bedsitter23

 Each year, we try to get to the Iowa Wolves.  They are part of the NBA's Gatorade sponsored G League.

The nature of Basketball is that Minor League doesn't quite translate from Baseball.

That said, the NBA is trying to make it that way, and with what they call two-way players, there are guys on the court who have and will spend time in the NBA.

It is with this, that the local team has been rebranded the Iowa Wolves and is linked closely with the Minnesota Timberwolves, a relatively "short" drive up I35.

In the past, this team was branded the Iowa Energy, and had various ties to teams like the Suns, the Bulls, and the Grizzlies.  This night was a nostalgia night for those days.  In fact, Nick Nurse was on hand to receive appreciation.  Nurse's career yells persistence, and the Iowa team was a big part of that.  He was a college assistant coach, then a Junior College coach, and then a coach in the British Basketball League for six years.  he would coach in Belgium and in the USBL before getting a chance to helm the Iowa Energy as their inaugural head coach. 

From 2007-2011, the Energy were top of the standings and won the League Trophy in 2011.  Nurse would become assistant coach for the NBA's Toronto Raptors, then head coach, and this summer, they won the NBA Finals.  It's a great story.





It is nice to have a place where local college stars can play and try to break into the NBA.  This has been something the Iowa team has done, and this year is no different.

Lindell Wigginton was a star at Iowa State.  He applied for the NBA Draft, but ultimately was undrafted.

He looks good playing for the Wolves, and had 16 points and 5 rebounds.  The only Iowa player with more points was Jaylen Nowell, who is one of those players who is "assigned" by the NBA team.  Nowell was drafted in the second round and was Pac12 player of the year for Washington.

Two other players who had double digit scores and have an affiliation with the Minnesota team are Naz Reid (6' 9" Center/Forward from LSU), and Jordan McLaughlin (5'11" Guard from USC). Coming off the bench with big nights were James Webb III (Forward from Boise State, who played 10 games for the Brooklyn Nets) and Trevon Duval (Guard from Duke, who played 3 games last year for the Milwaukee Bucks).

One thing I noticed that maybe you can tell from the descriptions is that there was a lot of NBA caliber talent.  In the past, there were always a couple, but there certainly is more breadth of talent.

The Agua Caliente Clippers (affiliated with the Los Angeles Clippers) took the lead early and never gave it up.  In the past, these games have been ping-pong affairs, but this one was never in doubt, as Iowa shot horribly.  Still, these are always action-packed and fun.  130-102 was the final score.

The Clippers had Jonathan Motley.  Motley was a star at Baylor and played 33 games in the NBA for the Clippers and the Mavericks.  He is considered by Ridiculous Upside as the best player in the G League currently.  His 30 points and 10 rebounds were only bested by James Palmer Jr (undrafted by the NBA.  He was a star at Nebraska).

The NBA G League goes into year #2.

One of my favorite local sports is watching the minor league Basketball team. Last year, the Developmental League was given a Gatorade sponsorship and the NBA is trying to make it like a real minor league, even claiming that half of the NBA roster has G-/D-League experience.

I am not sure they are making the case, but it sure is fun to watch, and it is likely the closest to NBA talent you will see besides the real thing.

The Wolves came back from a 10-pint halftime deficit to win 118-111 over the Texas Legends.

The Wolves have a couple of stories. The biggest being Hakim Warrick who led the team with 23 points. Warrick at age 36, played for six NBA teams in a career that spanned from 2005 to 2013. He has since never stopped playing, playing in China, Turkey, Israel, Greece and Australia- all amont the top leagues in the world. Warrick would love to make it back to the NBA.

CJ Williams is the other big star. He's a two-way player which means he can play for the Minnesota Timberwolves if needed. He started 17 games for the LA Clippers last year, so he is a bonafide NBA player. Williams scored 14. The other two-way player is Jared Terrell, a star out of Rhode Island. He put up 19.

The Iowa Wolves of 2018-19 have a different look from the Energy/Wolves teams of the past, but they do have a lot of exciting players.Darius Johnson-Odom scored 20. Johnson-Odom is another with some NBA experience, playing 7 games in the NBA for the Lakers and 76er. Jonathan Stark was a star at Murray State and put up 16. LG Gill went to Maryland for his senior year and scored 11.

