Archive for the 'Festival '08' Category

Preview: New Bohemia Festival 2008

Published by todd on August 11, 2008 in Festival '08, Community, Concert and Preview. 0 Comments

The Poison Control CenterMission Creek is extremely pleased to have been a part of the booking for this year’s 2nd annual New Bohemia Music & Arts Festival in Cedar Rapids. We’ve already announced our own involvement with it, which we recommend you refresh your memory on here. But beyond our own participation with the fest, this year’s New Bohemia promises to be one of a kind - a unique experience that has already come worlds from last year’s inaugural event.

Flooding that devastated Cedar Rapids thwarted the original festival blueprint, which called for a combination of 11 indoor and outdoor stages. The flood sacrificed several of the indoor venues, leading to some intense brainstorming as to what would become of the festival. The final answer means that the original one-day plan is being moved to three days, with satellite shows on Friday night taking the action to Iowa City and Waterloo. In addition to our own hella sweet show at the Industry with HEALTH, Baby Teeth, and others, Nexus Entertainment will be presenting a show at the NCC Pepsi Pavilion in Waterloo with a slew of local bands.

Saturday, all the events converge on Cedar Rapids with four stages of music that kick off at noon at run until 9:30 pm. We’ll be sharing 3rd Base Sports Park with Nexus, and hosting Will Whitmore, Murder By Death, and a bunch of other killer bands, while at the Shores Central Park Stars Guitars and Linn County Blues Society will be presenting the more rootsy side of things. Sunday things get down at the Kirkwood main campus with street art from local non-profit Harvester, while LMR Promotions/3rd Street Live will provide musical entertainment culminating in Life of Riley closing out an extended weekend of music.

On top of all this, you can expect art, street performers, and some awesome local food vendors, all going down to the tune of $12 if you get your ticket in advance. Day of sales will bump the price up to $15, so buy early and often. Tickets are available online at eTix, or can be purchased at the following retailers in person:

IOWA CITY: West Music, Record Collector

CEDAR RAPIDS: Stars Guitars, Jackbox/Nexus Shows, Cd’s Plus, Brewed Awakenings, Music Loft, Music Go Round, Tic Toc, Witte’s End, West Music, 3rd Street Live!, Chrome Horse

CEDAR FALLS: Bob’s Guitars, Mohair Pear
WATERLOO: Cd’s Plus


Download: HEALTH - Crimewave


Download: Murder By Death - Flamenco’s Fuckin’ Easy

Mission Creek Curates Stages At New Bohemia Fest!: HEALTH / Murder By Death / William Elliott Whitmore / The Poison Control Center / many more!

Published by andre on July 28, 2008 in Festival '08, Community and Concert. 0 Comments

HEALTHIt’s been kind of slow around the Mission Creek collective lately. Folks have been in / out of town, studying for tests, and working for the man. Nevertheless, we’ve got some big news for the month of August: Cedar Rapids’ New Bohemia has invited Mission Creek to curate some stages at this year’s annual New Bohemia Festival. So we’ve put on our thinking caps and culled together a lineup that we think everyone can get excited about. The festival spans three days — August 29th - 31st. Mission Creek is curating the festival pre-party in Iowa City on Friday, August 29th as well as a stage in Cedar Rapids on August 30th. Tickets are $12 (advance) / $15 (at the door) and a ticket gets you into BOTH THE PRE-PARTY IN IOWA CITY AS WELL AS THE FESTIVAL IN CEDAR RAPIDS! It’s a lot of music for $12. Check out the line-up:

FRIDAY AUG. 29th @ the Industry in Iowa City / Doors: 8PM

HEALTH
The Poison Control Center
Baby Teeth
Wet Hair
Birth Rites
 Lwa
 The Western Front
T’Bone
Datagun

SATURDAY AUG. 30th @ Third Base Sports Park in Cedar Rapids / Doors: 12PM

Murder By Death
William Elliott Whitmore
Brighton MA
Shame Train
Diplomats of Solid Sound
Sarah Cram and the Derelicts
Matthew Grimm and the Red Smear
 Puritanicals
 Light Pollution

Advance tickets are available online here and in-the-flesh at the Record Collector in downtown Iowa City. If you want to go to both shows remember to save your tickets stub from Friday so you can get in on Saturday. Also: while it is quite big, there is limited space at the Industry so be sure to show up early (Doors are at 8PM) so you can guarantee your entry to the show. Third Base Sports Park in Cedar Rapids is located at:
7251 Mount Vernon Rd SE (take exit 16A off I-380)

Further questions? Email: missioncreekmidwest@gmail.com

Last but not least:

There is a New Bohemia after-party at the Picador following the all-day show in Cedar Rapids. Details here:

SATURDAY AUG. 30 @ the Picador in Iowa City / Doors: 9PM / Cost: $5

HEALTH // DISCO (DJ SET)
SCHOOL OF FLYENTOLOGY
PORNO GALACTICA
DJ ESPINA

Phew! That’s a lot of info but we promise you, there’s no better way to kick off the end of the summer and welcome in the fall! Get your tickets now!

