On another trip back to my homeland of Iowa, I thought I should take the opportunity of being here to document a little bit of history while the caucus[wiki] happened yesterday.
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Archive for the ‘Iowa’ Category
My Iowa Caucus Experience in Photos
Wednesday, January 4th, 2012The Geography of Rock & Roll and the World Around You
Saturday, March 12th, 2011I got a posting on my Facebook wall about a band that was from Iowa, The Autumn Project. The question was about if I knew about them because we’re both from the same state and the person really hoped they would come to Vancouver.
It seems like I’ve seen their name float by me at some point, but it’s tough to say that I know a whole lot about them. Reading up on them a little bit, I found out that they’re from Des Moines, Iowa. And actually, they’re right in the middle of one of those “indefinite hiatus” situations.
But the thing that struck me is when I found on that they were from the central portion of Iowa, my first thought was, “Of course I don’t know who they are, they’re from the central portion of the state.” And it’s completely true.
A night out at Gabe's Oasis (2003)
My hub for a music scene was Iowa City for a number of years. There were those two or three hour road trips for a show on occasion, and that was often for acts from other states or countries on their tour route.
I think that once you start to get into a local music scene, your efforts of venturing out of your home base doesn’t seem as important. It’s not about losing connection with it. You just have the ability to have close proximity to something you enjoy while having plenty of friends who are able to tag along (or drag along in some cases).
In the last six months before I moved to Vancouver, we took one of our popular WSUI radio shows on the road to a coffee shop in downtown Des Moines, and the neighborhood in the area of the downtown core that I discovered really surprised me.
There was a feeling of creativity in the area we were in, and the amount of concert flyers I saw for local bands and musicians performing in the downtown area alone was impressive. I recall thinking at the time that I had never given Des Moines much of a thought for a local music scene. That’s almost a regret… Almost.
And yes, Slipknot came from that city and is one of the only bands that many people know from Iowa. They were the only ones I could actually name around that time, but my knowledge was more populated with artists from the eastern part of the state. You never looked west.
Photo with Troubled Hubble at Gabe's Oasis in Iowa City (2003)
I became friends with a lot of bands who called Iowa City home or claimed it to be one of them. I’d get other friends to come along or have great nights out with those passing through town, sometimes to catch a good show.
Being in Vancouver, that’s what’s fun about finding a new music scene, and I’m still learning. Even brief excursions to Victoria, cover band or not, goes to show that getting out of your comfort zone is healthy more often than none. Even if you’re let down, that’s just apart of the education of learning what finding a diamond in the rough is all about.
A frozen Field of Dreams
Tuesday, January 5th, 2010
I’ve spent a number of family outings at this place, but never have I been to the Field of Dreams during the winter time, especially in the middle of one of the coldest cold snaps that the Midwest has seen in a number of years.
I shot this from the backseat of the car. My finger tips still got numb from the mere minutes it took to take this picture.
My last time here was the July 4th holiday of 2005. My family spent the day there in the summer heat, getting in to take our turns at the plate, playing catch in the outfield, and having a little picnic under the trees, just near the picket fence of the house that is still there. Being there in the depths of this Iowa cold spell makes it seem even more of a distant memory.
It’s certainly worth the trek to see this landmark in the summer. Nothing compares to the imagery you get with the corn in the outfield and visitors all over the place just taking it in.
Midwest Summer Storms
Sunday, July 26th, 2009This was published originally on Miss604.com as apart of Blogathon 2009.
Hanging out at WorkSpace today for Blogathon, Rebecca snapped this great picture. It’s one of many, many streaks of lightning that filled the sky in the late afternoon, and these things aren’t that common. I don’t think I’ve seen a storm like that in about four years, which is when I moved here from eastern Iowa.
In the Midwest, you expect these things, and that’s because you have to.
As I watched the wall cloud come in over Mt. Seymour, that was a site that would strike a little fear into your gut as it came out of the horizon back home. What followed that was anyone’s guess. Intense wind to bust up trees, torrents of rain that could sweep your car off the road, baseball sized hail that would lead to cheap new car prices on damaged stock, or the ever friendly tornado that might knock on your door as an uninvited guest.
Watching the lightning zap the holy hell out of the mountains, it reminded me of those times when it was, “Get to the basement!” And it always seem like at that very moment, you’ve got to pee. The adrenaline kicks in and you do what you’ve been told over and over to do in school, but you still have this worst timing hit you at the same time.
