Matthew Prince – Gunk Lung

Matthew Prince of Iowa City band Gunk Lung started the show with a rare acoustic set, showcasing his vocal and guitar skills in a departure from Gunk Lung’s typical emo-punk vibe. I enjoyed this fresh take on Gunk Lung’s music, which gave Prince’s vocals a chance to really shine. This set highlighted Prince’s versatility as an artist, demonstrating that beyond his typical rock vocals, he can also excel as a solo performer in a more stripped down set. Though he often asked the audience to bear with him, as the acoustic set isn’t his usual territory, Prince’s raw performance excluded a beauty that should give him confidence. The lyrics to Gunk Lung’s music are chillingly poignant and refreshingly real, which this acoustic set amplified in a way that sent shivers down my spine. Melancholically, Prince sang “I told my girlfriend I’d write a song. She asked if it would be another depressing one, another depressing one.”

Zaq Baker

Minneapolis-based artist Zaq Baker made a grate appearance as he was wrapping up his book tour for his debut novel Unspectacular — currently on order at Prairie Lights if you want to add something sweet to your bookshelf. 
The self-declared “only pop punk pianist at this show” seems like the perfect blend of Drew Monson, Paint, and Death Cab for Cutie and his music ranges from sad to bittersweet, resonating with anyone who’s ever faced heartache, or is just having a crappy day. He performed his song Dairy Queen, which was a treat, especially considering that it has been banned off of all streaming platforms. I was soy into all of the dairy puns he milked and brie-formed in the song. This artist truly brought gouda vibes to the show leaving us all grate-ful he stopped by.

I Will

Iowa City duo I Will lit up the stage with a blend of hard rock and heavy punk sound, delivering songs with timely themes of race and alienation. I appreciate the deep roots this band has in the Iowa City music scene — a member of Slacker is the son of I Will’s original drummer. With soulful vocals paired with creative effects like reverb, their sound is powerful and visceral, landing like a punch to the gut.

Slacker

While I may be biased — Slacker is one of my favorite local bands — it’s hard to deny that their electrifying performance absolutely rocked the house. Their set featured a never before performed song, Who The Fuck Took My Nose? as well as classics such as Molasses Eatin’ Mailman —another cheese-themed song for the evening. Slacker brings a unique vibe to the Iowa City music scene with their commanding presence and sound. Their distorted vocals filtered through a radio mic adds a raw, haunting quality to their sound that is not soon forgotten. Their distinctive songwriting combined with abrasive guitar riffs creates a sound that is unapologetically bold and untamed, just like the band themselves. 

If you want to see Slacker live, they will be performing as a part of Mission Creek on April 5.

Charlie Otto + his gear

Charlie Otto, based in Chicago, made a bold statement with his radical electric pop sound and stunning live visuals. A truly innovative musician, I can confidently say I have never witnessed a set like his before, and I was completely captivated by it. Not only is Charlie an incredibly talented vocalist and lyricist, but his ability to craft intricate songs and then integrate them with mesmerizing visuals is something unmatched in today’s music scene. One song of his featured a live cam that altered the visuals depending on the buttons he pressed on his keyboard. Another set cleverly allowed Charlie to puppeteer Israeli political leaders on screen. I cannot forget the kazoo he brought out that made rubber duck sounds —  truly a refreshing touch we need more of in modern music. I can only hope that Charlie stops by Iowa City again in the near future.

POLYACHi

Cedar Rapids-based band POLYACHi masterminded this pre-St. Patricks Day show, which also served as an E.P. release for GOD iS BAD! They performed a few songs off of this new E.P., as well as their E.P. THE BLVEBiRD OF NOTHiNGNESS. I have nothing but gratitude to them for curating this marvelous lineup, showcasing a range of contrasting but immensely talented artists. POLYACHi’s industrial hard rock sound is marked by their gripping vocal talent, rough guitar riffs, and explosive drumming. Their unpolished, growling vocals and abrasive lyrics felt like they were directly piercing my soul. My only critique is that their recorded music doesn’t quite hit as hard and capture their raw power in the way their live performance does — this is a band you must catch live.

Anchoress

Des Moines trio Anchoress made a powerful Gabe’s debut with their riveting post-hardcore rock and screamo sound. A bold new voice in the Iowa City music scene, this band brings a gritty, intense, and unapologetically daring sound that leaves a lasting impression. I’m excited to see how their sound evolves in the future and I can’t wait for a full album — their five released songs aren’t enough to satisfy the craving they ignited. 