New Music: Sam Locke-Ward Big Band

Published by andre on April 21, 2008 in Festival '08, mp3, New Music and WTF?. 0 Comments

Sam Locke-WardIowa City is home to one of the best eccentric pop songwriters in these United States. His name is Sam Locke-Ward and the obvious musical reference point would be Daniel Johnston, which is slightly misleading since Sam isn’t crazy — he’s viciously smart and well put together — though he does share an undeniable link to Johnston in his penchant for quirky and endearing pop. Sam, who seems to change the lineup of his band for each gig, put together an eleven piece ensemble called the Sam Locke-Ward Big Band for his support slot on the Bon Iver show that happened during the Mission Creek Festival. Despite some hateful live sound engineering — just listen to that vocal microphone cutting out every 30 seconds or so — this band blasted the house. A lot of people had a WTF? look on their faces which, given the fact that it was a Bon Iver show, they probably weren’t expecting a quirk-pop orchestra; heck, they probably weren’t even expecting Bon Iver to rock as hard as he did. We at the Freak will continue to pour Sam’s pop genius down your throats until you get it and one day, dear friend, you will get it. Until then, scratch your head on this live recording of the Sam Locke-Ward Big Band gig from the Mission Creek Festival. Thanks to www.cornwarning. for posting this.

Sam Locke-Ward Big Band (live at Mission Creek Festival ‘08)

Mission Creek Festival: Photo Roundup! [Updated]

Published by craig on April 15, 2008 in Festival '08 and Photos. 5 Comments

Thanks to staff photographer Kristin Wood for these great shots of this year’s fest.  Click on the links for full galleries of some of this year’s most memorable performances.

Day One Gallery, feat. Vandaveer, These United States, Pieta Brown, 4th of July, Birth Rites, Wheelers, MC/VL, and Datagun.

Day Two Gallery, feat. Neva Dinova, Cepia, Oh Astro, Great Lakes Music, and The Western Front.

Day Three Gallery, feat. Cursive, Mayflies, and the Gglitch

Day Four Gallery, feat. Dan Deacon, Baby Teeth, Bird Names, and Porno Galactica

[Ed. note: trusty John Schlotfelt also took some snaps that I gallerized right here. Enjoy!]

Preview: Blitzen Trapper w/ Fleet Foxes (Mission Creek Hangover Show)

Published by john c. on April 7, 2008 in Festival '08, Concert and Preview. 3 Comments

B to the Trapper

Yeah, I know, you’ve got a laundry list of reasons not to make the trek out to Rock Island tonight: a test/work in the morning, MCO, and the NCAA finals.

Okay, the show’s gonna start at 7 pm, this ain’t no Picador-stumbling-out-the-door-drunk-at-1:45 show, this is at Huckleberry’s Great Pizza, a restaurant which closes at a reasonable hour. So there, you’ll be home in time for Letterman, plenty of time to cram or rest up. And don’t even dare whine to me about getting too much Mission Creek, cause I probably got more than you, plus I had work. Take a nap before you hit the road. And as for that game, Memphis has got it in the bag. First off, they’ve got the momentum. But maybe most importantly, this March was almost completely devoid of upsets, I mean, four #1 seeds, how predictable, Memphis is gonna shake things up and win by 12.

Now that I’ve ruined the game for you, what better way to spend an evening than with a hearty slice of pizza and a hearty slice of “indie-roots” with Blitzen Trapper and Fleet Foxes? And let’s not forget, this show is brought to you by our friends (hell, everyone’s friends) at Daytrotter, and I challenge you to tell me when they’ve ever steered you wrong, that’s what I thought.

So get your ass in your car tonight, Google Maps says it’ll only take an hour and three minutes, and you know how conservative they always are and how fast you always drive.

Washington’s Fleet Foxes start things off with their lush, ethereal folk tunes, exactly what one would expect from the great Northwest. And their southern brothers from Oregon (that’s south for Washington), Blitzen Trapper, prove what most already assumed, the closer you get to the equator, the more stop and rock you pump into your tunes. The collective from Portland, brings the messy tin-can country band aesthetic and injects it with a touch of Neil Young Crazy Horseness and a life of listening to Portland indie music, did you get all that? Yeah, it’s pretty good.

Alright, I can’t be so uncompromising. I know, things are going down tonight, I can sympathize. Does Thursday work better for you? You can catch this same pairing in Grinnell on Thursday night at the College’s Gardner Lounge. There’s a Paglia’s Pizza in Grinnell (yeah, that Paglia’s), so you can get your ‘zza and your show on Thursday as well.

Mission Creek Festival: Day Four: Sam

Published by john c. on April 6, 2008 in Festival '08, Weekend and Concert. 0 Comments

The final Mission Creek journal from our dear friend, Sam Edsill…

Music lovers of Iowa City, you disappoint me. Yes, you turned out in droves for Cursive. You flocked by the carload 60 miles east for Spoon. And hardly another body could be wedged onto the Picador’s dance floor for Dan Deacon. But sadly, so many deserving bands were left playing to virtually empty houses: Brighton, MA, Neva Dinova, and, on the final night of the festival, the amazing Miles Nielson (more to come on that note). Perhaps I am holding you to an unattainable standard by asking you to show up in droves for each worthy artist that wanders through. After all, you can’t be everywhere. And to be fair, I couldn’t resist the chance to see Spoon and Cursive. But it is a shame that great bands, which on any other night would have drawn huge crowds, were left behind for the Big Names. I guess that’s just the nature of the music festival beast.

