RADIO ON

Sorry to everybody who follows this blog's Twitter and Tumblr accounts, where I've been spamming you repeatedly on this subject, but I was fortunate enough to have an in-depth story on Pitchfork this week that I'm really excited to share: "Live Transmission." It's about the Local Community Radio Act, which after more than a decade-long battle paves the way for the creation of hundreds, potentially thousands, of new local community radio stations.

They're low-power FM stations, which means 100 watts or less, but they can still have an impact on a community. And they're noncommercial, so they can be concerned with more than just the bottom line.

Des Moines actually already has at least one LPFM station: KFMG 99.1, which operates out of the Hotel Fort Des Moines here downtown. Kyle Munson of The Des Moines Register wrote a nice story about the station's escape from near-death last year.

WINTER CONCERT PREVIEW PT. 2

So some more shows (Wild Nothing with Abe Vigoda! Poison Control Center! Das Racist!) have been added since my original winter concert preview. I think there may be some other good ones just about ready to be announced, too. In the meantime, just thought I'd do a quick update to point out a bunch that may be of interest:

February

The Nadas. Vaudeville Mews. Feb. 2 All Ages $10

Building Your Band's Online Presence Panel. Vaudeville Mews. Feb. 3 All Ages & Free

Resident Artists: It Might Get Loud: Johnny Scum, Golden Veins, Deep Sleep Waltzing and Brutus. Vaudeville Mews. Feb. 4 21+ $5

George Clinton and Parliament Funkadelic. Club 504 (new Des Moines venue). Feb. 5 21+ $32 in advance, $36 at the door. 

Javelin with Foody Pyramid. Grinnell College. Feb. 5 All Ages & Free

The Poison Control Center. Ames Progressive. Feb. 5 All Ages

La Strange CD release party with Bangups, Nuclear Rodeo. Vaudeville Mews. Feb. 5 All Ages $5

The Poison Control Center. Club 504. Feb. 10 21+ 

Cleo's Apartment with Wrestling With Wolves, Diamonds for Eyes, Mother Culture, New Bodies. Vaudeville Mews. Feb. 11 21+ $7

Seryn with Seedlings, Myself for You, Pocket Aristotle. Vaudeville Mews. Feb. 13 All Ages $5

The Love Language. Vaudeville Mews with Dustin Smith, Canyons. Feb. 14

Loretta Lynn. Hoyt Sherman Place Feb. 15 All Ages $52.50-$72.50

Nadas. Vaudeville Mews. Feb. 16 All Ages $10

Canby with Parlours, Crystal City. Vaudeville Mews. Feb. 18 21+ $5

Wild Nothing with Abe Vigoda. Grinnell College. Feb. 19 All Ages & Free

Sleeping in the Aviary with Mumfords, Derek Lambert & the Prairie Fires, the Chatty Cathys. Vaudeville Mews. Feb. 21 All Ages $5

Daymoths with Golden Veins. Vaudeville Mews. Feb. 27 21+ $5

March 

Dropkick Murphys with Against Me!. Val Air Ballroom. March 4 All Ages $25

Hunter Valentine with Vanity Theft, Love Songs for Lonely Monsters, New Member Charles. Vaudeville Mews. March 4 21+ $7

Menomena. M Shop (Ames). March 5. $8 students $12 public + $2 day-of-show increase

The River Monks CD Release Party. with the Wandering Bears and Elizabeth Arynn. Vaudeville Mews. March 5 All Ages $5

Rural Alberta Advantage. M Shop (Ames). March 22  $6 students $10 public + $2 day-of-show increase

The Poison Control Center with Brass Bed.  Drake University. March 25.

Mission Creek Festival: Guided by Voices, Jeff Tweedy, John Waters, Das Racist, Sonic Youth's Kim Gordon & Thurston Moore, The Poison Control Center, Skull Defekts with Daniel Higgs, more. March 28-April 4 (Iowa City)

April

Gross Domestic Product. Hotel Fort Des Moines. April 2 All Ages

My Chemical Romance. Val Air Ballroom. April 10 All Ages $30

I Was Totally Destroying It with Cashes Rivers, Parlours. Vaudeville Mews. April 14 21+ $7

Christopher the Conquered with Mumfords, Derek Lambert & the Prairie Fires, Pennyhawk. Vaudeville Mews. April 22 21+ $5

YOU'RE MY SHINING BOY

photo by Mrs. Des Noise

Asklandaganza IV can only be described as a huge success. It would be hard for me to say much more about the fourth annual birthday party of Vaudeville Mews booker Ladd Askland-- particularly anything analytical or rock critic-like-- because I was just having too much fun. Nick Lambert was named Man of the Year, a move that surprised him because he had thought he was helping Ladd choose the Poison Control Center's Patrick Tape Fleming (a mere ruse!). Wolves in the Attic and the Land of Blood & Sunshine and the Seed of Something and Canyons and Derek Lambert & the Prairie Fires (in their debut performance!) and of course PCC played awesome sets. John Huffman distributed Ladd's traditional everybody-in-the-place Black Velvet shots. Bob Nastanovich, back in Des Moines after touring the world with beloved group Pavement, was upstairs spinning records-- I asked him the name of one particularly danceable song three times, hoping to write it down, before he sort of jollily ("jollily"?) told me he had even better ones coming up so I should get back downstairs and keep dancing. It was Mrs. Des Noise's birthday, too, so we were back and forth from a little gathering with some friends at our place-- thanks a ton to everybody who came, glad our cat didn't kill anyone and our dog only peed on one person (at the same time the cat was vomiting) (sorry, Andrew). PCC played some new songs that I remember being a blast but couldn't tell you much more about. I don't think they played new plastic plate 7" "Porcelain Brain." (Wait, now I'm suddenly remembering singing along with it...) When we left I was pretty sure we had lost both Ladd and Chet Boom. But they were both found. Like I said, a huge success. You shoulda been there.

They once was lost but now am found.