THINGS HAVE CHANGED

Huge, huge thanks to friend (and professional graphic designer) Emily Phipps for the new Des Noise banner.

She also provides all the graphics for another local site, the great Nothing Gets Crossed Out.

RALLY AROUND THE FLAG, GLORY, GLORY, HALLELUJAH

Let's have bizarre celebrations.

So the fourth annual 80/35 Music Festival looks to have been a resounding success. You can read Joe Lawler's reports on Saturday and Sunday's activities over at the Des Moines Register. Looks like the fest handily passed its break-even point, helped this year by gorgeous weather on Saturday, and organizer Amedeo Rossi is already planning a sequel next July. My friends Andy and Ryan over at We Hate Music also have photos from days one and two, and I imagine Josh or Jessie will probably post something over at Nothing Gets Crossed Out.

A little-known highlight was probably the after-shows at the back bar outside the Vaudeville Mews; if you didn't go this year, definitely try to check them out in 2012. Set up against weathered-brick downtown buildings, the space looked great, and it sounded surprisingly good, too, giving the music some more room to breathe than in the Mews itself. Plus, on Saturday, the place was basically packed. Wolves in the Attic, who'd had equipment problems earlier in the day, got their chance at anthemic noise-rock redemption, while Mantis Pincers were able to whip up some of their cosmic cooking for an audience that somehow still had energy to keep on dancing. On Sunday night, festival headliners Of Montreal's own Kevin Barnes was out there DJing.

Happy Independence Day! I don't have much else to write at the moment, but some of my trademark fan's-view blurry phone pics are below. As Titus Andronicus's Patrick Stickles remarked from the main stage, "It's hard to be humble when you're on the Jumbotron." As Des Noise pal Travis said to a bearded guy who wasn't Patrick Stickles at the after-show (because Titus totally had to drive 20 hours to New Jersey immediately after playing), "Nice set!"

QUARTERLY-ISH REPORT 2Q 2011

Hey, look! Prompt for once.

A ridiculously incomplete, highly subjective selection of stuff I've been enjoying this year that didn't already appear on my previous quarterly report.