Also of note, Canyon Barry might be recognizable as son of Rick Barry (NBA star and star of those 70s Spalding ads in the back of comic books) and brother of Brent Barry. Barry, like his famous dad, shoots (and indeed shot two) underhand free throws.

On the other side of the court were similar star-caliber players. Jameel Warney, is in his second year out of Stony Brook College and RidiculousUpside called him the 8th best player in the league. Warney led his team with 20 points and 10 rebounds. The Legends also have two two-way players- in this case they can go between the Legends and the NBA's Dallas Mavericks.

Kostas Antetokounmpo put up 16. His brother Giannis is one of the biggest stars in the NBA. Daryl Macon is the other. He played one game for Dallas this year and scored 20 for the legends.

Though, it's not necessarily a "See the Stars of the Future Today" situation, it is fun basketball to watch.

A new candidate has emerged.

It was a fairly quiet summer. Although Trump's numbers are low, no significant Democrat has shown up. Indeed, I saw an idea floating around that suggested the Dems should run no candidate and support John Kasich (This didn't work in 1872 and seems like a worse idea now).

In the meantime, there are the annual party fundraisers and this is where those who want to run for President seem to gravitate to.

One of those was August 10 in the rural Northern Iowa town of Clear Lake, and it's called the Wing Ding.

Michael Avenatti, who is a prominent attorney and media presence, and at this point, is best known for being Stormy Daniels's attorney- stole the headlines.

"When Trump hits low, we punch harder" was Avenatti's message. Popularly received despite two years of Democrats calling for civility.

Avenatti likely is leaning toward a Presidential run. He's loud, polarizing, camera-seeking and is not a Politician. I mean, there's no way he would be a viable Presidential candidate. Oh wait.....

Ostensibly, Ohio congressman Tim Ryan was the headliner. Ryan seems to be working towards a Presidential run, taking Nancy Pelosi to task for not being the leadership the Party needs. He has hired Bernie Sanders advisor Pete D'Allesandro to get a feel for Iowa. His politics likely would follow within Sanders's footsteps. He has also made legal marijuana part of his campaign. He was one of the Democrats who headlined the Polk County Dinner fundraiser last year, which I covered at the time.

John Delaney is considered the one prominent Democrat to be officially in the race. Because of that fact, I mention Delaney a lot. I odn't have much to add, but I will say I see him popping up occasionally in conversation and social media. It's a bit Quixotic, but to his credit, he seems to be marching towards his goal.

Andrew Yang is the fourth speaker and is an interesting addition. Yang is most well known as an investor in company startups. He is also officially in the race, though as a non-politician usually doesn't get the media's respect as such. Yang's big issue is an interesting one- Universal Basic Income. In a Yang administration, everyone gets $1000 from the Government every month. This would relieve fears of job loss or remove disincentives to get more education. It's an interesting idea.

So while we are on the topic of Avenatti- it also is worth it (for the clicks!) to share the very politically relevant news that the Stormy Daniels visited Des Moines on her recent tour.

This particular tour did get some big headlines in some of the towns she visited as she took The Donald to task. Also, to clarify, the tour wasn't the local Barnes and Noble, it was at a place just down the street called Big Earl's Gold Mine, and the tour is called "Making America Horny Again".

The Des Moines Register reports:

Elizabeth Leonard drove nine hours to see porn star Stormy Daniels in the flesh.

Leonard arrived at Big Earl’s Goldmine just after Daniels wrapped up the first of two Friday night performances at the all-nude strip club just north of the Des Moines city limits. She is fascinated by Daniels public feud with the White House and her surprising emergence as a champion of women among many supporters.

"I just want to see what happens," said the 37-year-old from Detroit. "And I want to see where she goes with her activism

The Register recalled how her tour brought out MAGA fans in Florida and Trump protestors in Madison, Wisconsin, before getting into that Pulitzer-winning journalism.

After her Friday performances, Daniels is scheduled to take the stage again Saturday at 8:30 and 11:30 p.m. at Big Earl's. Tickets cost $50 at the door with an extra charge for autographs and photos.