Fishbait

An Iowa City staple, Fishbait never fails to impress. Self-described as “nautical prog,” Fishbait incorporates a wide range of musical influences into their work, creating intricately crafted yet lyrically playful songs. Their stage presence is immersive, and the striking contrast between their fun Halloween costumes and their intense vocals cements them as one of Iowa City’s finest acts. The only thing to watch out for is the mosh pit that inevitably erupts at every show! 

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I have not read the book, nor do I know Yoder herself, so I was truly watching the film with fresh, unbiased eyes. I remember watching a sneak preview of the film a few months back, with it having a large focus on what the title implies, a mother turning into a dog, the beastliness surrounding motherhood, and a lot of imagery of raw meat. What I was actually met with when watching the film was more of a banal stream of thought, with dog imagery intermittently sprinkled in. There are a few shots of something close to body horror: Amy Adams growing fur, a tail, fangs – but rarely does the film actually delve into the idea or character of Nightbitch.

Instead, the movie is dragged along by monologues about motherhood, more so about how a capitalist society treats mothers as a whole or comparing them to goddesses than truly delving into any ideas of motherhood being animalistic. The film also introduced characters that never fully develop, such as a group of young moms who turn from stereotypes used for satire to Mother’s best friends. Father, Mother’s husband, is disdained by Mother for most of the film for his unequal role in parenting and lack of support he shows Mother, only to have a sudden realization at the end of the film that he needs to be a better parent and partner, where then Mother and Father act like nothing ever happened.

Overall, the film gives us a little bit of everything, and a whole lot of nothing. It lightly taps into the dog and goddess metaphors, marriage dynamics, the idea that raising a child takes a village, and the importance of art, but never sticks to a plot point long enough to be meaningful. It is tonally a mess. You’re never going to replicate an entire book in a 1 hour and 38 minute film, so the filmmakers should have either gravitated to a singular plot idea and produced a film around that, or leaned more into adopting abstraction and made this an art film, rather than trying to be Hollywood friendly.

Embracing the idea that motherhood is a violently transformative experience requires more than a few brief moments of body horror and a handful of dialogue lines, constantly interrupted with platitudes on feminism and quips taken right from a late night sitcom. All of the pieces were there, Yoder is a great storyteller and Amy Adams is a fantastic actress, but when put together, there is no bark and no bite.

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The childhood scenes within this psychological fiction gave me an unreasonable sense of hope for the cliches of a coming of age story, but instead I was met with characters I loved to hate and their ostentatious scenes. Nina’s character evolution never led her to true maturation despite her painful eagerness to better herself during her search for love, and remained as a shell of a writer. True Love’s other characters include a sexually deviant snob, a chaotic failed attempt of a boyfriend, a “filmmaker” that still lives with his parents, and a single mother with unendurable taste in men.

the exploration of love and its myriad facets. Nina’s journey, although not a traditional romance, delves into the intricacies of human connection and the emotional rollercoaster that is often associated with love. The novel’s satirical approach to psychological fiction allows readers to navigate the complexities of relationships with both humor and depth. Love, in its various forms, becomes a lens through which the characters grapple with their own vulnerabilities, unveiling the raw and authentic aspects of the human experience.

In moments of uncertainty and introspection, one might ponder not only the characters’ dilemmas but also personal questions about love and connection. Seeking guidance on matters of the heart is not uncommon, and people often wonder what to ask a psychic in their quest for clarity. The novel, much like life itself, invites readers to reflect on the unpredictable nature of love and the questions that linger in the depths of our minds. In this intricate dance between fiction and reality, the exploration of love becomes a thread that weaves through the narrative, offering both solace and contemplation for those navigating their own complex emotional landscapes.

I applaud Gerard for her surprising, nonlinear storytelling. It kept me on my toes and ready to see what would come next. Another merit included a scene that detailed the abuse experienced by the main character without reducing it to trauma porn.

The dialogue felt far fetched from reality, as if the only goal was to create conflict between the – already insufferable – characters. It felt somewhat counter intuitive that Gerard introduced humor early on only to result in an excessively bleak ending. If the book was not so hard to put down I would have torn it in half.

Nina’s search for love is a stinging critique of current society, as well as a sensitive analysis of our desperate need for connection in an age of alienation. These realizations only came to me after I peeled away the agonizing details.

