Author's posts
Culture Crawl 411 “Moon Shot”
In the Sixties and Seventies, no community had a closer relationship with the U.S. Space Program than Cedar Rapids. The company known at that time as Collins Radio (now Collins Aerospace) had the contract to develop the communications technology NASA used for the Apollo project. Neil Armstrong’s famous “One Small Step” speech was transmitted to …
Culture Crawl 410 “Dancing with a Battleship”
Tim Hankewich from Orchestra Iowa spends most of his summers planning for Holiday Spectacular, the symphony’s big holiday show, featuring not just his orchestra, but the Cedar Rapids Concert Chorale, Discovery Chorus, Espressivo Strings, The Mighty Wurlitzer organ, and special guest vocalist Lynne Rothrock. Dec. 15-16 at the Paramount Theatre. Tickets at the Paramount Box …
Culture Crawl 409 “If Scrooge was an Astrophysicist”
Combined Efforts Theatre is the region’s only visual and performing arts company that specializes in collaborations between artists with and without disabilities. The group also runs a writers group, which led Ken Gayley, Ph.D., a UI professor of Astronomy and physics to write the play “Zwicky’s Air,” which explores both the secrets of the universe …
Culture Crawl 408 “Bite-Size Messiah”
The Cedar Rapids Concert Chorale presents Handel’s landmark work “Messiah” in its 2018-19 season. But not all at once. Instead, the Chorale will break the work up into the seasons we associate it with. Part 1, which celebrates The Nativity, will be the centerpiece of “Holiday Handel,” Dec. 8 at First Lutheran Church in Cedar …
Culture Crawl 407 “Bill Lives On”
Iowa City’s Extend The Dream Foundation operates Uptown Bill’s, a coffee shop, performance hall, and meeting space named for Bill Sackter, a disabled man who moved to Iowa city with his guardian, screenwriter Barry Morrow, in the late 1970’s. Morrow told Bill’s story in a TV movie starring Mickey Rooney. Saturday, December 8, the Foundation …
Culture Crawl 406 “Josh Groban Will Be Jealous”
RHCR Theatre presents “Christmas Memories” Nov. 30 and Dec. 1 at Whipple Auditorium at the Cedar Rapids Public Library. Director and MC Matt Ford has recruited a group of singers to perform and share their own holiday memories including Tracie Hodina Van Pelt, Tracy Price, Oscar Ritchie IV, Jay Burken, Jennifer Boettger, Brian Anderson, Alicia …
Culture Crawl 405 “Had to Warn My Mother-In-Law”
Take a break from the sugary-sweet Christmas shows with a new play by Sean Christopher Lewis, “Rotten Eggnog,” at Riverside Theatre Nov. 30 – Dec. 16. It’s a “holiday comedy for the disenchanted,” as three women discuss exes, mothers-in-law, and the chaos of family gatherings when they spend the holidays at a lonely karaoke bar …
Culture Crawl 404 “It’s Socks… It’s Always Socks”
Lynne Rothrock presents her 16th Christmas Cabaret Dec. 6, 7, & 8 at Whipple Auditorium at the Cedar Rapids Public Library. As in the past, it’s a mix of music, humor, and heartwarming stories, in a style Lynne has honed over her many years performing as a cabaret singer all over the world. Lynne’s guests …