Corridor Buzz

REVIEW: Atlas offers elegant flair, inspired local flavors

2008-08-28

It’s been a long time since I was a student in Iowa City, but the last time my parents were up from the Sunbelt I suggested the Atlas World Grill, 127 Iowa Ave., for lunch and both my vegetarian father and omnivorous mother loved it. So, I was happy to return for a review last week. Keeping it all in the family, I met my brother for lunch. (I didn’t let it cloud the entire experience, but our total number of parking tickets for our two hour reunion was three, so learn from our example and keep plugging those 60 minute meters downtown.)

As we know to expect in Iowa City, our server was intelligent, informed and a big fan...

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Freedom Festival to celebrate community

2008-08-28

Same family fun, different holiday weekend.

Postponed due to the flooding in June, most events affiliated with the Cedar Rapids Freedom Festival, traditionally centered on the Fourth of July weekend, have been rescheduled for this Labor Day weekend.

The festival has also been rebilled this year: what was called a “celebration of freedom” is now a “celebration of community,” as Cedar Rapids continues to push forward with flood recovery and rebuilding efforts.

“We think people are ready and we’re ready to put on some events and bring something for people do that’s affordable and family friendly,” says Ann Virden, the festival’s community relations manager. “We think it’s about time.”

Most of the big events that were to have happened earlier this summer have been...

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UI Lecture Committee announces season lineup

2008-08-27

Biologist E.O. Wilson, human rights activist Ishmael Beah and author Naomi Klein will speak in Iowa City this fall as part of the University of Iowa Lecture Committee’s 2008-09 season.

All events are free and open to the public and begin at 7:30 p.m. unless otherwise noted. This year's speakers include:

--E.O. Wilson, who will give the 2008-09 Distinguished Lecture Oct. 8 at the First United Methodist Church, 214 E. Jefferson St., Iowa City. Wilson is a professor of biology at Harvard University and a pioneer in the fields of biodiversity and sociobiology. Two of his 21 books have been awarded Pulitzer Prizes and he has been hailed as "the new Darwin" by Thomas Wolfe and one of "America's 25 Most...

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Flood-displaced KRUI returns to its old home

2008-08-27

While students move refrigerators and wastepaper baskets into University of Iowa dorms, their parents might lull between nostalgic and alienating sentiments. “I also ate at Burge Hall,” and “wait, Phillips Hall doesn’t hold business classes anymore?” echo from alumnus as they discover a campus that is an incomplete picture of their alma mater. As of this week, however, their favorite collegiate radio station once again broadcasts from its original home for the first time in 20 years: Quadrangle Residence Hall.

Progressing from the call letters KWAD to KICR to KRUI, 89.7 FM has established a 56-year repertoire of rock, alternative and independent music along with an array of student and community member commentary.

After a mere 15 minutes spent off air...

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Four good reasons to like Randy Travis

2008-08-26

There are many reasons to enjoy Randy Travis. The multiple Grammy Award winning American country musician has a wonderful, rich smooth baritone voice that glides over one’s ears as freely as cold butter on warm toast. The good looking, tall and lanky dude also writes catchy, clever story songs whose deep meanings resonate with spiritual charm. During the past three decades he’s recorded more than a dozen albums, charted more than 30 singles and had 16 number one records on the Billboard magazine country charts. Travis helped transform country and western from a second-rate form of popular music to the respectable stature it has today.

Before Travis’ concert at the Riverside Casino at 4 p.m. Sunday, it may be helpful to...

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REVIEW: 'The House Bunny' bests 'The Rocker'

2008-08-26

In what ended up being a last-minute scheduling face-off, two comedies bounded into theaters this weekend, hoping to clean up some last-minute, late-summer box office before students headed back to school.

Both “The House Bunny” and “The Rocker” are broad, slapstick affairs; both are centered on a cartoonish, oblivious title character (Anna Faris and Rainn Wilson, respectively); both require said buffoon to grow up and help out some youngsters. And both, in what was an accident of release-schedule shifting, feature the winning Emma Stone in a strong supporting role.

Unfortunately, only one really works, and if you had to bet from the hip, you might get it wrong.

This is finally Anna Faris’ crowning weekend. After years of flailing away in the “Scary...

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Nine Inch Nails to play Cedar Rapids Nov. 20

2008-08-26

The industrial rock band Nine Inch Nails will perform Nov. 20 at the U.S. Cellular Center in Cedar Rapids, the venue announced today.

The band, whose only official member is Trent Reznor, has sold more than 20 million albums worldwide since its founding in 1988. The band sold more than 4 million copies of The Downward Spiral in 1994 and released two records this year, Ghosts I-IV and The Slip; the latter was released digitally free of charge.

General admission tickets are $45 for the open main floor or the seated concourse and $34 for the seated balcony. Tickets go on sale at 10 a.m. Sept. 13. Call (319) 363-1888, log on to Ticketmaster online or visit the U.S. Cellular Center...

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AFTER FIVE: Quality of life is not free...

2008-08-25

According to a recent study completed by the Linn County Nonprofit Resource Center, preliminary estimates indicate that Linn County nonprofit organizations received nearly $36 million in flood-related damages. This doesn’t begin to account for the financial loss many of the flood-affected and non-affected nonprofit organizations are feeling as a result of a projected loss of funding, box office receipts and diminished audiences.

As we continue discussions about rebuilding of the Corridor, let’s remember also to preserve our quality of life. The trails we enjoy, the museums, performance spaces and the historical sites that we gather in, and the Corridor-area festivals, art, music and dance programs have all helped to establish this area as the place to go for arts and culture...

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Legendary Chuck Berry to play UI Pentacrest

2008-08-25

Rock ‘n’ Roll pioneer Chuck Berry and Los-Angeles based power pop quintet Rooney will perform a free concert on the University of Iowa Pentacrest following the homecoming parade on Sept. 26.

Known for hits including “Johnny B. Good,” “Roll Over Beethoven” and “Route 66,” the 81-year-old St. Louis native was among the first musicians to be inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame on its opening in 1986.

According to the Hall of Fame’s web site, “While no individual can be said to have invented rock and roll, Chuck Berry comes the closest of any single figure to being the one who put all the essential pieces together.”

Rooney, named after named after principal Ed Rooney from the movie “Ferris...

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REVIEW: Flood images range from poignant to poetic

2008-08-25

With an odd combination of dread and excitement, I opened the door to the Cedar Rapids Museum of Art to get a sneak peek at “The Year of the River: Flood Photography from The Gazette.”

Dread because I wasn’t sure my psyche could handle another flood-related image. Excitement because just being able to get back into the building (closed since the June flood) was like reuniting with a dear friend who has been isolated from me in quarantine.

I was greeted with a distinct odor never before associated with the museum. “Microban,” said Sean Ulmer, the museum curator, referring to a product used in the museum’s flood-related cleanup.

Opening Saturday, Aug. 30, the exhibit of 83 images by an intern and staff of...

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