All in all, True Love encompassed the best themes within Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë [pen name Currer Bell] and the worst captious characters in the psychological thriller Like Me, written by Hayley Phelan.

I would rate True Love a 4/5 because True Love is in no way the average YA romance novel I expected but was the chilling call to reality I needed.

Come see Sarah Gerard read her book and Kaveh Akbar read his, Pilgrim Bell, at Prairie Lights in Iowa City at 1:00 on Saturday, April 9. True Love is available for purchase at Prairie Lights.

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“When we are bewildered by existence, art is the way we try to put a frame around a piece of reality and make sense of it. Seeing other people do that work, whether it’s on the page or listening to music, or watching a film, feels like a balm to me right now. Even if the only meaning they can make is a representation of their own bewilderment, it makes me feel less solitary.”

Iowa City author Garth Greenwell spoke about art in the time of isolation as part of Mission Creek Underground. Mission Creek Underground is a six performance series with local musicians and authors provided virtually. The performances were filmed at The Englert Theatre and are available for viewing on the Mission Creek website, and the festival’s YouTube and Facebook accounts.

Greenwell is the author of two books, Cleanness and What Belongs to You. These two titles have accrued many accolades, including but not limited to a New York Times Book Review Editors’ Choice, an IndieNext Selection, and British Book Award for Debut of the Year. He writes in various genres, and his writing has appeared in The New Yorker, The Paris Review, A Public Space, and VICE, among other publications.

The format was quite different from the typical reading at Prairie Lights that the Iowa City literary scene has come to know. Greenwell read underneath the glow of a lone spotlight on stage of the Englert Theatre to empty seats, but with a familiar warmth.

“I think art is what we turn to when we want to communicate what our lives feel like on the inside. And so, art, for me, is the greatest experience I have of intimacy with other consciousnesses.”

In addition to talking about creating art in this uncertain time, Greenwell read from his most recent book, Cleanness. The collection was published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux in January of this year. The first selected passage that he read came from the beginning of the story “The Frog King.” Greenwell described the passage as being about the joys of ordinary happiness, of being with another human being, and the happiness of touch.

The following is an excerpt from the reading:

I was still groggy with sleep when I turned in to the main room, and I stood uncomprehending for a moment before I realized that R. had rearranged things in the night. He had moved the table to the middle of the room, and had placed my winter boots on top of it, beside the little tree we had bought earlier that week. Sticking up from the boots were packages wrapped in newspaper, his Christmas gifts for me; he must have hidden them somewhere after he arrived, he must have got out of bed in the night, careful not to wake me, he must have been quiet as he moved the furniture. I caught my breath at it, I felt a weird pressure and heat climb my throat. I felt like my heart would burst, those were the words for it, the hackneyed phrase, and I was grateful for them, they were a container for what I felt, proof of its commonness. I was grateful for that, too, the commonness of my feeling, I felt some stubborn strangeness in me ease, I felt like part of the human race.

Mission Creek Underground is currently ongoing and will run from April 1st-4th with all acts viewable on their website.

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The rise has been widely fueled by the release of Bohemian Rhapsody, but other famed bands have also been recently revived. A massive studio-session collection from The Beatles just dropped onto Spotify this month. The 107 song collection includes remastered versions of the band’s lesser known songs, original demos, isolated vocals, and even restored video footage from inside the recording studio.

I recently found my way into the past of rock ‘n’ roll within the pages of The Decibel Diaries by Carter Alan. Alan is a longtime DJ and music director at WZLX-FM Boston, one of the first classic rock stations in the nation. Subtitled “A Journey Through Rock in 50 Concerts,” readers join Alan in attendance of various concerts throughout his life.

Unabashedly a rock ‘n’ roll junkie, “rock concerts” was all it took for me to snatch it off the shelf. The table of contents boasted names of Eric Clapton, The Rolling Stones, Aerosmith, Nirvana, and countless others. Gaining access to years of remarkable performances I wasn’t even alive to consider attending was a treat I couldn’t pass up.

Structured in a timeline format, Alan admits you into concerts as well as his own life story. The narrative starts out in 1970 and spans through concerts all way up to 2015. What begins as a nerdy ninth-grader eagerly attending his first concert transforms with each page turn to a seasoned member of the music industry voicing his renewed love of rock and its power to stir emotions.