Big Earl’s owner Melvin Bryson said Daniels is the most famous person to ever perform at the club. Few regulars filled the red velvet chairs inside the venue. But people were there to watch a strip show, not attend some political lecture, he said.

The loudspeakers played a pre-recorded introduction that went over Daniels’ resume: She has appeared in more than 150 adult films. She’s the top-rated performer on pornography site Pornhub. And hers was the most-watched "60 Minutes" interview in the last decade.

A crush of security guards and handlers rushed the star to the stage while “American Woman" played in the background. She smiled broadly as she comfortably marched around the stage in sparkling high heels.

She wore a red, white and blue cape over lingerie of the same colors. Long, blue sequined gloves covered her forearms.

The DJ urged those in the crowd to open their wallets: “If you want her attention, hold up some money,” he said.

She lost the cape and gloves and swung around the center brass pole. With encouragement from the announcer and the crowd, she tore off a bustier emblazoned with two stars. And soon, she wore only heels and a thin, blue garter.

She pressed her chest into men and women in the front row and knelt on her knees leaning out across the crowd as her entourage swept up the ones, fives and 10s that flew across the stage.

"Remember, the bigger the bill, the bigger the thrill," the deejay instructed.

A handler passed her a blue fleece blanket, which she spread out on the dance floor. Daniels sprawled out, posing on her stomach and back. She squirted a water bottle out into the crowd, then turned the nozzle to herself, spraying her chest and backside.

The DJ encouraged fans to come up and stick a bill on her wet body.

As a political reporter, that beats spending your afternoon driving from one Pizza Ranch to another, amirite?

The 50 or so people who filled the first show Friday night hooted and hollered during Daniels' short appearance. Many stood up during the performance to get a better look.

One of the club’s regular dancers grumbled that the show was only “decent.” Her poses were tantalizing, she acknowledged, but she hardly worked the pole.

A husband and wife in the front row enthusiastically handed over singles during Daniels’ performance. The woman, who declined to give her name, said she didn’t care much about the star’s conflict with the president. She was just there for the show.

"I don’t know if I have an opinion either way," she said. "It’s Des Moines. We have no entertainment here."

Counterpoint: Des Moines has other entertainment options to offer.

Cases of Busch Light and Bud Light covered the tables at Big Earl's, a bring-your-own-beverage establishment. The local dancers sipped boxed white wine out of QuickTrip cups as they waited to get back on stage.

"I thought it was a great show," said Brent Bialas, a Windsor Heights resident who mows lawns for a living.

The 42-year-old hadn't heard much about Daniels' feud with the president before Friday. He only came after winning a raffle for a free ticket to the show. She was a natural on stage, he said, and he planned to get an autograph afterward.

"If it doesn't cost too much," he said.

Daniels charged $20 for photos and autographs before taking a break in her giant black tour bus out front.

She later returned for a second strip show, this time wearing a spandex leopard print suit, complete with a black tail and ears. "Cat Scratch Fever" played over the P.A. as she peeled off her outfit.

"How'd you like to wake up Christmas morning with that under your tree?" the DJ said.

We see how economic policy comes into the discussion, though their is some irony surely in using future cabinet member Ted Nugent's most famous song.

While I did not attend, others had no qualms. You see this is all about the politics.

Jaime Bernal sat at a small table near the front row. He wore a sky blue Raygun shirt that read: "America Needs Nasty Women," a reference to a Trump insult about Hillary during a 2016 debate.

Bernal, a 38-year-old who works in sales in Des Moines, described himself as a "lifelong Chicago Democrat." He's no fan of the current president and admires Daniels.

"At least she’s got the courage to stand up," he said.

While there, he paid up for a photo with the star. He had posted it on Facebook before he even left the building. And the show wasn't bad either, he said.

"I figured, why not?" he said. "Might as well come out on a Friday night and have a good time."

Besides, if I did go, I could always play "I just wanted to see an important person in American history" card.

Lobbyist Nate Gavronsky folded wings into single dollar bills and wrote "Air Force One" on them.

Gavronsky, dressed in a black suit, wore a checkered pink tie, which he flipped around to reveal a Trump label.

"She caught the tie," he said. "She thought that was kind of funny."

