This weekend is made of music!

Click on the links and observe the shiny, beautiful pictures for more information about these events and the artists who will be there.

FRIDAY

THUNDERFEST. Have you seen Knubby yet? Das Thunderfoot? Dead Emperors? If the answer is no to any of those - OMIGAWD! Remedy that and donate to a good cause. Six kick-ass bands and camping for a $5 donation? Um...yes, duh.

Knubby

getting their cow bell on with help from the audience

CLICK

SATURDAY 

Gabe's - Canthrammer. 3 Metal Bands / 3 Country Bands. Also for a good cause - The Wounded Warrior Project. 6 Bands. Cover. Seriously, Cantharone will blow your mind.

Joe Anderson of Cantarone

ICYC - Maiden Mars, The Passes, The Ultrasounds, & Remod. $5 cover for the out-of-town bands.

Maiden Mars

Trumpet Blossom - FREE. All local musicians. And very cool people.

I will be spending a considerable amount of time trying to figure out how to navigate all 3 venues this Saturday so I can see everyone i want to. I haven't had to be this strategic since Riot Fest. Only Riot Fest was rainy and muddy and cold and a thousand times more difficult to navigate than the streets of Iowa City. I got this though. Here's to hoping you all like to plot and scheme to maximize your listening experience. See you there(s)!

*

If you live in Iowa City under some sort of rock (obviously not the punk kind), you probably haven't yet listened to Codependent Music. This, my stone-dwelling friend, is exactly what you need. Tune into 89.7 KRUI Sunday nights (Monday mornings?) at midnight for 2 hours of punk and insane hilarity. Do it - shed your dreary, heavy burden-home and live in the sunshine with the rest of us. Well, at midnight it'll be pretty dark, actually...
It's a super good time is really all i'm trying to say. Click the KRUI link above to stream.

Be excellent to each other, peeps.. ~ mandab

Open Mic Update / Upcoming Shows

Tuesday night’s Underground Open Mic was a truly amazing affair. Mike Weber of Shadow Fox Photography took some killer pictures, as usual. You can view them here. Oh, and the raffle prize was a sick TMNT razor scooter – totally jealous of whoever won that. Next week's Open Mic is already brewing - check it!

I was super excited to finally see Maiden Mars. They were awesome! A simple 3 piece band, all ladies, they had great energy and set the fun and rocking tone for the rest of the night. You can listen here. I’m thinking maybe next time they play, Kate Kane can get someone else to introduce the next band? She wailed on those drums the whole set and looked positively exhausted afterward. Don’t be afraid to ask for help, lady. I hope to catch more shows soon.

And then there was warren terror. Another Iowa City band. I liked them. They were loud and kind of grungy. I wrote about them while they were playing, but I’m going to have to edit the hell out of that before I post it. I definitely was not concentrating on what I was hearing during that set.

Kitten Crisis from Illinois was a whole lot of fun. Actually, both out of state bands killed it and fit in perfectly with the overall feeling and sound of the night. Benny the Jet Rodriguez was way awesome. I’m not going to lie to you, peeps, I was a tad inebriated having spent a few hours at the Deadwood before even heading to the Open Mic. I mostly was just dancing and head bob/banging instead of thinking about serious reviewing. Both bands were kind of poppy, really catchy, and had really great energy. Check out the links above to find their FB pages. Kitten Crisis doesn’t really have a ton of info, but Benny has a link to their bandcamp and some really fun other stuff (the bio is awesome) and I love their description of the band as “pot punk, garage pop, queer punk, baseball lovecore”. Yeah, dude.

Rational Anthem was really great. I have missed them twice in the past few months and once I was a mere 20 feet away, distracted by something silly someone beautiful was saying, no doubt. I will not, however, be missing them ever again. Until they go on tour out west, that is. I’ve never understood how people from places like Florida and California and anywhere near the ocean end up land locked in Iowa City, but I am super glad these folks are here now. Check them out. Do it. I couldn’t find any info on upcoming shows in the area, but listen here.

And lastly, Lipstick Homicide…what can I say? Always amaze-balls. The last time I got to the see them was upstairs, for free, when Pizza on Dubuque was still a thing. Like an idiot, I went on a cleaning spree before their last show at Trumpet Blossom and ended up falling asleep with yellow rubber gloves on. I missed the whole thing. You have to see to them. I will be posting when I hear about shows. Until then, listen here.

