Motorboating for a cause

It's that time of year again, when people get dressed up and walk around in pink. No, not Halloween, it's Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Each year more and more people get involved in this great cause, and no, unfortunately watching the NFL and commenting on Aaron Roger's new pink hat doesn't count. Never fear, we have a painless (and humorous) way for you to contribute. We've teamed up with our good friend Collen Hjortz, better known around town as Coco, to create a truly awesome t-shirt that will support an equally awesome cause.

Each year, Coco and another friend of ours, Kelly Shell, team up to guest bartend at a local establishment and donate all tips to the Susan G. Komen Foundation. This year's event will be held at the Fremont on Thursday, October 20 with the theme of "Motorboats." (If you don't understand, please see the Urban Dictionary definition). Enter the V-Neck Motorboat t-shirt.

Along with several ladies donating their um...selves... for $5 motorboats, Honeybadger will be selling these beautiful V-neck motorboat t-shirts for $15 with half the proceeds going to the Komen Foundation. If you can't make it to the event, you can get your awesome motorboat t-shirt and support the Komen foundation by ordering your shirt on the Honeybadger web site. Men's and Women's sizes are available. Join us in Motorboating for a cause!

Des Moines: Better than Sex

Okay, I have to admit, I've been swept up in the "I love Des Moines" mania sweeping the city. It seems like every other day there's a news story about some study that shockingly puts Des Moines above other cities in just about every category you could imagine. Case in point: our recent ranking by Forbes Magazine as the #1 city for young professionals. Hooray Des Moines! These congratulatory studies make us Des Moinesians feel vindicated somehow, like the unpopular girl in a cheesy romantic high school comedy who after lots of struggle and drama with boys manages to become cool. "See Chicago, we can win prom queen, too."

Nice tiara, Des Moines. The popular boy who originally made a bet on how long he could live here, actually grew to like you. A lot. Whoa. Slow down, Des Moines. Let's not drop the love bomb just yet.

But I feel we need to be wary not to pat ourselves on the back too much. Downtown has come a long way, but it's still difficult to find anywhere downtown to eat between 2 p.m. and 5 p.m. on the weekend. (Or anywhere at any time on a Sunday). Late night food options are growing, but the city's ban on food carts after 1:30 a.m. is perplexing. There's no grocery store, no movie store, no Chinese restaurant, no ice cream shop, no bowling alley. (Come on. How sweet would that be?!) Anyway, the point is there's much more work to do. Don't get complacent, Des Moines!

What if we raised those expectations, yet continued to exceed them? Hmmmm....

Right now, I would say that Raygun's t-shirt above about sums up Des Moines: we will exceed your already low expectations. But what if Des Moines became a destination for young people. When I start hearing college kids or other friends from across the country say, "I really want to move to Des Moines. I hear that place is awesome," then we'll know that we've made it. Right now, we're simply not that city, no matter what Forbes says. But, and maybe I'm seeing the world with the rosy-colored glasses of a Des Moinesian, I honestly could see this happening in the relatively near future.

The arts scene and just the general "living" scene has grown a ton. The full court press bars impress locals and out-of-towners alike on a regular basis, and new restaurants like Americana and Open Sesame and Cuatro are really helping to round out the entertainment/dining arena. Big events like 80/35, Winefest, Art Fest, and even more routine events like Farmer's Market and Market Day make Des Moines, and especially downtown Des Moines feel so much more vibrant as a city.

Now we just need to keep growing and recruiting other young people to keep moving the city forward. Eventually, we'll take over! To get you inspired to think big about Des Moines, check out the new blog titled: What if Des Moines. As simple as it sounds, this is a great place to see others ideas and share your own. Like What if Des Moines really did have a downtown bowling alley? As a matter of fact, I might just add that to the blog right now.

Anyway, as we work toward making Des Moines a destination city, get out and support your local businesses and events. Come see Honeybadger at Market Day this Saturday, 9am - 2pm, at the new Des Moines Social Club location on 400 Walnut St. Hooray locally-run events downtown!

