Corridor Buzz

One-man �Killadelphia� explores crime in the city

2010-03-03

According to its Greek etymology and popular sentiment, Philadelphia is best known as the City of Brotherly Love. Playwright and performer Sean Christopher Lewis, however, has a darker nickname for the eastern U.S. metropolis of 1.5 million people.

“Killadelphia: Mixtape of a City” is the title of his latest one-man show, which he will perform at Iowa City's Riverside Theatre from March 5 to 14. Showtimes are 7:30 p.m. Friday, Saturday and March 11-13 and 2 p.m. on Sundays March 7 and 14. A post-show discussion will follow every 70-minute performance.

Tickets, $12 to $26, are available online, at the Riverside box office at 213 N. Gilbert St. or by calling (319) 338-7672.

Through a gallery of voices based on interviews...

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Gabe's... Picador... Gabe's

2010-03-01

Gabe’s is back.

More than three years after the legendary Iowa City bar and rock club was bought and renamed the Picador, the beloved venue at 330 E. Washington St. will reopen again March 24 under a slightly different moniker: its full name before it was the Picador was Gabe’s Oasis; now it will be called simply Gabe’s.

Sale of the business was completed Friday. Steve Federspiel of North Liberty says he — along with Matt Neumiller, owner of Neumiller Electric Inc. of North Liberty and Federspiel’s Georgia-based brother and sister-in-law, who are silent partners in the ownership — bought the business for $120,000 from Lawrence, Kan.-based owner Mike Logan. The building that houses the club is still owned by...

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Theatre Cedar Rapids returns home with 'The Producers'

2010-02-26

The home to Cedar Rapids' community theater group is in for a sold-out gala tonight as it returns after the flood of 2008.

Twenty months after floodwaters filled the basement, stage and first seven rows of seats in the Iowa Theatre Building at 102 Third St. SE, Theatre Cedar Rapids opens its production of the Mel Brooks’s Broadway smash “The Producers."

A reception will precede the play at 6 p.m. Organizers are encouraging black-tie attire.

Tonight’s show is a sell-out but plenty of tickets remain for performances through March 14.

TCR board president Tim Boyle, who has a featured role in the play, says the $7.8 million project isn't simply a restoration but a rejuvenation...

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The Picador pulls the plug

2010-02-24

The Picador has been lanced.

In a Facebook posting early today, the nightclub formerly known as Gabe's announced to its fans that its last "shindig" will happen Thursday night, though operators of the venue say it will reopen under a different name.

"It's a name and management change," the venue commented in response to Facebook fans unhappy about the announcement. "Don't worry we will be back. And all shows are good to go so far."

Known for years as Gabe's, management of the venue was taken over by a Kansas-based company in 2006. The legendary rock club was given a much-needed make-over, including fixed-up bathrooms and a new staircase in back to make load-ins easier for performers.

But Picador management fired the...

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AFTER FIVE: How much of a Cultural Corridorian are you?

2010-02-23

The subject of regionalism came up in two meetings that I attended last week, and I thought that if this was a subject in meetings that I’m attending, chances are Corridor Buzz readers are experiencing similar conversations in meetings all over the Corridor.

The non-profit organization that I work for, the Iowa Cultural Corridor Alliance (ICCA), is a group of 150 artists and arts and cultural organizations throughout the 11-county Corridor area. Formed in October 2005, ICCA promotes one regional arts community through its web site.

I’m proud of the work we continue to do, but often wonder about the reality of regionalism in the Corridor – is this community really ready? So, I developed this simple list of questions designed to...

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REVIEW: St. Vincent offers a captivating set

2010-02-18

Listening to St. Vincent perform Tuesday night in Iowa City, one couldn't help but think of Taylor Swift. Both are young women in the music business, but the comparison stops there. Annie Clark, who performs as St. Vincent, is wildly talented, with an angelic voice, serious guitar chops and considerable songwriting skills. In contrast, Swift, if reports are to be believed, can't carry a tune, but has handlers who are able to cloak those deficiencies in pleasing arrangements of powerful pop songs (I haven't knowingly heard a note of her music, so I'll take the critics' word on that one).

So, why did I think of one while watching the other? It's that tired music critic trope: "In a perfect...

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Carrie Newcomer, in the now

2010-02-15

Singer-songwriter Carrie Newcomer named her 12th release on the Rounder Records label, Before and After, but she really doesn’t care that much about what was or what will be. The folk artist is primarily concerned with the present moment.

Talking over the phone from somewhere on the road, Newcomer explains. “The point of that song, and most of the songs on the album, is that most of us are so busy that we don’t pay attention to what is happening in our lives. We need to pull back from the distractions and look into our hearts and pay attention to the world.”

Newcomer knows we live in modern times. When told this interview would be published on the Internet, she elucidates further.

“I...

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City of Literature names executive director

2010-02-15

Jeanette Pilak last week was named the first executive director of Iowa City’s UNESCO City of Literature. She most recently served as director of the University of California Santa Cruz Arts & Lecture Series and will start her new position April 1.

Pilak, who grew up in Milwaukee, and attended the University of Wisconsin-Madison, was previously executive director of the Oregon Creative Services Alliance and director of programming and marketing with the city of Eugene, Ore. She also produced the Kennedy Center Open House Arts Festival, a one-day festival attracting 100,000 attendees.

Iowa City joined the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization’s (UNESCO) Creative Cities Network in November 2008 when it was designated the first City of Literature in the United...

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CorridorBuzz.com sold to Dubuque company

2010-02-15

CorridorBuzz.com is now owned by a Dubuque communications company.

CorridorBuzz.com is an arts and entertainment web site focused on events in the Cedar Rapids and Iowa City area and was created and owned by the Corridor Media Group, which publishes the Corridor Business Journal. The sale, for an undisclosed amount, was finalized Dec. 1.

The web site was sold to Community Inc., which publishes Dubuque365, a print and online arts and entertainment publication. Loren Keller, editor of CorridorBuzz.com, was hired by Dubuque365 to manage the local content.

“He will be the master storyteller,” says Brad Parks, president and CEO of Community Inc.

This is the second time Dubuque365 has entered the Corridor market. It launched IowaCity365.com several years ago, but later abandoned the...

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Coralville poet Robert Dana dies

2010-02-08

If you stand in the living room of poet Robert Dana’s Coralville home and gaze out the window, you are looking at the source material for many of his poems.

It’s a surprising view in the middle of a city, backing up on a ravine that in the summer is lush and filled with fauna. In the winter, though, the trees are bare and small animals and birds flit through the falling snow, likely spurring the poet’s creative juices.

“People are surprised — it’s all right there,” Dana says, looking toward his window. “The longer you live in a place, the more it feeds you. The more it shows you what’s there.”

Readers are often surprised when a story, novel or poem captures...

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