We now return you to your regularly scheduled program!

Hey all!

Sorry, you haven't seen much of Iowa Music Showcase lately. Although I get the material from wonderful contributors like Richard Sutton, Jazz Man Joe, Fester Rage, Chad Taylor, and tons of the wonderful musicians in this state, I'm the one who puts it all together on this website.

And due to family matters, I had to concentrate on other things and didn't have time for any side projects. It also didn't help that I didn't have internet for over a week!

But I got my life back on track. I got internet back. So Iowa Music Showcase is back! Plan to work on it this weekend, and hopefully have some stuff up this next week!

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.