Saturday night began in earnest, again, at The Mill, this time with… Continue reading ‘Mission Creek Festival: Day Four: Sam’

Mission Creek Festival: Day Four: John C.

Published by john c. on April 6, 2008 in Festival '08, Weekend and Concert. 1 Comment

So we made it.  We can trot out all of those clichés about dust and smoke settling, because, let’s be frank, we’re all really fuckin’ tired.  Many Mission Creekers took advantage of this concert-free day to sleep till noon, or later.  Last night, however, smoke and dirt were flying everywhere, and I find myself a humbled skeptic.

Ben Marcus: The Mill:

Damn, writers aren’t the prima donnas many think they are, these guys get right into things.  Normally when a band or event is scheduled in an Iowa City bar, it’s understood that things will get started one hour after doors open.  However, these uppity writers shirked tradition yesterday afternoon.  So while I finished up my post for Friday’s festivities, dudes started reading.  I mean seriously, have you scribes no sense of decorum?

Under normal circumstances, I should have been able to finish my post, get a cup of Joe, walk to the Mill, and make it halfway into Mark Leidner’s reading, but noooo.  I walked in to hear the afternoon’s MC introducing the Chair of Columbia’s MFA Writing program, the headliner: Ben Marcus. Continue reading ‘Mission Creek Festival: Day Four: John C.’

Mission Creek Festival: Day Three: Sam

Published by john c. on April 6, 2008 in Festival '08, Weekend and Concert. 1 Comment

Um, wow. Well things were crazy ’round here, as you can well see. However, in all the confusion and drunkeness, one of Sam Edsill’s dispatches got lost in the gmail-shuffle (not quite the same as either the truffle or Super Bowl Shuffles). So here, without further ado, the presumed lost, entirely unread, and unedited musings of Samuel Edsill:

Evening approaches as I write this, and the final night of MCMW is nearly here. We’ve had perfect weather for the past two days here in Iowa City, and I’m beginning to think the festival’s massive dose of rock had a hand in shattering winter’s cruel grip. Friday’s shows were all-around spectacular.
The night began with chips and salsa followed by one of The Mill’s famous black bean burgers, which fall apart easily but are mightily delicious (it’s the avocado), and of course a Fat Tire. Whoever got the New Belgium Brewing Co. to co-sponsor this festival is brilliant. I’ve been drinking $3.50 pints all weekend. As I proceeded to devour my vegetarian-friendly goodness, Ames’ Poison Control Center took the stage. The group was supremely entertaining, in the reckless way that so few bands are: they jumped around and climbed the furnishings, picked up fans on their shoulders, and fortunately sustained only minor injuries. Following them were The Blacks from San Francisco, an equally energetic trio. After a few songs it was off to the Yacht Club for another San Fran band… Continue reading ‘Mission Creek Festival: Day Three: Sam’

Mission Creek Festival: Day Three: John C.

Published by john c. on April 5, 2008 in Festival '08, Weekend and Concert. 1 Comment

It’s official: I hit the wall.

Last night, following one of the more intense sets I’ve seen in months (more on that later), I wedged myself into a booth at the Mill. While sitting there, watching the dance floor fill up with Cursive fans, I got a case of what’s been dubbed Mission Creek Overload, otherwise known as MCO or the Creeks. MCO is a seasonal illness that afflicts the musically inclined about this time every year; symptoms include: aversion to alcohol, stasis when presented with dynamic performances (this is not to be confused with “doing the standing still,” which is a slightly more active, judgmental stance), and the inability to create strings of hyphenated qualifiers describing the last band.

Never fear, there is a cure: Sleep.

But last night, I had many miles, and many bands to go before bed. Continue reading ‘Mission Creek Festival: Day Three: John C.’

Mission Creek Festival: Day Two: Sam

Published by john c. on April 5, 2008 in Festival '08, Weekend and Concert. 0 Comments

A dispatch from intrepid reporter Sam Edsill:

It’s a good thing I’m done with work for the remainder of the festival. As a post-graduate twenty-something two years into the 9-5 working world, the one-two punch of late nights and early mornings hits a little harder than it used to be. But as some will suffer for fashion, I’ll endure all kinds of crazy fatigue in the name of music.

Last night’s adventures began practically the instant I hit “Send” on yesterday’s post. My friends and I crammed into my Civic and bolted for the interstate, hell-bent on arriving in Davenport with time to grab dinner. We settled on a place called Mac’s Tavern, based firstly on its proximity to the Capitol Theater (they share a wall), secondly having Pac-Man as the “C” on its sign, and thirdly on being less ridiculous than the alternative pub, Shenanigan’s. Continue reading ‘Mission Creek Festival: Day Two: Sam’