Diana NollenDiana Nollen is the Arts & Entertainment writer and event critic for SourceMedia Group. She also has worked as a features writer and editor, entertainment editor and news editor for The Gazette and the editor for her hometown weekly newspaper in Mediapolis. In addition, she spent four years at the helm of a children’s theater program, 10 years as a theatrical costume designer and two years as the host and assistant producer for Kidz Korner on local cable TV. Nollen has a degree in Communications and Theatre from Central College in Pella. |
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RIP Davy Jones: Review from 1996 concert in Cedar Rapids
My adolescent fantasy has become reality. I saw Davy Jones live — so close I could almost touch him. While that was the dream of a 10-year-old, nearly 30 years later, it was Peter Tork I couldn’t keep my eyes off of. When The Monkees swung through Cedar Rapids to kick off the Taste of [...]
Trying to avoid a showstopper
IOWA CITY — After 36 years of dominating the state’s cultural scene, Hancher Auditorium’s world turned upside down in June 2008. Fighting back from the floods that hit the University of Iowa campus that year has forced the staff to find new ways to keep the UI’s premier fine arts center and its offerings vibrant [...]
Patrons’ Hancher habits started in college
Terry Abernathy and his wife, Dr. Johanna Abernathy, have been Hancher Auditorium patrons and donors since the facility opened in 1972 during their days as University of Iowa students. “I think our huge contribution was $25, which allowed you to buy tickets ahead of the general public,” Abernathy, 64, of Cedar Rapids, said about their [...]
Living history
CEDAR RAPIDS — Time doesn’t stand still, even for an estate like Brucemore that gives modern visitors a snapshot of the past. “Brucemore is always evolving. One of the strengths of Brucemore is that it has always adapted to the needs of Cedar Rapids and to the community, whether that means changing programs” or making [...]
Dances, parties, bands abound for all ages to get in a 2012 groove
Options abound for ringing in the new year. And if 2012 is really going to bring the end of the world, as the Mayan calendar and the disaster movie say, we might as well go out with a bang, a band and a pop of the cork or balloon. You don’t have to go to [...]
Steve-O brings filthy comedy, crazy stunts to Eastern Iowa
Clowning around is serious business for Steve-O, a 1997 graduate of the Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey Clown College. That training provided the springboard the trick-skateboarder needed to jump from cruise ship clown to Hollywood stunt maniac. He’s built a career around outrageous feats of derring-do in the “Jackass” television, film franchises and live [...]
Opportunities crescendo with new Cedar Rapids concert cafe
With Saturday night’s opening of the Opus Concert Cafe, Orchestra Iowa has taken a paramount step in its ongoing flood recovery. The new street-level facility at 119 Third Ave. SE also will provide a doorway to the Paramount Theatre’s Hall of Mirrors when that historic facility reopens in the fall of 2012. The Opus jewel [...]
Silhouettes find their spotlight
CEDAR RAPIDS – Lynne Waggoner-Patton wants to bring her Silhouettes dancers home to Cedar Rapids, but first they have to film a video for her to take to London, then head to Caesars Palace in Las Vegas where they’ll perform Friday through Sunday. Then they’ll head back to Arvada, Colo., to prepare a new [...]