That’s because tornadoes are pretty damn scary. They are additively fascinating to try and catch a glimpse of, but you just don’t want it to get too close because I’ve driven through towns that were ripped apart on a direct hit. I’ve grasped onto my mother under a blanket while the wind thumped against our house, sort of saying good-byes to each other through mutual I Iove yous.
That was one of my first times being on the radio when WMT called our house to speak to a witness. I barely had my nerves together enough to say my name correctly yet alone recount all the trees and power lines down in our neighborhood.
Everyone seems to have a personal story or knows a story of someone else with experiences like this. You can never be too careful when it comes to any storm, but the one that reached downtown today was fairly impressive in its own right. Like I said, it’s been a long time since I’ve seen something like that.
What tornado damage looks like from the inside, as it happens
Monday, June 2nd, 2008The Des Moines Register posted this video on their site of the security cameras from inside of a bank that was destroyed during the tornado in Parkersburg, Iowa over the recent Memorial Day weekend. The video is astounding. You can see what the wind can do as the windows are blown out, and then the tornado hits the building dead on, eventually taking out the cameras.
Update: The Des Moines Register also posted this video footage from the same storm that destroyed much of Parkersburg, Iowa. It’s truly shocking.
Tornado that hit Parkersburg, Iowa destroyed all city hall records
Wednesday, May 28th, 2008It’s been a tough few weeks in the Midwest of the U.S., and some might say a year if you consider the tornado that nearly wiped Greensburg, Kansas[wiki] off the face of the earth almost a year ago.
Over the past weekend, storms have been hitting close to home back in Iowa, and the reports keep painting the picture clearer as to what happened in the small town of Parkersburg, Iowa. Growing up, you know about these things and understand what they are capable of. This is a bit different.
Rescuers continued picking through the wreckage in search of possible victims, but officials said they were hopeful no one else would be found. In addition to those killed, about 70 people were injured, including two in critical condition.
The damage in this town of about 1,000 was staggering: 222 homes destroyed, 21 businesses destroyed and more than 400 homes damaged. Among the buildings destroyed were the city hall, the high school and the town’s sole grocery store and gas station.
“There’s so much hurt here, I don’t know where to start,” said U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley, who owns a farm near New Hartford. [myway]
What is even more astounding is that not only was the city hall destroyed, but so was all the data records.
All records stored at Parkersburg’s City Hall were lost in Sunday’s tornado, officials confirmed this morning.
Backup computer information might be available, they said, but the first order of business will be the massive cleanup effort that awaits.
At a community meeting this morning, officials announced that a system has been established to let property owners inform crews when they have finished trying to salvage belongings. Resident were instructed to register at the Veterans Building community center for special green and tan lawn stakes that signify when property is ready for demolition. [desmoinesregister]
I’ve been through my share of storms and seen the damage these things can do, but I cannot fathom what it would take to have damage on this wide of a scale. Houses and barns are what you expect, and it never feels typical when it happens. No matter how small the town is, it’s still a town, and it’s hardly a town now.
If you would like to help out with the cause, please consider pledging to the Red Cross who is helping out with the disaster recovery.
Jeff dances around Iowa like Matt dances around the world
Saturday, February 23rd, 2008I got this from my pal Doug who I once shared living quarters with in Japan. I wrote about Matt dancing around the world previously, so when I saw this come into my email and watched it, I nearly died. There are too many places that I know and have seen in this, but never danced at. Yay Iowa!
The legend of Roger Luttski
Sunday, January 13th, 2008The following video was somewhat surprising to find on YouTube, but it doesn’t do the legend of Roger Luttski justice. And thankfully, the person who posted it finally made it embeddable.
Colonial Lanes in Iowa City has made a series of commercials for their bowling ally that have been absolutely hilarious, all while keeping things on a low budget. More so, the creativity compared to production quality doesn’t even compare, but there is only so much you can expect from local commercials, no matter where you are in the world. This, on the other hand, has always been a campaign that is witty, if not completely hilarious.
The tag line of “oh yeah, bowling” is a play on all the things you can do at what is more than just a bowling ally. In fact, it’s something that I still throw out once and a while, but no one has a clue what I’m talking about. I’m not so sure that just this clip even begins to explain it, but it’s still pretty good. And the quality is far superior to the soft, grainy, yet comforting VHS look and sound of their old TV spots.
