PLAYLISTS: Mardi Gras - Iowa Style

Some people may find it strange for a website specializing in Iowa music to have a Mardi Gras post.

Well, there is a town named Iowa in Louisiana! - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iowa,_Louisiana

And although we are much further up The Mississippi River than New Orleans, I appear not to be the only lover in Iowa of the sounds and music coming from The Mississippi Delta and the Lousiana swamps and bayous. A few other Iowans, and Omahans, have found that sound as captivating as myself.

So with these two playlists, we present some Mardi Gras music for you with an Iowa flavor.

The first playlist features shorter clips with one or two songs. I put it in order of popularity, but I think it works best on shuffle. It features tunes from Omaha's Polka Police, their cajun/Zydeco band, The Prairie Gators, and their accordion party band, The Mighty Nish Band, as well as Des Moines's own NOLA Jazz Band, The Pelicans when they were The Party Gras Band, and our brass band, Grand Avenue Ruckus, plus some Dixieland jazz performed by Iowa jazz musicians.

The second playlists features whole shows, mostly from the NOLA Jazz Band, but a couple from The Pelicans, again when they were The Party Gras Band, and Grand Ave Ruckus, as well as Iowa jazz musicians doing New Orleans music.

Sorry! Been busy!

Sorry, folks! But some personal stuff has come up that take precedence over this website!

So for the next couple of weeks, you won't see as much from this website as you have the last few weeks!

But soon as I have everything straightened up - which should be a couple of weeks, I will be back to normal!

Labels: break, busy, on leave, Out of office, temporary leave

YOUR OWN PRIVATE IOWA - Episode 17: Bryon and Rachel Dudley

Last week Bryon and Rachel Dudley joined me in the studio to gab about their projects and the life of running a small record label out of Ames, Nova Labs. It was a great talk with some fantastic songs by the pair, and they even played some new records! I really had fun sitting down with these friends of mine and getting to know them better!

This podcast is powered by ZenCast.fm All Recordings done in the Studio at [88.5 KURE Ames Alternative]

IOWA MUSIC SHOWCASE PODCAST - Episode 60: Music from The Iowa Composers Forum

On this episode, we feature four pieces from the Iowa Composers Forum, a group of composers based in Iowa. These and other compositions will be featured on their upcoming festival in Iowa City on February 10. They represent the range of styles that our classical composers use.

Brooke and I hope that you will enjoy this exploration into Iowa's classical music. If you do, then check out some of the shows that The Iowa Composers Forum puts on regularly. The latest, Winter Festival of New Music, will be at The University of Iowa School of Music, in Iowa City, on Feb 10th. More information and links are listed below!

Before I go, I just thought I'd let you know that you can listen to and/or get the score for many classical pieces by Iowa composers on their website! Just hit where it says "Catalog"! Here's the link - http://www.iowacomposers.org/?page_id=112

Information on The Iowa Composers Forum:

The Iowa Composers Forum (ICF) was founded in March of 1987 in Des Moines by seven composers who wished to create an environment for the performance and dissemination of music composed by Iowans. Over the intervening years, the ICF has presented more than 100 concerts and tour recitals of works by member composers. These concerts have featured the performances of over 800 works of new music, including works by student composers from the elementary, middle, high school and collegiate level. The ICF has commissioned many new works, both unilaterally and in partnership with other organizations such as the Iowa Music Teachers Association and the Iowa Choral Directors Association. The ICF sponsors its own annual student composition competition, open to students studying at the collegiate level and earlier.

Information on their upcoming festival in February:

The Iowa Composers Forum will host a one-day Winter Festival of New Music in Iowa City on Saturday, February 10. Two concerts will be offered at 3 pm and 7:30 pm in the Concert Hall of the Voxman Music Building on the UI campus. These two concerts will feature new music by composers from across Iowa and the environs, including two young composers commissioned specifically for this festival. Performers include UI faculty, students, and the CNM ensemble.

FESTER RAGE VIDEOS: A Testament of Youth (ATOY) in Des Moines at The House of Bricks on July 20, 2007 and at The Vaudeville Mews on Sep 23, 2007

"Formed in 1981 by Factory Records aficionados Paul Standard and Dave Edwards, A Testament of Youth or ATOY (pronounced AE-TOI) were Iowa's first Post-Punk band. ATOY were Paul and Dave's response to the bland Styx and Journey-inspired rock that was prevalent throughout the midwest during the late 70s and early 80s. Looking to do something darker and more arty, guitarist Paul and producer Dave set out to forge a new midwest sound. Brad Roth, who was then singing in and playing bass for the power-pop trio The Blue Cruisers was recruited as a front man. With the addition of newcomers Mark Penner on bass and Lonnie Urich on drums, ATOY was set to play the now legendary 1981 2 day Iowa punk/new wave festival, Music For No-Man's Land. A surprise hit at the festival, ATOY contributed two songs to the 'Music For No-Man's Land' release, Roth's Television-inspired "Chemical Boys" and Standard's epic dirge "Requiem for a Priest". ATOY were soon playing gigs throughout Iowa. Due to differences in vision, Dave Edwards soon left the group. ATOY's music at the time was thin, brittle and experimental using rhythm machines, tape loops and incorporating short-wave radio broadcasts into their live shows. Brad's onstage antics were legendary, often getting the group banned from some of the more mainstream rock clubs. Paul decided to return to college late in 1981, leaving the band looking for a new guitarist. Greg Owen, who had played with Brad Roth previously in the Blue Cruisers joined in early 1982. Owen brought a tough, shredding guitar style to ATOY which propelled their sound into a more aggressive stance. Penner and Urich similarly toughened up their sound and Roth's wild stage persona evolved into a dadaist Iggy Pop. Brad's lyrics began to take a darkly poetic turn and led to him being called 'the Baudelaire of the heartland'. Over the next year and a half, the band began touring around the midwest to ever increasing crowds. During that period, many of ATOY's most popular songs, such as 'Stickmen', 'Creeps with Forks' and 'Cut and Restored' were written. The group gained in popularity and the now defuct nightclub So's Your Mothers, opened another venue, Mother's Underground, to regularly showcase ATOY and other Iowa underground bands. The volatile mix of personalities in the band began to take it's toll and in the Spring of 1983 ATOY decided to call it quits. Their final show was recorded and release on CD many years later. A videotape of that last show called "The Final Plunge" was aired on Des Moines TV... In 2005 ATOY were asked to do a reunion show. The success of that show surprised them as much as their fans. This led to the band resuming playing again. The volatile mix of personalities did lead to a couple of false starts, but ATOY is officially back together, writing new material and playing to new fans as well as old. Since ATOY never really sounded like anyone else, the band's music doesn't sound dated to new fans. New material has been written as well as a number of Buick McSnake songs being reworked into ATOY's sound...and then after a dozen or so gigs it all came crashing down. The volatile chemistry of the band once again blew up. As a longtime fan of the band remarked 'If everyone were mature and responsible, it wouldn't be ATOY. You guys have broken up for good before. Hopefully you'll do it again.' Here's to hoping that it'll happen again."
- from their Underground Archives entry