I believe there is an unwritten rule about limiting the number of exclamation points in a given article to no more than 3. Well, fuck that! We’re too excited at missionfreak to follow rules, let alone unwritten rules!
Tomorrow night, Wednesday, August 13th marks the return of Iowa City’s favorite hot dog-hurling trio: The Tanks!
It’s been a long nine months. I know I haven’t had nearly enough sweaty, bald men rub their sweaty, bald heads on me lately, nor have I gotten my projectile hot dog fix, and I doubt many of you have been sated on either of those two fronts either. However, don’t expect more the same this time ’round, the trio comes fitted with new tunes and a “new surprise drummer.” In other words, you’d better prepare by listening to those new jams (peep the tankspace: here), because they ain’t given the name of that drummer no way, no how.
This super secret surprise gets better still with the inclusion of Baltimore’s Teeth Mountain. Scope out their delicious tribal drone here.
The surprises don’t end there either! There will be more acts announced at tomorrow night’s show!
So get thee to 109 N. Dodge St tomorrow night at 9:30 pm. Normal house show rules apply: BYOB, donations are strongly advised, and don’t wreck-up the place.
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Mission 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
Oh, those hidden expenses in moving. Wait, the shower doesn’t come with a curtain? You’ve got to be kidding ($10)! I thought you had a toaster, no, I don’t have a toaster ($2). Hey guys, thanks so much for helping me move in, pizza’s on the way ($25 + $7 for tip). Damnit, you mean now we have to fill the fridge ($30 for beer, $50 for groceries)? Iowa City got you into this mess, now it’s going to help you out. This weekend there is more cheap-to-free entertainment than you’ll usually see in a month. You know you’ve got a good thing going when The Englert is putting on the tunes for nothin’.
Thursday
Crisis Center Benifit Show featuring: Open Goat, Chaircrusher, Feasel & Effelskopes, Hubcap Holmes, Holy Roman Empire, Camel in the Sky, I’m on Neptune, and Sean Crowley / The Mill / 5 pm / $5 min. donation
A whole mess of young and/or rising Iowa City musicians are playing a benefit show in memory of Iowa City High Junior David Lash who died this past January. The money raised will be donated to the Crisis Center, with the goal of placing a memorial bench in Hickory Hill Park for David. A good cause and some good music, what more can you ask for? (Hit up the artist’s myspaces for samples, and excuse Sean’s complete lack of tuneage, kid just got hip to the space.)
Friday
Chauncey Swan Orchestra w. Unicorn Basement and Kitten Forever / Public Space One / 6 pm / $3 donation for traveling bands
Friday night will see the debut of the Chauncey Swan Orchestra (from here on out referred to as The Slanty Shanty House Band), which features Slanty Shanty head Cory Gingerich, Lucas Williams (a/k/a Holy Roman Empire), members of Bear Weather, We’re All Tarantulas and more. Lord knows what to expect, but when you’ve got this many talented cooks in one kitchen, dinner’s going to be interesting. Two Minneapolis bands, Unicorn Basement and Kitten Forever have opening duties. Reminder, this is an early show, get there at 6 pm, cause it’s all going down at 6:30.
Saturday
Friends of Old Time Music featuring: The Gilded Bats, Escape the Floodwater Jug Band, and the Awful Purdies / The Englert Theater / 7 pm / Free
After all this punk and noise, you might have forgotten about the incredible roots scene Iowa City has, well here’s your FREE reminder. The Englert is offering up three of the IC’s finest old timey acts for nothing, zip, zilch, nadda! If you want peep those myspaces up there, but if the twang of a banjo and a little whiskey in your belly sounds about right, then you don’t need no stinking samples.
Did you get all that? At least 13 bands for $8, hot damn!
Aww, hell! Everything’s sore, right? I know, I haven’t worked some of those muscles since about this time last year… That must mean it’s time to pack up every last scrap of your life and schlep that shit ‘cross town. Like everyone in Iowa City, we here at mission freak look forward to moving like a root canal and chest waxing combined, so to help ease the pain, we present: The Weekend.