And who can forget the Tiger Woods spoof of, “I am Roger Luttski”? That one almost made me cry.
This is, or was, a long running theme in their commercials, and I hope it still is. Roger Luttski is a completely fictional character, but he has been portrayed as the same guy for a number of years now. I’m sure it’s not an easy job, but bowling for fun and then stumbling into the realm of a spokes person would be pretty cool.
Back home, far from home
Saturday, November 24th, 2007What a whirlwind tour is has been. Six days is not enough time to spend with family and friends, but I think we crammed as much as we could in the time that we had to do it. We almost threw a train into the equation, but my brain scheming plan of convincing Rebecca to spend the weekend in Seattle and grabbing a train back to Vancouver just sounded like too much. Still, for the time we had, I can’t think of changing a thing. Well, we could have stayed longer, but that’s the way it goes some times.
We did a lot of driving. There’s no better way to put it than maybe add another “a lot” to that statement. Plenty of miles, not kilometers, were covered in a short period of time. To and from grandma’s house, then to and from my parent’s house, and we tossed in another trip to Iowa City to see some old co-workers and then some friends.
I got to see five of the original six roommates that I had in my first semester in college. Kris (aka Muffin), Adam (soon to be a father in May), Ryan, and Heath all were able to stop by for dinner and then hanging out to catch up. Even Bill and Dave, who came to our wedding along with Muffin, drove over from Des Moines, so it was a true college reunion. Can’t forget to mention Qi Qi and Kim, but they rank just as highly even if they weren’t there in the college days.
Thanksgiving was just as you can imagine. Too much food, and way too many pies. I think I did alright in terms of the amount of food I took in, but running tomorrow morning is pretty high on my list. Gotta get my internal clock kinda reset as well.
Used to be a time where I liked video games, but I was never the best at being competitive. My nephews, on the other hand, are far more advanced in terms of how to play these games. There is nothing better in their minds than beating their uncle.
DSM
ORD
SEA
The time was too short, and the amount of traveling we did seemed to be far too much. It’s nice to be back home in Vancouver, but I completely have a travel hangover. Maybe it’s the lack of a good sleep schedule or the multitudes of recycled air in the planes, but it’s been a tough day of being home. Monday will come far too quick, but at least we’re stationary until then. Plus our luggage made it all the way with us, so that’s a bonus.
Back in Iowa for the first time in two years
Monday, November 19th, 2007
The jaunt that it took to get us to the Midwest has been a tad torturous. Bellingham to Seattle to Chicago to Des Moines, and from there we snagged a car to take us to Kansas City. This is the first leg of the tour that will take me to see my grandma for the first time in a while, a few months more than the amount of time I’ve last been to my home state.
Getting off the plane and walking to the car, there is a sense if your nose that you are no longer in Vancouver, or the Pacific Northwest for that matter. Maybe it’s the dryness of the air, or the fact that you can’t smell the sea air. We certainly don’t have the amount of pine or fir trees that scrub the air and stock the air with oxygen.
Contrary to belief, we have trees among our rolling prairie hills that tend to gather in decent bunches, but folks around here often refer to those areas as “the timber”. It’s a far cry from “the bush” in B.C. that can seemingly swallow a person away from civilization.
It’s very much dryer here, and the skin on my hands and arms are noticing it right away. This was an issue when I lived here, but this is a drastic shift from the wet climate of Vancouver. My arms were so itchy by the time we went to bed on our second night that I had to fight the urge to itch my skin raw before I fell asleep.
We’re actually in route to my hometown right now, heading north on I-35, back in Iowa for the second time on this trip. Our first round was only for a handful of hours, so this will be the longer stay in the “field of opportunities”. I’ve heard rumblings of a basketball game by some of my nephews, and some old friends have made requests for gathering together.
We’re about to round Des Moines for the second time this trip, maybe the third. We got turned around coming out of Des Moines International, and I’m not the most knowledgeable about getting around this city as I am driving around it. Eastern Iowa rules, Central Iowa drools. Never found myself coming here very often.
Hi, my name is John Bollwitt. I'm a broadcast radio engineering/I.T. technician in Vancouver and co-founder of 