Cheers,
Dave Murrin-von Ebers
Chief Entertainment Officer
Honeybadger Shirts

Honeybadger does 80/35

I recently sat down and took some time to fill out the 80/35 post-festival survey, and I was stumped by one very simple question: How would you rate your 80/35 experience this year compared to past festivals? a) better b) same c) worse. First of all, if anyone selected "same," you're just being lazy. How could any two music festival experiences possibly be the same?! Impossible. Next, I tried to break down "better" v. "worse" as simply as possible, but there are so many minor details that make one festival better and another worse. For example, this year, I was lucky enough to win VIP tickets thanks to Dwolla! But did that make my experience better....Well, quite honestly, yes; but just having access to Vodka Red Bulls and indoor plumbing isn't everything (though it is a lot).

Hipsters, hippies and yuppies alike descend on downtown Des Moines

 On the one hand, this year's 80/35 seemed to really be coming in to its own and running without a hitch. Even when stages were behind schedule, the brand new 80/35 app kept those with a smart phone or those who knew someone with a smart phone (which was probably 80-90% of the attendees) updated on the status of the shows. The new layout of the stages and vendors really kept the festival contained around the main stage as opposed to years past where most of the booths and food were scattered farther down Locust St. On the other hand, there was a noticeable decline in star power with the lineup, and I have to say I was not blown away by any of the acts this year. But then again, I didn't get rained on for an hour and ruin my phone this year. I also didn't get to see an awesome show while standing in said rain like I did last year with The Walkmen. So 80/35 was better and worse. But before we get too carried away with saying, the acts were subpar this year and 80/35 has gone downhill, let's just think about how lucky we are to have 80/35 in the first place.

I still remember the feeling I had just over four years ago when I saw an ad in Juice proclaiming a brand new music festival right here in Des Moines that would bring the Flaming Lips and the Roots to town for two days of music awesomeness. I immediately reached out to all of my college friends living in various places across the country to gush with pride and excitement about having such a fantastic extravaganza occurring right here in the backyard of where I grew up. It was a major moment for Des Moines, and 80/35 is still the most exciting thing to happen to the city in a long time (a lot more exciting than the sculpture garden, that's for sure).

Admittedly, there was not so much excitement this year, and a noticeable amount of grumbling from Des Moinesians feeling a bit slighted by headliners Girl Talk and Of Montreal. I'm ashamed to admit that while in year's past I had gleefully invited friends from out of town to come visit Des Moines and enjoy 80/35, this year, I did not extend the invite. I was frankly too ashamed of the small acts and wasn't sure it would be worth the time and money for my friends.

But then the festival came, and I admit my excitement level was back. It wasn't just the fact that I won VIP tickets a week before (though, again, it didn't hurt), but rather I was just excited about the opportunity to be outside on a holiday weekend drinking, eating and listening to music. Does it get any better? Why would you want to do anything else? Though I wasn't blown away by any of the acts, that's not to say that they were bad. In fact, I enjoyed feeling free to roam the festival grounds and check out stuff I probably wouldn't have checked out if there had been big acts every hour on the main stage.

Hanging out before Edward Sharpe. Did I mention we were VIP?

 The local artists playing on the aptly named Independence Stage were some of my favorite acts of the weekend. Christopher the Conquered and Poison Control Center absolutely killed it. There was no one who played with more passion. Not even Girl Talk jumping around to get the crowd amped on Saturday night came close.

Poison Control Center rocks harder than just about anyone. I enter into evidence this sweat-laden t-shirt. That's some fine rockin'.

 
And speaking of the much maligned headliners, they weren't half bad either. Face it: Girl Talk is fun. Girl Talk is a dance party. Girl Party gets everyone, and especially white people excited to dance. Honestly, he couldn't mesh better with Des Moines, Iowa. In the 80/35s that I've attended (which is all but the first year) Girl Talk was by far the best at getting the crowd fired up. And Of Montreal, from what I was able to hear while arguing with security about ripping off my friend's taped on wrist band, which he had stupidly taken off the night before, sounded like a fun, interesting live show.