Thursday
Raperies (Like Draperies) w/ Cuticle, Evan Miller, and Chouser / 109 N. Dodge / 9:30 pm / Donations strongly recommended
It looks like The Cave of Spirits has contagious going’s on, because this DIY show is just a door or two away from Sunday’s Sic Alps/Wet Hair show. This birthday party for host Jason Miller flexes some serious noise muscles as Iowa City’s own Chouser and Evan Miller join Cuticle and Milwaukee’s Raperies (Like Draperies).
Dope videos for Evan Miller here, and Raperies (Like Draperies) here.
Friday
Hardacre Film Festival / Hardacre Theater Tipton, IA / 6pm / $6 per screening $15 for weekend pass
Escaping Iowa City once all the moving’s been done might not be a bad idea. But I know what you’re thinking: Tipton? Just remember the next time we land a cool show, somebody’s thinking: Iowa? Every year the Hardacre Theater plays host to a two-day film fest, often noted at the first of it’s kind in Iowa, 2008 looks to be a pretty deep and diverse line-up, and it’s only 30+ miles away. The first screening is at 6 pm Friday, and screenings on Saturday go from 9 am till 9 pm. More info here.
Saturday
The White Rabbit’s Grand Re-Opening / 109 S Linn / 5-9 pm
Once you’re all moved in you might find more white walls or closet space than your meager possessions can handle. Why not blow that first month’s rent (y’know get started on the right foot) on some DIY goods. Peep the White Rabbit’s new location across the street from Record Collector and next to the Iowa City Public Library. Once you’re stocked up you can just wander down to the Picador…
Samuel Locke-Ward and the Solid Gold Dancers w/ Monte Carlos and Hey There Cowboy / The Picador / 9pm / $5
Iowa City avant-pop mastermind, Locke-Ward, brings his big band experiment (the one that started way back during Mission Creek ‘08) to a conclusion on Saturday. If you weren’t privy to the inaugural performance, you missed technical difficulties galore. Let’s just hope good sound is in the cards for Sam and Co. on Saturday, cause this is to be enjoyed in hi, uninterrupted fidelity.
It’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!
It feels like a long minute, or two, since we’ve heard any rumblings from one of Iowa City’s finest DIY venues, The Cave of Spirits. Well that long minute is over. Tonight, primary spirit Shawn Reed (member of Wet Hair) is instigating a whole ton of noise. You might remember a while back when we made mention of the Wet Hair tunes (which conveniently preceded a Wet Hair performance), since then, Wet Hair’s done that whole touring thang and the boys are back for a little homecoming, and like any good party, they’ve got friends to help them celebrate: Bear Weather and Sic Alps [sic].
Bear Weather will be hauling their gear all the way ‘cross town to get the party started right. The quartet’s lead single from it’s forthcoming 7″, “Dance With Me You Ten Dollar Bill,” slips back and forth between blissed-out drones to chaotic, pulsating chants, with delicious bi-polar spontaneity. In other words, the first one on the dance floor and the first one to throw up and pass out.
Sic Alps come all the way from the land of sun and Governators. These San Fran lads lean heavily on late sixties Haight-Ashbery psychedelia of their home, mixing resplendent pop hooks and soaring vocal melodies about innocence and love with some pretty wicked feedback and sludge. Sometimes, like”Sing Song Waitress” from the band’s 2008 record U.S. EZ, Sic Alps is a lot more faithfully psychedelic, or maybe they’ll ride on waves of distortion, feedback, and knob twiddling, or the two will meet in a garage-exploding hybrid, but the proficiency achieved in any of their chosen modes is striking.
You can catch a taste of what’s to come with a those mp3’s below.
Bonus: word through the grapevine has it that Super Sonic Piss could also be joining in on the festivities.
Who: Sic Alps, Wet Hair, Bear Weather (Super Sonic Piss?)
Where: The Cave of Spirits (115 N. Dodge)
Cover: None, specifically, but you should definitely throw some money towards your hosts so they can keep the thing-a-going.
Doors: 9:30 (be on time, cause shit’s starting on time)
And last but not least, this is BYOB my friends, come prepared.