Gavronsky was impressed with the performance. He said she should write a book — not about her escapades with Trump, but about making it big in the adult entertainment industry.

"She's actually been successful in this industry," he said. "There are a lot of women who go into it... Write a book about how to do it right."

A registered Republican, he said he didn't have any strong feelings on the porn star. He just likes to meet famous politicians and celebrities. He said he's met every American president since Richard Nixon.

"People don't believe you can just go do that. But you can," he said. "Forty years from now people will be like 'That was crazy.' And I'll be like, 'Yeah, I was there.'"

You know I have shaken hands with two Presidents, the Speaker of the House, and other prominent American politicians, but he's got me at Stormy Daniels.

In any case, while I am not saying I can come out to support the MAHA tour, it's at least nice to see both sides agree on something.

One of Des Moines's suburbs saw an internet request from a California school trying to get Tom Hanks to come to their Student Dance.

The government teacher got the idea of trying to get a Presidential candidate to come to theirs, and had a pretty great hashtag for it - Presidance.

Well, social media is full of requests trying to get Rhonda Rousey or Taylor Swift or whoever to the local shindig or getdown.

There's approximately a half million candidates in Iowa right now, so i thought it was a no brainer.

A fun idea- don't get me wrong, but should be like shooting fish in a barrel.



I mean what a great way of publicity. Most of the candidates are lonelier than Rick Perry and the most exciting thing they got booked this week is a trip to the Pizza Ranch.

No, seriously.





Baby, I got nothing to do, tell me the time and place, I will be there.  What you want?  You know no one loves you like I do.

So, I figured the candidates would be all over the free publicity.

Santorum and Huckabee who spent all their waking hours in the Hawkeye state (though the thoughts of a high school dance means a lot of pelvic thrusting, also possibly there may be mixed race couples).

There's rock star Kasich and George Pataki who surely could use anything right now.

There's, well, you seen the CNN debate, there's like 20 of them and if I listed them all, we'd be here all day.

So, you know who offered it up.

The Donald

You other candidates are idiots.  Bobby Jindal- this could have been you.  Scott Walker- this is how you fight a double digit drop in the polls,

But, no, I don't think anyone said squat until the Donald.

Which of course, he did.

He's friggin Batman.

Heck, I am not even mad.  I am cynical as it gets, and if you like my political writing, it means you are too; but at the end of the day, you have to admit this is kind of a heartwarming personal interest story.

Let's face it, politics and names aside, government teacher asks a politician visit her kids, and big name politician stands and delivers.  Heck, I may even start shedding a tear.

We always joked politics is becoming a circus and this year may indeed be the logical conclusion, boostered by a man supported by thousands of people who have spent the last eight years hunched in their basement  over laptops writing articles like "I am so gawddamn tired of the President acting like a goldurned celebrity"

Iowa has crime too.

They will break in and take your tv, your stereo, and your bacon.

Police say Monday evening sometime between 9:30 p.m. and 2:30 a.m. a home near Waveland Golf Course was broken into. The thieves left the home with jewelry, computer equipment and some bacon.

Not surprisingly, the burglary caught the attention of the Director of Des Moines’ Annual Blue Ribbon Bacon Festival Brooks Reynolds said, “Family heirlooms, electronics, that`s one thing, but when you steal a man`s bacon, that`s gone too far.”

The story actually gets better.  the Bacon Board steps in.

The Des Moines Register says the Bacon Board is providing VIP passes to Des Moines' Blue Ribbon Bacon Festival as the reward. And the board and Eden Farms will be providing the burglary victim with 15 pounds of bacon and two tickets to the festival.

Everyone loves a happy ending.  I will keep tuned.

Last weekend, I made it to the Blue Ribbon Bacon Fest.

It's a hard ticket to come buy (8000 tickets sold out in about three minutes)

Personally, I think it is the name. You have to go to something called Baconfest. (There is a similarly themed pork and wine expo called Swine- pork and wine= swine. Get it? which i've heard is awesome but is nothing in terms of scale of comparison.)

Baconfest is part parade and part trade show.

There's a Bacon Queen who wore (albeit and understandably briefly) a dress made entirely of bacon.