Hate all you want, but Girl Talk puts on a sexy, fun time.

 
The big problem is that as more and more summer festivals have popped up and continue to pop up, 80/35 will struggle to compete. This year, Kanrocksas took a lot of great acts that would have been great for 80/35, and then they had the balls to take a vendor booth and basically rub it in our faces that they snagged the better acts. (Better acts, yes, but it's being held at a speedway. Lame).

So what are we to do with this competition with bigger festivals from bigger markets? Role over and let 80/35 die? From all the negative talk leading up to the festival about how it was a down year and not work going to, I was afraid this might be 80/35's destiny, but when I showed up for the festival, I could see that there were hoards of music supporters still willing to support 80/35 even in a down year. This was extremely heartening, and the more I've thought about it post-festival, the more I realized that the only way we can compete with a Kanrocksas is to up the ante in our support. 80/35 and the Des Moines Music Coalition need Des Moines' support, and more important, the support of the young people who could easily sit back and accuse Des Moines of being a small city with nothing to do.

80/35 is too important to Des Moines and its growing class of young professionals to simply sit back and let it fade away. Next year, whether 80/35 brings Kanye West or a band even more obscure than Of Montreal, we need to be there to support it and promote it to our friends here in Des Moines and throughout the country. I certainly won't make the mistake of not inviting friends from out of town again. 80/35 is a unique festival, in the heart of the city and it is worth the trip (you hear that, out of town friends?) The bigger the turn out, the more support, the bigger the musical acts we will see come through our fair city, and the happier we'll all be.

So this is our call to Des Moinesians, Iowans and music lovers everywhere to support 80/35 and the DMMC year round. Because Rock and T-shirts are like Hank Moody and women (they belong together), we're asking you to go to shows when they come through town. Donate your time and/or money. Become a member of the DMMC, and you'll even get some kickbacks from local businesses. Do whatever you can. Just don't sit back and criticize a great event that Des Moines wants and needs!

Cheers,
Dave Murrin-von Ebers
Chief Entertainment Officer
Honeybadger Shirts

Market Day!

So if you follow us at all (and if you're reading this right now, that probably means that you do), you saw our constant Facebook updates and tweets about this past week's Market Day. Ok, I was a little excited, and as you can probably tell from the fact that I'm dedicating an entire post to the event, I'm still excited.

Our booth at the June 25 Market Day

My excitement is in large part due to the fact that Saturday was the first time Honeybadger has entered into the real, live world of retail (as opposed to our "virtual reality" shop online). And if I do say so myself, it was a huge success. But I don't really want to talk about how awesome Honeybadger is or brag that we were the greatest addition to Market Day since the new Des Moines Social Club space in the Kirkwood Building. No, I'd rather just talk up the event and some of the super-cool, creative and friendly vendors with whom we shared space for one rainy Saturday. First up:

PaperCake Creations

The first person we met upon arrival was our closest neighbor, Daphne of PaperCake Creations, who was immediately apologetic for taking up less than 1/4" inch of our booth space with a ladder that she used as part of her display. We were pretty upset (read: we wouldn't have even noticed if she wouldn't have called it to our attention), but her immediate and sincere apology was enough to placate even the grumpiest Saturday morning Honeybadger. Besides being incredibly friendly and overly polite, Daphne puts together some pretty cool journals and scrapbooks using old hardcovers from books that you may have read growing up, like Nancy Drew. She also has lots of clever, crafted cards and more. Check out her stuff at www.papercakecreations.etsy.com

Don't lie: You used to read Nancy Drew, and you liked it! I know I did.

Van Holmgren

The next booth that caught my eye was that of Mr. Van Holmgren. I had seen his fantastic artwork popping up on Facebook, so I was excited to see some of his stuff up-close and personal. We're big fans of Van's style, which has a definite street-art feel, and he was nice enough to trade one of his smaller prints for a Honeybadger t-shirt. Thanks, Van, and keep up the good work! Check him out at http://vanimalfarm.com

Dig it.