His prose is a joy to read, packing detail, research, humor and sincerity into short vignettes of each show. Alan crunches years of music reviews and trends into concise gems of historical context for each artist before vaulting into his own perceptions of the concerts. Even though Alan has had the privilege to see such inimitable acts live, he recounts it in an approachable way. You get a view into the exclusive world of rock ‘n’ roll from a voice who is just as in awe as the world was of these musicians.

In timely relation to Bohemian Rhapsody‘s release, Alan had the treasured experience of attending the notorious Live Aid concert in 1985. He had been invited as a part of U2’s entourage, having become friends with the band over the years. Gaining access to the up-close world of this legendary event, even Alan was shocked at its magnitude. Through the stacked lineup, Alan, along with many other reviewers, idolizes the performance by Queen.

“Even with later sets by legends like David Bowie, the Who, Elton John, and an onstage finale including Paul McCartney, Queen’s was the musical apex of the day glittering with power, emotion, and, yes, good will toward men.”

Many push classic rock into a box of the 1970s-1990s, even the precursor “classic” solidifying its older skew. These are artists we will never forget, sure, but this music brought us to where we are today. Past art influences present art in continues to do so in ceaselessly fascinating ways. The book is an ode to the past and Alan brings us into concert halls to successfully illustrate rock’s permeating legacy: “That youthful elixir, battling the attraction of time, will keep girls in those pink petal pushers and the guys in their blue suede shoes (or at least nose rings and tats) for a long time to come.”

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Created and hosted by writer and editor Rachel Yoder and produced by Draft: The Journal of Process and The Iowa Writer’s House, The Fail Safe is a podcast on a mission to help struggling writers overcome the obstacles that come with the creative writing process. Each episode invites different successful writers to reflect on the challenges and failures they have faced and examine what it is that helps turn them into successes.

In this episode, recorded live at Prairie Lights as a part of Iowa City’s Witching Hour festival, Yoder prompts MTV’s editorial director Jessica Hopper and award-winning author Alissa Nutting with the questions that loom over every creative mind: How do I get through this?

Before the conversation began, audience members were given a sheet of paper with a list of ten rules titled “Immaculate Heart College Art Department Rules,” originally written by John Cage and Sister Corita Kent, as shown in the image below. As the conversation began, Yoder noted that she keeps this list pinned to her work desk as a reminder and guide, reading a few of them aloud. This led into a deeper conversation on several more specific topics surrounding writing.

The first major topic discussed by the writers was that of managing self-doubt. After agreeing that “Facebook stalking” is a totally valid form of expressing admiration for those who inspire you, the three writers reflected on times they had doubted themselves and their writing and how they overcame that. Hopper recalled the times she had looked back on her ”awful,” “rookie” published writings and how that had hindered her current work flow. She stressed that writing is an ever-evolving process, and that a person should be gentle with him or herself when looking back on old works.

Nutting revealed to us a similar evolution, sharing her early writing memories of trying to replicate what her mind told her was “good writing” instead of it coming from herself. She shared a story about one of her early works as an undergrad where she wrote a fictional story from the point of view of a male soldier in Vietnam… We all have to start somewhere.

Another point concerning self-doubt, in Nutting’s words, was to “divorce writing from personal self-worth.” Both writers shared stories of getting caught in the whirlwinds of the constant, instant feedback of internet comments and reviews, and how damaging that was to their conceptions of themselves. Nutting mentioned that she found herself curtailing her writing because she was worried about the response it would get.

The big tip for this was to force yourself to unplug and silence the notifications, to avoid reading any comments to keep yourself sane. Both writers agreed that writing is something personal, something between yourself and your editor, and in order to create the truest writing, a person shouldn’t let unwanted, outside opinions stand in the way.

It’s important as well to mention that although this is true, the “Facebook stalking” mentioned at the beginning of the conversation was more than a cute joke – it was a way to tell us listeners that creative minds shouldn’t let the public dictate what or who you yourself aim to create or be. Instead, find inspiration and choose role models that suit YOU. Hopper mentioned some of her first inspirations, especially seeing women as leaders and role models, namely her own mother.

Many other topics and obstacles were touched in this episode of The Fail Safe – parenting, teaching, and job security, to name a few. If you are interested in hearing more of what these three wonderful, insightful, and funny women have to say, this podcast should be published within the next month or two, which you can anticipate here. If that seems too long, The Fail Safe already has several other episodes published – click here to catch up!