There's a Grand Marshall.  Hacksaw Jim Duggan!

The crowd indeed was full of hipsters and about 5:1 male to female, still a good section of the public showed.  the hipsters wore hipster t-shirts, but credit to those with a suggestive looking pig (!) called "50 Shades of Bacon"

There were bands, and they played songs like Black Sabbath's "Bacon Man" (Iron Man) and Bad Company's "Feel like Bacon (Making) Love".

There was free bacon (of course), and although I hesitate to complain, I will.  What no love for crisp bacon?

Mostly, Baconfest works like one of those cooking shows where every recipe has to use a special ingredient.

So, there was some obvious and some not so much- Bacon Breakfast Pizza, Bacon wrapped Jalapeno, Pastries with Bacon, Bacon flavored chips, the Bacon (and Sausage) Explosion sandwich (which was pretty good), Bacon Crab Rangoon, Bacon Gumbo and Bacon Pretzels to name but a few.

Baconfest is undoubtedly a success and is a perfect fit for this state.  They did everythign right including bacon lectures (if you needed them) and so much more.  It is a perfect event for those who want to drink all day (just saying).  It has grown exponentially, and it is reaching an obvious conclusion for next year (2 days). 

Also, there was apparently a marriage proposal.


To me, I got my fill in for awhile, but would certainly recommend it to the person who gets excited about such things.

Talking about Des Moines attractions, I feel some need to mention the Farmers' Market.  I have long heard about it, but finally made it to the Saturday morning Summer tradition.

I suppose a lot of cities have these, but the Des Moines one is indeed good.

There is a mix of elements that come together here.  Of course, there are the disposable income-rich West Des Moinesans who are there for buzz words like "organic" and "free range".  These are catered to by many vendors, but lest we forget, there is also an element of just honest-to-goodness small town Iowa farmers who just do things that way because that is what they do.  Of course, a subset of this (usually) Liberal crowd that is the bohemians and liberals.

There's those who just want to pick up some farm-grown tomatoes and those that just want something to do.  It should be mentioned that the most common complaint I hear (behind "There is too many people") is "There are too many dogs."

It is a great mix of vendors selling vegetables, salsas, and meats, as well as wineries, arts and craft makers, and coffee sellers.  There are street musicians, of course; but also more formal musicianery.  There's alpaca meat, egg rolls, and gourds.  There's local t-shirts, local music CDs, and handcrafted jewlery.

Favorites?

I hate to say this when there are so many healthy foods, but of course, Confections by Kelly for the cookies.  Kudos for Tacopacalypse for their name.  Non-food related, I will give the nod to Earth Wind and Water.

Being a blues fan, Bob Pace, a local artist of some acclaim got my notice.  However, I will give my nod here to CW Hobbs, a local bluegrass band who I liked best (Hear them here).

There's something like 300 artists, farmers, and vendors who set up during the summer.  It is certainly on the short list of things to do in the 515.





(Image stole from here. Apologies)

Des Moines has an art museum that I made my first trip through last weekend.

Although, you may not expect it, the DM Art Center contains art by a who's who of modern artists. 

Warhol, Picasso, Matisse, O'Keefe, Pollock, Basquiat, Monet, Lichtenstein, Chagall, Rodin, Benton, Johns, Rothko, Rauschenberg, Miro, Gaugin, Richter, Sargent, and many many more.

I was there to see the final days of a travelling exhibit of Jackson Pollock's Mural.  Mural was one of Pollock's first important works and it was given to the University of Iowa in the 50s.



It was cool to see Pollock's work up close and in person.

There is also an exhibit that runs slightly longer which features Abstract Expressionists on Paper.

In case you wondered, the Art Center was fairly busy.  I have been to other culturally important moments in the greater Des Moines area like ostrich racing, a pro wrestling exhibition with Hacksaw Jim Duggan, and the Barack Obama Presidential campaign; and though there were probably more people at those events, the art museum was significantly close.

There was also another exhibit by someone whose name I didn't recognize (Tony Feher) and sorry, this is the type of art that people don't like (Half-drunk two liter bottles of soda, etc.).