Hill Vintage

As the morning progressed, and caffeine started flowing through my veins, I took the chance to introduce myself to Erica and Jessica at Hill Vintage who had a booth across the way from us. Hill Vintage searches out brilliant thrift store gems so you don't have to. And let's face it, it can be a lot of work to slog through the crap at the DAV in order to find that one perfect shirt. We here at Honeybadger have been discussing the prospect of selling our own vintage line--that is, taking cool, vintage stuff and printing on it so it's sufficiently "Honeybadgered"--so I was excited to see what the girls at Hill Vintage had been able to find. Suffice it to say, they have found some very promising leads. While Vintage Honeybadger is still a distinct possibility in the future, for now you can find your next vintage buy without spending hours at the thrift store by going straight to Hill Vintage at http://www.etsy.com/shop/hillvintage?ref=pr_shop_more

Calling all Hipsters.

There were so many more great stands at Market Day this past Saturday, but I won't go into all of them so it will force you to come down to the next one and check it out yourself. It is definitely worth the trip. The next Market Day will be Saturday, July 30. Hope to see you all there!

Next up for the Honeybadger Blog: "Honeybadger does 80/35...VIP style." (That's right, I scored VIP tickets. Thanks Dwolla!)

Cheers,

Dave Murrin-von Ebers
Chief Entertainment Officer

Party Postponed...End of the World Cancelled

So as we sat down to discuss our epic party for the end of the world, we took some time to think logically and decided that 1) The world probably isn't going to suddenly turn into a fiery ball of Hell on Earth this Saturday (although can you imagine if it actually did?!), and 2) We've been too busy printing shirts and drinking bourbon (sometimes simultaneously) to organize for a party. We like to think that we threw a pretty kickass little party for our website launch, and we didn't want to responsible for a half-ass Debby Downer of a party with our place looking like poop.

Therefore, we will NOT be having an end of the world party this Sunday. But we WILL be hosting a get together in June to celebrate the official arrival of summer with our friends, fans and much-beloved customers. I don't want to say a date right now and have to renege on another promise, so the next time we announce a party, I will guarantee you a party. Our sincere apologies.

Oh yeah, we also went ahead and released our beautiful spring shirts on the Honeybadger website. Ch-ch-check 'em out:

Astronaut Honeybadger

Big Bear

Paper Cranes

Dandelion

Boxer

We've still got plenty more up our sleeves, so keep checking in on your favorite Honeybadger. We'll be rolling out designs throughout the t-shirt wearing months!

Cheers,

Dave

It's the end of the world....as we know it?

Okay, so we've been slacking pretty hardcore on the blogging here at Honeybadger. Hey, we've been busy. So sue us (please do not sue Honeybadger). Anyway, I saw something today in the Register that scared me straight, pushed me right back to my bully pulpit of a blog so that I could share this very important information: Judgement Day is upon us. Take a look:

The Rapture is coming...and it has its own marketing team!

I don't know about you, but the 2012 crossed out like a no parking symbol really drives the point home. Anyway, according to the fundamentalist Christians featured in this doozy of an article: "...the rapture will arrive [May 21, 2011], heralded by massive global earthquakes as God sweeps 2 or 3 percent of the world's population up to heaven. Then those left behind will face 153 days of hell on Earth until the Oct. 21 apocalypse." Not much time to get ready... Whatever will I wear!? (Probably a Honeybadger t-shirt).

This is frighteningly serious stuff, so here at Honeybadger, we're going to do something about it. We're going to have a party. See, the way we figure it, there's a pretty good chance (97-98%, actually) that we won't be among the 2 or 3 percent of the population getting a first class ticket to the pearly gates. So we'll be here to ring in the the first day of Hell on Earth with our Spring Release party on May 22, 2011! We'll unveil our new line of Spring shirts to our friends and biggest fans at the Honeybadger studios (more details to come). All who can make their way through the flames and pitchfork yielding demons to our party will have the first crack at our sweet new graphic tees, which is good because from what I hear, Hell on Earth is going to be pretty hot. You're definitely going to need some t-shirts.