Right now Hopper is working on a proposal for a new novel, which is moving “at a glacial pace,” she said. Click here to keep up with what she’s doing.

To keep up with Nutting’s work, visit her site or follow her on Twitter.

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Jason Sole came to Iowa City on Friday to present From Prison to PhD: A Journey of Pain, Promise, and Protest. He started his presentation asking for energy and an emotional connection from the audience, asking people “to follow what I am saying with your hearts, not just your minds.”

As Jason explained how his turbulent childhood in Chicago lead to gang membership, drug dealing, and three prison sentences, he reminded listeners that “not everyone is lucky enough to get to share their story, most people don’t make it out.” This, he explained, is because when children grow up in violent or otherwise stressful communities they are not in an emotional state that allows them to succeed.

One key reason that Jason points to to further explain why children in violent communities become vulnerable to gang membership is fatherlessness. The experience of growing up without a father creates a sense of isolation and emotional tension that are too much to bear for many children, especially when combined with early exposure to violence, drug trade, and systematic poverty.

After Jason served a long prison sentence he felt that he needed a drastic change to prevent himself from getting caught up in the everything he was doing that got him into prison. He said that “out of desperation I went to college.” After excelling in his undergraduate studies, he perused graduate and postgraduate education in criminal justice studies.

Now, Jason is a professor at Hamline University in Minnesota teaching criminal justice studies. He conducts research and has recently written a book. However, Jason is deeply involved with his local community and stressed the importance of not just being an academic. Jason is the president of the Minneapolis NAACP and is on the front lines of many Black Lives Matter events.

For the second half of his presentation, Jason explained the history of the Black Lives Matter movement and reflected on questions like “what does it mean to be black at this point in history?” He also included a lot of information about the Civil Rights Movement in the mid 20th century, and drew helpful comparisons between what was happening then and what is happening now

.

Throughout, he explained how white culture criminalizes black people and their responses to institutionalized racism. Indeed, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was arrested many times and painted as a criminal by media and government officials. Explaining the connection between the Civil Rights Movement and the Black Lives Matter movement is crucial because now people are quick to tell black people protesting injustice that they should be more like MLK, when in actuality white people didn’t like MLK back then either.

After he was done presenting, already 15 minutes over time, he promised to take every audience question and gave extended, profound answers. It was clear how passionate he is about making sure people truly understand what he is saying. Overall, this was an amazing event.

If you’re interested in learning more about modern incarceration tactics, check out 13th on Netflix — Ava DuVernay‘s brilliant documentary about the history of prisons and the modern implications of Reagan-era bullshit.

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Next, was Kembrew McLeod. McLeod read from his just released book, Pranksters, which tracked the role pranksters have played in English and American society since the likes of Jonathan Swift and Benjamin Franklin. He read from his book that he had “no interest in cruelty” and chose only to include pranks that had the aim of enacting some sort of change, whether it was social, cultural, political, or economical. Considering the subject matter, it wasn’t surprising that McLeod’s reading was light, sarcastic, and had the perfect amount of dry wit to keep the audience surprised and laughing. The Q&A session largely revolved around McLeod’s own pranks, which include him dressing up more than once as a robot to get noticed by big politicians.

Prairie Lights Bookstore is now selling copies of Made to Break and Pranksters. McLeod has also provided Prairie Lights with prankster trading cards, giving synopses of some of his favorite pranks featured in his book.

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Following a wild applause, Ayana Mathis took the stage and read a short poem by Gwendolyn Brooks entitled “Kitchenette Building.” She then commented on the poem, noting that it questions whether it is possible to feel beauty and hope in the midst of hopelessness and despair. Brooks’s poem is similar to Mathis’s The Twelve Tribes of Hattie.

Ayana Mathis then proceeded to read a short chapter from her novel. The novel itself encompasses the life of Hattie, her husband August, and their twelve children. The selection read by Mathis concerns Hattie’s youngest child, Ella, and Hattie’s sister Pearl. Ms. Mathis never ceased to entertain her audience, providing accents for August, Pearl, and a variety of other characters.

Following her reading, the author answered the audience’s questions. She discussed the relation of the book to the Twelve Tribes of Israel and traveling from a state of bondage to a state of freedom. At 8 PM, the reading concluded with a book signing by Ayana Mathis. The Twelve Tribes of Hattie can be found at any local bookseller.

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