FYI:

Crystal City is playing tonight at The Mill. I haven’t seen or heard of the other bands playing tonight, but Crystal City is always really good. I can’t go tonight, so please go for me. Order the frickles. Crystal City have a lot of gigs coming up and I highly recommend all of them, but I must insist you all go the ICYC on June 20^th. You’ll cry forever if you miss that show.

Tomorrow night (6/12) Closet Witch is playing at Gabe’s. I’ve been looking forward to seeing them for a very long time. You like punk, punk? Be at this show!

See ya around ~mandab

Weekly Music Scene - Iowa City

Before I start getting into reviewing bands and venues and all that blazz, I want to plug some cool on-going events in Iowa City that are open to artists of all skill levels and genres. It's just a small part of the huge music scene, but one that I really appreciate as it gives me access to musicians who are up-and-coming, as well as established artists trying something new or working with new people.


A short list (if I missed any, please let me know in the comments below):

Monday Night Open Mic with J. Knight - Mondays, 8pm. The Mill, Iowa City
An Iowa City institution. So many great acts have played their first show at the Mill’s Open Mic. Many seasoned pros test out new material before a live audience. Come check it out – you never know when you’ll catch the next great Iowa City songwriter. To sign your act up, call J. Knight in advance at 319.338.6713.

Underground Open Mic - Tuesdays, 8pm - 12ish. Iowa City Yacht Club - 13 S Lynn St. Iowa City
FREE!

There is also an open mic at Studio 13, which is 20 feet away, at the same time on Tuesdays. However, every time I have been there it was just comedy, not music. Still fun.


Free Jam Session & Mug Night @ ICYC Free Jam Session every Wednesday. Bring your axe or just sit back and listen to some great music.We also have mug night every Wednesday. $5 gets you a mug filled with beer that you get to keep - bring it back and you get $1 refills!

Thursday Night Live: Open Mic and more!
Thursdays, 7:00pm – 8:30pm, Uptown Bill's Coffee House (map)
Celebrating 13 years of Uptown Bill's Open Mic.Ten minute slices of music and other performances. Open to all ages and abilities. Sign up beforehand at the coffee house. Or by email: uptown bills@gmail.com.

LOCALLY OWNED @ Gabe's - Thursdays
Doors: 9:00 pm / Show: 9:00 pm (event ends at 11:00 pm) - Free - This event is 19 and over. Highlighting local bands.
During Locally Owned, which happens downstairs, there is a dance party going on upstairs. $2 admission for those 21+ and $5 for the youngins. Called Mixology, this event is local DJs spinning until bar close.

Of course, if you're looking for free music in Iowa City during the summer, all you have to do is wander into the Ped Mall on a Friday or Saturday evening thanks to Summer of the Arts. Not always my bag, but they have really good shows once in a while and it's cool that our city has so much going on.

Without fail, I can be found at the Yacht Club on Tuesdays for the Underground Open Mic. There is such a mix of acts that it's always a good time. Acts are not limited to music - poets and comedians grace the stage right along with mellow aucostic soloists, full plugged-in metal bands, screamy punk bands, and rappers. Hostess Kate Kane keeps things moving between sets with bits of trivia which can win you prizes, some of which are lovingly hand-crafted by her mother. Radical, right? In addition, there is always a raffle with prizes ranging from giant baskets of candy to kites to big-ass containers of twizzlers to Ouija boards (which i won, hot damn!). It's a blast every single week - just don't show up with your instrument expecting to play the first time you walk in. Slots are booked 2-3 weeks in advance due to popularity and Kate's mad organizational skills.

This week's line up is totally killer:
8:00 Maiden Mars
8:30 warren terror
9:00 Jenny Watkins spoken word
9:05 Kitten Crisis
9:35 J Ace
9:45 Rational Anthem
10:15 Benny The Jet Rodriguez
10:55 Peter Stolp
11:05 Lipstick Homicide...

I plan on blogging about most of these bands already and a couple of them I have been dying to see. It's going to be so much fun! I will post a link to Shadow Fox Photography's pictures of the event later this week for those of you who can't make it (lame).


Hope to see you there! ~mandab