St. Patrick's Day Shirts

We've finalized our designs and ordered our St. Patrick's Day shirts. Before you know it, you'll be drinking your 8th Guinness and bragging about how awesome your Honeybadger t-shirt is to the half-conscious drunk person next to you. Check 'em out and pre-order your shirts now for $18. We'll make sure you get them there before St. Patrick's Day (unless you order them the day before and live in California). Check out the designs below and order them at www.honeybadgershirts.com

Irish Honeybadger Mens

Irish Honeybadger Womens

 

Celtic Clover Womens

Celtic Clover Mens

I saw blue skies...They were glorious!

At noon on March 1, the sun was shining. It was 45 degrees Farenheit, but it might as well have been 45 celcius. All around Des Moines (and throughout the midwest) people were out in shorts and t-shirts like it was the greatest weather they had ever experienced. And in some regards, it was! In my opinion, the first day of truly warm, sunshiney weather (which actually happened in February this year) is the best weather of the year in the midwest.

It was not 45 when this picture was taken. Try 5. Seriously.

Due to months and months of dreary, depression-inducing cold, blustery days, the sudden relief of warmth and sunshine is borderline orgasmic. We midwesterners, quite frankly, go nuts. Our reaction to the sudden return of that which we have been depraved of is comparable to the relief the Chilean miners must have felt after reaching the surface after months of being trapped with 32 Chilean dudes. Okay maybe not that intense, but it's a pretty sweet relief nonetheless.

Being trapped with the ugliest of the ugly when it comes to weather--like the Roseanne of weather--makes even a relatively mediocre day such as today look like Jennifer Lawrence (or Brad Pitt for those of you who prefer dudes). 

December - February                                    March 1

This is something people who have lived in sunny Southern California will never understand. (Granted they get to see the likes of Jennifer Lawrence on a regular basis). But there is something truly wonderful about emerging from winter to see the sun again. It's the sweetness at the end of a Nuclear Warhead candy (remember those things?). It's seeing the end credits roll for The Last Airbender (I haven't actually seen it, so I'm basing this off of my personal relief when the trailer ended as well as its recent domination of the Razzies). It's that big greasy breakfast after hours of the most mind-splitting hangover of your life. It's ecstasy.

And while that sort of excitement about the weather doesn't last all summer (soon enough you'll be grumbling about the sweat running down your leg as you drive to work at 8 am), the midwest does go all out for spring and summer with a veritable orgy of outdoor events. We try to soak up every second of sunshine and non-freezing temperature, as well we should! Nothing peeves Iowans more than not being able to be outside when the weather is even the slightest bit nice in the spring. "It's 42 degrees and only party cloudy, what do you mean the patio's not open?!"

So even though it might snow tomorrow let's bask in today's gloriousness and the return of warmth by looking forward to the spring/summer events here in Des Moines as well as some events that are in the making from your beloved Honeybadger (get excited now).

St. Patrick's Day. The day when everyone gets really drunk and shows their Irish pride. I have to say, the fact that the Irish not only condone a holiday that blatantly reinforces the stereotype of the drunken Irishman, but actively endorse it, makes me all the more proud to be more than 3/4 Irish. Need a new 'something green' to wear this St. Pat's? Check back soon for two new Honeybadger designs in honor of the Irish. I mean, real soon as the day is almost upon us! Here's a little sneak preview of a couple of design options. Thoughts?

Spring T-Shirts. Ok, so we're a little behind on printing, but we have Spring designs that will be out before you know it. You will want to buy them immediately, put them on, go outside and start soaking up the Vitamin D that the winter has all but depleted from your body. 9 out of 10 doctors recommend it.

p.s. To show off our new line, we're planning a little fiesta at the Honeybadger Studios. If you missed the last one, you won't want to miss this one. Stay tuned for details.

