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Des Moines, Iowa ... Concert Mecca

Insert an Iowa Boy chortling here.

Forget the tractor pulls, chief. The Iowa Events Center in tony downtown Des Moines is apparently the place to stop for touring concerts. Witness the fall lineup:

September 11 -- Britney Spears

September 21 -- Bruce Springsteen

October 9 -- Miley Cyrus (and her stripper pole, we can only hope)

October 10 -- AC/DC (Miley and AC/DC back-to-back... caution ... may be a sign of the apocalypse)

Get your tickets at www.iowaeventscenter.com and plan your mecca to Des Moines today. The Miley-AC/DC weekend would be super tasty! (Insert Angus playing one-handed here.)

pressdog Buys Gas from a Scot, Dario Gets No Love

I bought gas from Nicki Paterson of Motherwell, Scotland last week right here in West Des Moines, Iowa.

Nicki gave himself away when he gave me change ... "fef-tee ate (58) cents." 

The Des Moines Menace, the soccer equivalent of a single-A baseball team, is owned by the Kum & Go (actual name) regional convenience store chain baesd in West Des Moines. Menace players get basically zero pay. I think they get some room and board stipend or something.

So, when you see random heavily accented 20-somethings working in a Kum & Go store hereabouts, it's a pretty good bet they play for the Menace.

Me: You play for the Menace?

Nicki: Yes, number 14.

Me: Were are you from?

Nicki: SCOTLAND!

Iowans Focus the Rage and Show the Love in Flood Clean-up

One of the reasons my family has lived in Iowa for FIVE generations (my kids are Gen VI, baby!) is because of what's happening here in the aftermath of the flood.

Interstate 80 Re-opens In Eastern Iowa

I-80 from the Iowa border to Newton has reopened. There are a few issues with bridges across the Mississippi into Iowa from the east, however.

Check the Iowa Department of Transportation festival of news releases here.

When in doubt, call ahead to make sure your route is open. The Iowa DOT's temporary customer service phone line will be in operation from 7 a.m. until 9 p.m. daily until further notice. That number is 866-452-8510.

Iowa is draining pretty well. We've had a few dry days statewide, which helps enormously. Just too much water for the rivers to drain away. Newton remains high and dry. See ya at the track.

Iowa Under Water

While pressdog World Headquarters in West Des Moines, Iowa, stays dry, much of Iowa is a lake. The town of Cedar Rapids, population around 125,000-ish, is located two hours northeast of Des Moines. The Cedar River is super pissed off and has flooded much of the town, forcing 9000 to evacuate. Mason City, about two hours directly north of us, got lakified last week.

Cities and towns downstream from Cedar Rapids including Iowa City are buckling up for the crest to move down toward them. In general, the east half of the state is a mess.

But we from Iowa, which is an American Indian word that means "land of tough little bastards" (kidding .. it actually means "land between two rivers"), so we're all about helping each other out. Does an Iowa boy proud to see my fellow citizens hurling themselves into battle against the flood waters.

Thanks for the emails of concern. For all the latest, check www.desmoinesregister.com.

Iowans Turn out for Pieces of Pig

Iowans aren't merely trend-setting, well educated polite people who dabble in quantum physics are familiar with wine, literature and music. No. That's just a stereotype that we have to live with.

We also love meat. Beef and pork, mainly. With about 18 million hogs in a state of just under 3 million humans, we dig the pig. Witness the massive turnout for the Blue Ribbon Bacon Festival in downtown Des Moines on March 1. pressdog.com correspondent Adam Lackey plunged into the festival of shredded swine flesh and offers these words and photos.