When I spoke with bassist Brian Cook of Seattle’s These Arms Are Snakes, the rest of the band was in the middle of a sound check at the first stop on the group’s current national tour. As such, nearly...

Obi Mediocre Obi Best: Capades Obi Best is a lot like teenager Daniel LaRusso in The Karate Kid: the band has the potential to take the indie music scene by storm, but it needs a Mr. Miyagi and a kick-ass...

If author Barbara Delinsky is still upset from getting bumped from her Honors English class in high school for not being able to keep up, she sure doesn’t show it. The best-selling writer has proven...

In the music industry, many small-time acts are always looking for their next big breaks. Most of these opportunities come about simply by good fortune, but on Tuesday, six Iowa bands will battle for a...

Film Review: Fired Up The past few years of cinematic history have seen an onslaught of over-the-top, outrageously funny sex comedies, along the likes of Knocked Up and Superbad. The trailers for Fired...

It’s a mantra you’ve heard since preschool from your mother, Marge Simpson, and every issue of Fitness magazine: Eat your vegetables. But that order can be tough to fill if you’re not into spinach...

Man cleavage is so in right now. Some dudes are showing off a part of their anatomies usually reserved for the beach. Get used to sitting in class or walking around downtown IC, only to see a luscious...

For Andy Carlson and Casey Cook, music has played an integral role in their lives for as long as either can remember. Carlson first picked up the fiddle when he was 5, thanks to his grandfather, while...

When the seeds of Minneapolis band Hyentyte were planted in 1998, the members thought of themselves as “good friends making good music for good friends.” Eleven years later, the band retains that motto. On...

“The outhouse is pretty neat, but someday, I’m probably gonna get me some indoor plumbing,” William Whitmore said. “It’s one of my long-term goals.” It’s fitting that the cabin of the Iowa...

Imagine the hustle and bustle going on behind the curtain during a play — the stage manager barking orders, actors rapidly changing costumes, stagehands shuttling on and off the set, and all of the other...

In the style of his favorite authors, Mason Jennings likes to keep his music simple. Like Cormac McCarthy and Nicole Krauss (who penned his favorite book, A History of Love), Jennings subscribes to a “less...