So much more room for activities! Spring and summer bring tons of outdoor events such as my personal favorite, Dam to Dam, which already has my running legs excited. Also, El Bait Shop and New Belgium brewing are organizing "Fun Rides," starting March 12 and running through October.

I'm fairly convinced nobody mixes bikes and beer and as well as our great state--RAGBRAI of course leading the pack.

Even if you're not into the crowds and organized aspect of races and group rides, there are tons of trails to run and bike on this spring. Get out and use them. If you feel like getting out of the state for a bit, and you're a veritable badass, check out Tough Mudder, the coolest thing we here at Honeybadger have seen in some time. It's so cool, we're planning our own race/scavenger hunt/adventure extravaganza to bring to the great city of Des Moines. Seriously. More to come on this.

80/35. We are cautiously optimistic for another stellar 80/35 lineup, but the bands that have already booked other shows on the dates of 80/35 (July 2&3) have us a little worried. Nevertheless, we're crossing our fingers and praying the organizers at the BEST MUSIC FESTIVAL IN THE MIDWEST--which has featured The Flaming Lips, The Roots, Modest Mouse, Spoon, The Walkmen and more--will bring in the best acts yet. Personally I'm pulling for Passion Pit, Cake, LCD Soundsystem, The Beastie Boys, Girl Talk and a little local flavor from Poison Control Center and Strong Like Bear. Even if the bands flop, the festival, which also features some great vendors and street acts, is a better way to spend Independence Day weekend than stuffing your face with hot dogs and talkin' 'bout 'Merica while admiring your farmer's tan. Okay, you can do that too, but make sure you spend some time at downtown Des Moines' own little music mecca.

There's so much more, but I won't bore you with the details. Suffice it to sum things up with a long list of things to look forward to: Baseball, The return of Farmer's Markets, Patio season, Grilling out, Boating, Floating, Food on a Stick, Hiking, More Outdoor Concerts, Outdoor Art, Outdoors, outdoors, outdoors! (Don't forget your t-shirt).

Cheers,
Dave Murrin-von Ebers

V.D. (Valentine's Day) & T-shirts

Valentine’s Day is a week away, and I think it’s time for a statement about the envy of all greeting card holidays: While we won’t be celebrating it by sending out artery clogging milk chocolates, sweet slinky vibrating panties, or a dozen half-dead allergenic roses, we will give you some advice. Be a little creative guys. Don’t just have a hoity toity dinner over candlelight like every other unimaginative sap in the country. Take her to a hockey game on dollar beer night. Follow it up with three bottles of wine and a shot or two of absinthe. By then you and your girl should be feeling rather adventurous, so cap the night by running a tab on your company’s cards at a strip club, trying to have that coveted threesome, and end up single, with a truly nice V.D. (no, that doesn’t stand for Valentine’s Day). Now that's the kind of Valentine's Day we can get behind.

But I digress. The real point of all of this is that in honor of Valentine’s Day we here at Honeybadger would like to pay tribute to other graphic tee companies that make a product that we are grossly infatuated with.  Yes, Cupid’s arrow caught us square on the ass while we were searching the web. While some people have fetishes for feet, peanut butter, underwear and sneezes (yes, sneezes), we at Honeybadger have a fetish for shirts. Check out some of the best in the business in our humble opinion:

 Ames Bro’s:  Spawned from the high mountain crags and barren dust bowls of Montana, the Ames Bros (Coby Schultz and Barry Ament) are a two man wrecking crew. Upon their mighty shoulders they carry with them scores of famous rock bands, hundreds of screen printed rock posters.  Along with a shirt we will pay homage to one of their great rock posters.

  

2    Threadless: This is a company after my own bleeding heart.  I would send their main artist a prepackaged fruit cake, but that would be hard, considering they don’t employ artists.  Instead artists compete with their own kick ass creative designs and the website users vote.  What a great effing idea. Wish I would have thought of that, but alas, I did not, and I’m still a poor entrepreneur living in a city by the Raccoon River. 

