtrack, respite and duration: only now. reinvigoration in one.

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LOCAL BOOKS

Submit albums for review: Little Village, 623 S Dubuque St., IC, IA 52240

keep the Egyptians from freeing themselves, and Lucy imprisoned the god Ra at the cost of her emotions. Now she is flirting with madness, and Octavia is in danger from her own family.

Five years after falling in love with and being rejected by Lucy Klaereon, Carlo Borgia, heir to the Venetian Borgia’s magic, goes to England to prevent Lucy from The Pawn of Isis marrying vicious Atreus Galt.

Catherine Schaff-Stump When Lucy does decide to reject (INDEPENDENTLY PUBLISHED) her current suitor, Galt retaliates with a series of strikes that will he year is 1842, and powerultimately trigger Lucy to respond ful families control the magwith drastic action, unintentionical resources of the world. This ally endangering the world. Only is the setup for The Pawn of Isis, Carlo and Octavia can help Lucy the second of five books in Iowan regain her sanity and set the balauthor Catherine Schaff-Stump’s ance right. historical fantasy series, Klaereon The author does a wonderful Scroll. The story encompasses job of evoking 19th-century treachery, betrayal, politics, love Europe and its variety of cultures and self-sacrifice. and peoples. The magic in the story is HUMANS ARE SHOWN AS drawn as an integral COMPLICATED AND FALLIBLE, part of the world; it is CAPABLE OF DOING TERRIBLE not movie magic, but the fabric into which THINGS, BUT ALSO CAPABLE everything is woven, OF HEROIC ACTIONS. creating a larger enchanted cosmos.

Humans are shown as complicatEach magical family has a ed and fallible, capable of doing special talent. Foremost among terrible things, but also capable of them are the Klaereons: They are heroic actions. The Pawn of Isis is tasked with protecting a mystic a strong addition to the Klaereon scroll and enforcing the exile Scroll series, and the ending’s of Egyptian gods to the Abyss unresolved elements promise an where they have been banished. equally exciting sequel.

Five years ago, Octavia Klaereon —Beth Hudson and her sister Lucy fought to

T

Gondra’s Treasure Linda Sue Park, Illus.

Jennifer Black Reinhardt CLARION BOOKS

Reading: Jennifer Black Reinhardt and Sarah Prineas, Prairie Lights Books & Cafe, Iowa City, Sunday, May 5, 3 p.m., Free

I

t’s an age-old tale to those of us who lived it, but there are still too few children’s books out there featuring mixed-race families. There’s a uniqueness to the experience of being multi-racial that transcends any of the individual heritages involved (case in point: The character I related to growing up was Star Trek’s Spock!).

This proves all the more true in the delightful Gondra’s Treasure, a storybook aimed at ages 4-7 that explores the experience of Gondra, a young dragon with a mother who is from the West and a father who hails from the East.

The text, by Linda Sue Park,

is a mythology nerd’s dream, with dozens of little details that only parents are likely to catch. The mother’s gruffness and susceptibility to flattery, for example, may stick out at first, but delightfully capture Western dragon lore—an unsurprising attention to detail from an author best known for historical fiction.

Newbery Medal-winner Park works for the second time here with Iowa City-based illustrator Jennifer Black Reinhardt (they collaborated on Yaks Yak: Animal Word Pairs in 2016).

The illustrations in this book are what make it a true joy to experience.

Gondra’s facial expressions are a delight. And despite having no lines, my favorite character in the book by far is Gondra’s exceptionally patient pet cow. The illustrations capture the fantastical whimsy inherent in a baby dragon. The adults are designed with that same flare—less formidable than traditional dragons; more the way a child would see their parents.

My youngest is a bit below the target age for this book, but even though it is a bit wordy for her, she is in love with the pictures. And she offered the most coveted of exclamations when we reached the end: “Again!”

—Genevieve Trainor

Kim will help you find your way HOME kimschillig@gmail.com 310.795.2133 V/T

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PATIO SEASON IS FINALLY HERE

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NOT FEELING UP TO IT

BY ERIN RHODE

The American Values Club Crossword is edited by Ben Tausig.

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you’re on Final Jeopardy! and forget the name of the story where the guy turns into a bug (and then you lose and your dad brags that he wrote his college thesis on said story... hypothetical clue, obvs), e.g.

20.

22.

23. “STEP ON THAT THING!!”

24. Solidarity

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ACROSS 1. Slightly sweet cheese 5. Home 10. “Du ___ ein Dummkopf!” (“You are a stupid head,” in German) 14. “I’m not listening!”

15. Comedian Wyatt 16. Italian wine town 17. “Better make a decision ...”

18. Popular ’80s keyboard manufacturer 19. The moment when

13

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41

46

12

28

32

36

11

25. The Twins last won it in 1991, against TOR 26. First responders, for short 27. Intercourse in Pennsylvania, for one 29. “Hotline Bling” artist 32. Comfy shoes, briefly 33. Snapchat or Instagram 36. Sick, or where to enter the rest of the entries with italicized clues 40. Stove stuff 41. Barrister Clooney

42. Quaint way to express amazement 43. J.D. Martinez led the majors with 130 in 2018 44. Zoomed 46. My standard order at Starbucks, since I don’t drink coffee 48. Bunk 50. What you might be, idiomatically, when you’re stunned 53.

54.

56. Remove from power 57. Racist Cleveland baseball mascot that is finally being retired (now for the team name ...)

58. Pottery and singing, e.g.

59. Sheltered 47-Down 60. HBO series set in New Orleans 61. Role 62. Russian figure mentioned in Fiddler on the Roof 63. Vegetables in pods 64. They’re often built on springs

might pop up 32. B or C of the Spice Girls 33. “Eureka!”

34. Ferret, for some 35. For 37. “I didn’t need to know about your bowel movements,” for short 38. Gridiron line 39. Mosby of How I Met Your Mother 43. Actor Jason, son of John 44. California wine county that’s also home to redwoods 45. Black teas often labeled orange 46. Schleps 47. Cruising, say 49. Person during a fireworks show, perhaps 50. Paper bit 51. Marine front?

52. Prepares for the baby 53. Paint layer 55. Barks 57. Frequent IMF collaborator

DOWN 1. Westworld role 2. Il Convivio author 3. “Let me take ___ ...”

4. Bryn ____, one of the Seven Sisters 5. Exposé feature?

6. Butthead’s buddy 7. Beginning 8. Jersey, for one 9. Green prefix 10. Norm or Cliff on Cheers 11. Hayes who played Chef on South Park 12. Wakes 13. Darken, as LV262 ANSWERS one’s windows 21. Capable of Y AM I ND E B T A CME OD E S A I L OR MOOG being counted MOD E L T A L L Y A NNO 22. Reacts minA N I ME DMV S K I M I NO T A UR L E AGU E S imally A S A S P A Y COME T 26. Squeeze (out) NO T ON P A R E S B O X I N GWA T E R 28. Curling surface S E D E R E RR E D 29. Liked A L L OY B R I S R PM 30. It encodes in A, BOO Z E T A S T E R S E A T R E N S O N O U T I E C, G and U (instead EGGS WA RHO L MA R T of T) V I E T E NDUR E GUN A ND Y R A S H E S S P A 31. Things that

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