As far as the permanent collection, the most arresting piece (probably not surprisingly) has to be Francis Bacon's Study after Velazquez’s Portrait of Innocent X.



It is just as impressive in person as you would imagine.  I first heard of Bacon from the late great Gadfly magazine, and he is someone whose name seems to have gained prominence in recent years.

Another painting that gets a lot of attention from the personal collection is Edward Hopper's Automat.



I think everyone knows his Nighthawks or at least its parodies/tributes.  Automat has been featured on the cover of Time and is one of Hopper's early works.

If you are ever in the area, it's worth a trip, even for the casual art fan.

Awhile back I was doing a series of posts on Des Moines-area attractions, when I received news that the franchise Twin Peaks was opening a restaurant here.

Twin Peaks, if you don't recall, is one of the newer "Breast-aurants" who take the Hooters concept, but they don't act like people go there for the food.

It is also going into a location that has been sure suicide for many restaurants who figured that their Mexican Steakhouse BBQ restaurant was going to make it there.

A couple of years ago, CNN ran a list of Top 5 worst places in the US to open a restaurant, and Des Moines made it. It wasn't this particular location (although some places re-reported incorrectly it was), but it should be noted that this location is 1) just down the street 2) covered by the same un-advertsing friendly city zoning laws and 3) has nearly as bad as a track record for restaurants staying in business. as the one mentioned in CNN's list.

It does set up the great battle to see if sex really sells. If you take the worst location around and add cleavage, will the restaurant ultimately prevail.

The answer a month in is Advantage: Twin Peaks. I saw more cars there one night driving by than I probably had combined for two years as a smoky BBQ joint. They also have a hefty lunch crowd.

How are they pulling this off?

Well, radio ads, of course; but mostly, I would attribute some access t the daily 4:00 ritual of having the scantily-clad servers hula-hoop out by the road side.

Here's a helpful picture of what a young scantily-clad hula hooping female might look like:



From my observation (and those who have been agree) the restaurant's clientele is 99.99% male.  It likely will stay that way as I am told, the servers like to have their pictures taken with the customers to give away as souvenirs.

I am also told by anyone who has been there or talked to someone who had- the food is terrible.

The ultimate question may be will the breasts be able to prevail over bad food?  It is has a buzz for being a new place with a very unique concept, but how much business will make 3rd and 4th trips back?

This weekend, I was talking to a stripper (Hey, Henry Miller and Bukowski were always hanging out with strippers.  It's like, a way literary thing to do) and she asked me if I had been.

She told me that she had gone over there to recruit some "help" to see if they would leave their Twin Peaks job for one with a little bit less memorization (Who ordered the Onion Rings?).

I didn't think to ask her if she had any success.

She did tell me that the food there was terrible. 
 

Like any major city, Des Moines has some interesting sculpture.

The most interesting are part of the Pappajohn Sculpture Park.

As an aside, John Pappajohn is a venture capitalist, like an Iowan Warren Buffet, who spends a lot of money on doing good things like contributing to art and music.  What is funny is I was once in a group of people (who should know better) in which two fell over each other trying to tell some one from out of town that Des Moines was the home of Papa John's Pizza and that their founder was a giver to the community.

I wasn't even going to try to correct that conversation as these were people who liked to hear the sound of their own voice, and wouldn't have been interested in truth anyways.  Though, for me, some questions would come to mind.  Why is it that Papa John's doesn't put their name on more usual fare like stadiums and sporting events (a la a real Des Moines-based company Principal Financial Group).  Why isn't Papa John never on local news like other local celebrities?  Why aren't their big Papa John's offices downtown?  Also why wouldn't it be called Schnatter's Sculpture Park.

There are a quite a few memorable pieces.  This to me seems to be the most talked about (at least from my experience)- Nomade- who has a brother on the French Riviera and his own twitter account (natch).




Another sculpture that stands out for me is the Big Red Shovel.




I don't want to ruin the Big Red Shovel for you, so if you don't really want an explanation of why, I wouldn't blame you for stop reading now,

However, if you feel a need for some sort of explanation why a snow shovel is randomly featured in downtown Des Moines, it is this:  this particular shovel is front of the headquarters of Meredith Corporation -which is the home of Better Homes and Gardens.