 Raygun: Our own local legends in the biz.  Mike Draper’s mixtures of political sarcasm and local humor have made his east village tee shirt company a Des Moines staple. Thank you Raygun for adding something this town needs: a sense of humor and some local pride. Now he just needs to front the cash for damn train to Chicago and our fair city will really be in business.  Oh, and we’re seriously looking for the day that Raygun starts manufacturing shirts right here in Des Moines: Hell yes!!!

             OBEY: Now Shepard Fairey is one cool guy. Drink your white Russian and listen up, this uber talented screen printer made a kick ass stencil of Andre the Giant (the wrestler not the candy bar) and spray painted them all over the previously drab world.  You know that takes a lot of balls (this is not meant to offend, but rather is a representation of courage and gusto. Please if you are offended read the owner’s manual on the blog post go **** yourself).  That red and blue picture of Obama that is so full of HOPE, ya he made that too.  

 

       So we want to hear from you. Get all interactive. What are you favorite tees and or screen-printers? Or, what's your outrageous, inventive and ingenious plan for Valentine's Day?

  

T

11 Things We'd Like to See in 2011

1. Honeybadger takes over the world. Or becomes a fortune 500 company. Or one of us wins the lottery. Okay, so none of these things are going to happen, so I guess we’ll keep enjoying being the little guy. But look to us to start pumping out some new designs and hitting the streets aggressively as we look for more to join the Honeybadger Army. Spread the word.

  
2. Terry Tate, office linebacker, spearheads a campaign to curbstomp childhood obesity. It would only take a few full-on Terry Tate tackles by the vending machine to teach those fat little bastards some discipline. If fatty doesn’t learn, he’ll be running for his life to burn off all those empty calories.This could work equally as well with full-grown adults, but let's start with the kids.

Have a ho ho, you goin' taste the flo'!

3. Street art in Des Moines. We’ve seen little inklings of the capitol city’s rebellious nature. (Remember the big deal about the artistic graffiti of a woman in downtown Des Moines? Think that, but more of it.) My personal favorite is the little silhouette of a bird that is perched on brick walls throughout the city. Street art doesn't have to be obscene or gaudy, and it does need to add to the city, not detract. No gang signs and trashy signatures of kids who just want to piss on everything, but genuine art. Something clever and more meaningful than the crappy ads and billboards that constantly scream for your attention. So get out there and show us some art Des Moines, because putting your own artistic stamp on this city isn’t exclusively for people with gazillions of dollars and the same name as a famous Pizza chain.

A little street art never hurt anyone

4. With some street art, maybe we could get some street life to go along with it. I know the weather can suck in Des Moines—trust me, I’ve lived here long enough to know that. But it’s usually not so bad that you need to stay confined to the skywalk, walking around downtown like hamsters in an elaborate cage. Get out. Get some fresh air. Enjoy the sounds of the city. (Besides, everything in the skywalk is like a bad flashback to the '80s. I mean, how hard is it to update the signs?) To help this cause, I think we could use some vendors (roasted nuts, pretzels, hot dogs, or something more creative, like crepes or frozen bananas), street performers, and more diverse shops along the depressingly empty downtown corridor. On a related note, let's get rid of that silly little ordinance the city council rushed through doing away with street vendors after 2 a.m. Drunk kids need to eat! 

5. This next one is probably a lost cause now that Iowa has the one guy in the world whose mustache makes him look like even more of a pussy, in the Governor’s mansion. Nevertheless, I’m hoping to see the Iowa film tax credits fixed and reinstated. It’s a shame we couldn’t get this right from the start. We were well on our way to the limelight for something other than the caucuses before scandal struck. It was getting to be a regular occurrence to bump into an Adrien Brody or an Amy Smart on the street or at the High Life Lounge. With our own hometown celebrity Bob Nastanovich tearing it up on his reunion tour with Pavement, we were actually beginning to look down on our friends from New York (you can keep Sarah Jessica Parker). Now, instead of the creme de la creme of Hollywood rubbing elbows with Des Moinesians and emptying their bountiful pocketbooks in our fair city, there’s a movie coming out called Cedar Rapids that was filmed almost entirely in Wisconsin of all places. Those cheese-eating bastards! It looks pretty funny, too, starring John C. Reilly and that one guy from the office. Check out the trailer. Anyway, we’re keeping our fingers crossed, but my guess is any tax credits will be going to Brandstad's factory farm cronies who will continue to wash shit down our rivers and choke Iowa’s eco-system.

