When Ames Progressive editor Nate Logsdon and I first started seriously discussing the possibility of founding a record label based in Ames, we immediately put in place three pillars that would be cornerstones of the project: 1) It’s gotta be Iowan; 2) It’s gotta have a voice, be progressive, surprise people; 3) It’s gotta be [...]

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Philip and Dominic Rabalais are a electronic music team that has no parallel in Iowa. They’ve been playing music together for years, starting with the hard garage rock band Spooky Nights, taking an electronic turn in the wild mash-up DJ project Porno Galactica, and morphing into the life-alteringly joyful synth-punk powerhouse Utopia Park. They are [...]

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Last summer, I attended the wedding reception of my good friends Luke and Sally Hertz Gran. The whole evening was beautiful — I especially loved the traditional barn dance hosted by members of the Porch Stompers and Onion Creek Cloggers — but there was one moment in particular that really stuck with me: the toast [...]

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My third day was packed with tarot, music, promotion, and comedy (among other things). I started off my day in Iowa City by visiting the home of my high school friend Jana, who does all kinds of spiritual and magical practices and is very professional. She gave me an amazing tarot card reading that illuminated [...]

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My second day at Mission Creek Festival started with a live on-air interview and performance hosted by the always-adorable Max and Kendall at KRUI, the local college radio station. I played a song I wrote for my roommate, hero, and spiritual brother Lesbian Poetry called “I Do,” and a Mumford’s ballad that’s gonna be on [...]

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Wednesday was day two of Mission Creek Festival, but my first day at the fest. As soon as I pulled into Iowa City, I turned on the college radio station KRUI and my good friends Philip and Dominic Rabalais of the Fairfield joy volcano Utopia Park were being interviewed live. When I tuned in, they [...]

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The second issue of Gestalt, Ames’ new art zine, has just been published online. Check it out here. To contribute to the next issue, email your stuff to gestaltames@gmail.com by April 13.

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Anyone involved in Ames nightlife knows that Trey LaTrash gets a lot done and looks amazing while doing it. The ISU student is well known for his progressive fashion sense and unmistakable makeup design. He often appears at parties and shows around Ames with a geisha-like white makeup foundation that accentuates the dark lipstick and [...]

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Rubblebucket is an astonishing dance band from NYC and they’ll be rolling into town for a show at DG’s Taphouse on March 24. The band is super funky, bringing out irresistible rhythms designed to make you move. They also have an excellent horn section to facilitate the party (we’re talking tenor and bari sax, trumpet, [...]

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A bunch of great videos have been coming out of Fairfield recently and they are getting some serious traction online. The most recent one is from the pop duo Trouble Lights. For their first single they made this video with the Fairfield filmmaker Geoff Boothby: Geoff also directed the most recent video from Little Ruckus: [...]

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