Sit a Spell
Norman Rockwell himself couldn’t have envisioned a more quintessentially American tradition than Porchfest, which returns Sept. 8 to Union Park. During a single Sunday afternoon, two dozen music groups will perform 45-minute sets on some of the neighborhood’s picturesque front porches for anyone within earshot. No tickets, no pyrotechnics, no hassle. Just come as you are, with a lawn chair and some cash for tips for musicians like Matt Woods (pictured), who was part of last year’s lineup. Local musicians Annie and Dave Ducharme-Jones founded the annual event in 2022 after returning from a similar grassroots festival in Kansas City, and those roots are spreading. “Porchfest is a movement,” Annie said. “Others are popping up in places all over the country.” porchfestdsm.org
Photo: Mark Lage
Music for the Ages
In an era when Taylor Swift’s 10-minute version of “All Too Well” feels like an epic ballad, it takes patience to appreciate a 70-minute symphony. But Anton Bruckner’s magisterial Seventh Symphony, which anchors the Des Moines Symphony’s 87th season opener Sept. 28-29 at the Des Moines Civic Center, offers a beautifully complex journey for anyone who’s willing to listen. After its 1884 premiere, critics hailed it as the first symphony to pick up where Beethoven’s Ninth left off 60 years earlier. (Beethoven’s Ninth capped off the orchestra’s last season, in May, so Bruckner’s Seventh makes a fitting start for the new one.)
The upcoming program also features another work by Beethoven: the 40-minute “Emperor” Piano Concerto, which he wrote in Vienna in 1809 while Napoleon’s army took the city under siege. During the bombardments, the composer often hunkered down in his brother’s basement to protect himself and what was left of his hearing. Here, the Russian-American piano soloist Olga Kern plans to show how one instrument, in the right hands, can hold its own against the orchestra’s might. dmsymphony.org
Photo: Chris Lee
Three Writers, One Night
At this year’s Iowa Author Awards ceremony and dinner, on Oct. 10 at the Embassy Suites, the Des Moines Public Library Foundation will honor three Iowa writers with three notably different perspectives. Lyz Lenz (pictured) examines American society and politics through a feminist lens in her best-selling books (“God Land,” “Belabored,” “This American Ex-Wife”) and her bluntly titled newsletter “Men Yell at Me.” Caleb “The Negro Artist” Rainey’s poetic reflections on racism and other themes fill books (“Look, Black Boy,” “Heart Notes”), a short film (“Willing to Grow”), two albums and countless slam performances. And Carol Roh Spaulding’s family roots in Korea inform her Pushcart Prize-winning short stories (“Waiting for Mr. Kim”) and recent novel (“Helen Button”); she teaches at Drake University and directs the Drake Community Press. This year’s awards ceremony will also honor Tim Hickman and Frank Vaia for their longtime support for literacy. dmpl.org
Photo: Kliks Photography
Cultural Cross-Currents
In the wake of “Hurricane Season,” the Des Moines Art Center’s current show (through Sept. 22) about climate change, a related exhibition sweeps in on Oct. 11. Samantha Box’s “Caribbean Dreams” explores her roots in Jamaica and Trinidad with a swirl of images that combine self-portraits, still lifes and landscapes. One of her works (pictured) incorporates stickers from tropical fruits she bought at a grocery store in the Bronx — fruits that followed the same path she did herself. Box has displayed her work nationwide, but this will be her first solo museum show, presented simultaneously with a similar exhibition at the National Museum of Women in the Arts in Washington, D.C. Here in Des Moines, “Dreams” will linger through Jan. 19. desmoinesartcenter.org
Samantha Box, “Transplant Family Portrait”, 2020. Digital collage printed as archival inkjet print, collaged with secondary archival inkjet print elements. 50 x 40 in. Courtesy of the artist.
Back to the Past
The state of Iowa officially popped onto the U.S. map 178 years ago, but Iowans themselves have been around a lot longer. Learn about the earliest residents of this land between two rivers during Indigenous Iowans Day on Oct. 12 at Living History Farms. Visitors can take in a variety of old — and ongoing — traditions like storytelling, singing and drumming and try their hand at braiding corn husks, carving (knapping) flint into tools and playing games. (The beadwork pictured here comes from the Meskwaki Cultural Center and Museum in Tama.).
Most of the day’s special activities, including open-fire cooking demos, will take place at the 1700 Ioway village, but the entire open-air museum will be open for a self-guided stroll through 300 years of history. lhf.org
Photo: Michael Morain
Back to the Future
In the 2020 musical “Back to the Future: The Musical” your imagination can hop into the famous DeLorean and travel back to the 1985 movie and back even further to 1955, when teenage Marty McFly meets his parents at a California high school. The stage show features an original score, plus a few enduring hits that were in the movie, including “The Power of Love,” “Earth Angel” and “Johnny B. Good.” The North American tour visits the Des Moines Civic Center in the very near future: Oct. 15-20. dmpa.org
(L to R, top row) Victoria Byrd, Jonalyn Saxer, Becca Peterson, (L to R, bottom row) Casey Likes (Marty McFly) & Liana Hunt (Lorraine Baines) in “Back to the Future: The Musical”.
Photo: Matthew Murphy and Evan Zimmerman
He Talk Pretty One Day Soon
It’s been more than 30 years since David Sedaris first read his “Santaland Diaries” on NPR, sharing the absurd indignities of his work as a part-time elf at Macy’s department store during Christmas in New York. But even now, after sharing so many other personal details over the years, the prolific author of “Naked,” “Me Talk Pretty One Day” and other bestsellers can still surprise his fans with quirky and often poignant observations about life, love, aging and whatever other thoughts ricochet around his delightfully warped mind. In 2019, Sedaris became a regular contributor to “CBS Sunday Morning” and now leads his own Masterclass about the art of storytelling. He’ll tell a few of his latest stories on Oct. 24 at Stephens Auditorium in Ames. center.iastate.edu
Photo: Anne Fishbein
Look and Listen Up
It’s a bird! … It’s a plane! … No, it’s P!nk, hanging from the rafters at Wells Fargo Arena! The acrobatic rock star otherwise known as Alecia Moore brings her “Trustfall” tour to town on Oct. 24 for a turbo-charged concert that will no doubt include hits like “Get the Party Started,” “Raise Your Glass” and “So What.” Proceeds from the show with special guests The Script and KidCutUp will support Girls Rock! Des Moines, a local nonprofit that encourages girls, women and nonbinary folks to express themselves through music. iowaeventscenter.com
Photo: Ebru Yildiz
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