filmed in Wisconsin

6. High speed trains from here to Chicago and Omaha. Not that I’ve been to Omaha since my 8^th grade field trip to the zoo, or have any intention of doing so in the near future, but you never know. With Nebraska in the Big Ten now, there’s a distinct possibility that this could come in handy. And a train ride to Chicago in just a few hours? Come on. How sweet would that be? Though this is years down the road, we have the potential to get started right now with a commuter train line between Chicago and Iowa City that would eventually make its way to Des Moines and beyond. This train won't be high speed yet, but we’ve got to set the ground work now while the federal government is giving out massive subsidies for the project. Building this infrastructure will create jobs, open our city up to visitors, and provide young people with a reason to stay or even move to Des Moines. Want big city entertainment while living more in a more affordable, smaller city? Move to Des Moines and Chicago’s just a short train ride away. Yes, education should still be the most important item on the government’s budget, but at some point, what is the benefit of educating a generation of young people who will continually leave for bigger cities? 

7. Bob Vander Plaats comes to his senses (or comes out of the closet). Vander Douche is so self-absorbed that he simply won’t stop to consider what he's actually doing. Kicking out supreme court justices doesn't change the fact that gay marriage is legal in Iowa. If he really wanted to change that he should have campaigned for a constitutional convention. Instead, he’s brought in a bunch of hate-spewing bigots to throw money at bringing down Iowa’s judicial system because of one decision. Nevermind the fact that our courts are ranked in the top 5 in the country. No, let’s listen to judges from Alabama where they have to spend millions to run for office and then claim to be impartial. Even when Bob’s good friend, who is an attorney (and having met him I can say a hell of a lot smarter than Bob), asked him to stop and then campaigned against Bob’s hateful agenda, he was too caught up in the limelight and his fantasy of being the guy who stopped gay marriage to listen. We’ve had a lot of zealots like this in America, and quite frankly I’ll be glad to see a day when they fade away.

8. Local music! Des Moines’ (and Ames’) scene keeps expanding and getting better and better. It’s a personal resolution of mine to get out there and see more of it! Two of our favorites include Strong Like Bear and  Index Case. (Full disclosure: we've worked with Strong Like Bear on their merch, but that was after we were fans).

9. The end of the recession and a general sense of misery. Every day there’s a new story about the recession. There’s bad news, even when there’s good news. Jobs went up, but only very slightly. X million people don’t have jobs, and rich bankers on Wall Street got $1 billion raises. It’s all just so damn depressing. It's also frightened a lot of people into keeping jobs that they don't want, thus making them more miserable. I just read an article in the Business Record that says 84% of workers will be looking for new jobs in 2011. 84%! So let's turn the negative megaphone off, get out there and do something you want to do even if it means, *gasp* less money. Hey, you could start a t-shirt company!

10. NASCAR banned. Seriously. Talk about a whole heap of money that's pissed away every week. Not to mention the environmental waste. Yeah, I went all hippie on you rednecks. 

http://bannascarnow.com/

11. You in a Honeybadger t-shirt. Seriously. You'd look good in one. What was your name? Lanolin? Like Sheep's Wool? Where was I? Ah, yes. go get your shirt here, wear it, take a picture of you doing something sweet in it, and post it on Facebook. Our favorite post wins a free shirt, and who knows. As we grow, you might even be good enough to be a part-time model. (But you'll probably still have to keep your other job).

   

Cheers,

Dave Murrin-von Ebers

Chief Entertainment Officer