Download: Wet Hair - The Hermitage
Download: Sic Alps - Clubbing For $$
Download: Sic Alps - N##JJ
So, some people are going to be in Des Moines this weekend, but if you’re staying around Iowa City, it won’t exactly be settling. The fine folks with Iowa Ctiy Summer of the Arts have gotten three of the biggest names in contemporary jazz for this year’s Iowa City Jazz Festival: Medeski, Martin & Wood, John Scofield, and the Joshua Redman Trio. For those uninitiated in living jazz artists, you don’t get much bigger. You have to look to the handful of dudes that played with Miles and still giggin’ (oh wait, Scofield was in Davis’ band from ‘82 - ‘85). And like always, the music is free.
John Medeski, Billy Martin, and Chris Wood, headline the first night of the festivitie (i.e. kick off your 4th of July Weekend with a bang). Medeski Martin & Wood have been straddling the line between jam band and jazz band for 16 years, and in many ways, it is that particular friction that keeps them exciting and popular. Loved by dead heads for long, funky jams (or “crunchy grooves”) and equally loved by the jazz set for their avant-garde leanings and incessant exploration, MMW have just enough funk in their trunk or the casual jazz fan and just enough moxy for the snobs.
The art-loving folks who live at the house at Washington and Lucas have turned their basement into an official D.I.Y. venue called the Glory Hole. The first show kicks off tonight featuring Tree Tops (from Chicago), Uneven Universe (from Detroit), and locals Uncomforter and Supersonic Piss. This is a great thing for Iowa City. It means more art and more music. The venue is a cozy basement with killer sound and astounding intimacy. Look forward to seeing some of the best local and underground touring talent at the Glory Hole. There is another show on Thursday, July 3rd. Details forthcoming. The show tonight begins at 930PM.
Get out there and help out where you can. The city thanks you.
Foster Road in Iowa City…
Cedar Rapids…
This new Coldplay song is sick…
Tomorrow afternoon, Exodus Music Festival awakens from a several year hiatus, and this beast is poised to reestablish itself as one of the most fun and musically adventurous days of music in the state. The promoters of this year’s fest have done a killer job incorporating the Iowa City old favorites, the Iowa City new school, as well as great bands from other parts of the country. Here at Mission Creek, we look on in awe (and often in horror) as more and more giant corporate-sponsored festivals throw absurd sums of money at bands in the name of an afternoon of fun (and profit); Exodus, like us, is keeping things local, homegrown, and community-oriented. This year, they’ve also partnered with Earth Expo to think not just about the local community, but the global one. That’s a message we can all get down with. And its $12 bucks, BYO everything, and on a farm.
So as you’re chilling out on a blanket with some organic grub, tasty beer, and whatever other supplements you need to survive a day-long music fest, here are some of the jams that you absolutely have to catch. But seriously, every band on the bill is worth checking out.
MC/VL: Minnestota hip-hop duo take the fun and playfulness of early career Beastie Boys into the 21st century. White guys decked out in mullets and super-ironic stashes, they have old-skool flavor but back it up with tight rhymes and innovative samples, including many from the world of indie rock. [Myspace]
School of Flyentology: We can’t stop giving these dudes props for slaying it at Mission Creek with Steve from the Hood Internet, but they actaully deserve more respect for quietly establishing the most progressive and interesting dance party in Iowa City, every Tuesday night at the Yacht Club. I saw one of the duo last night, and he said they’ve been working hard on the set. When these guys work hard, you better believe that means you working it even harder on the dance floor. Or grassy lawn or whatever. Might want to pack some bottles of water.
Miracles of God: Samuel Locke-Ward has been written about one million times on this blog. I caught the end of the Miracles of God set on Tuesday night at the Mill, and it was great. Locke-Ward will be heading off on a summer tour soon with the Teddy Boys, so come wish him well, and listen to the best, most concise and interesting pop that our fair city has to offer. [Myspace]
Skye: Ex-Skursula violist is keeping the dream alive with delicate songs sung beatifully, and the trademark birds and bees and cuddly things that we’ve all come to love about Skye’s lyrics. Her solo show is a loop pedal extravaganza, which makes it temping to make the comparison to Andrew Bird, but that wouldn’t really make any sense. Skye is in a class by herself.
