Archive for the Thirty Two Category

Thirty Two #4: Artists’ Spaces, Painted Birds, Soccer Hooligans and Free Music

Posted in Art, Clips, Thirty Two on June 5, 2013 by frankbures

SummerIt’s been nearly a year since the launch of Thirty Two Magazine, and the fourth issue is now out–the biggest yet by far.  Not only are there fantastic pieces on the Dark Cloud soccer fans, the sharing economy, fiction about life in Antarctica, and more. There’s also beautiful photo essay of  artists’ work spaces. For my part, I interviewed Andrew Lange of  the experimental record label Taiga, which puts out albums on limited-edition vinyl. I also wrote about wildlife art.

Better yet: Two free albums also come with this issue, called Two Seasons: Thirty Two & Friends, which features 19 songs by local bands (including the lovely “Clouds” by the late Zach Sobiech) and which you can download from the site, plus a CD sleeve to cut out from the magazine.

So please find it any of these shops, enjoy it, and if you like what we’re doing, subscribe here.  (Subscribers keep us alive!)

Does the Midwest Matter?

Posted in America, Art, Clips, Thirty Two on April 1, 2013 by frankbures

millcity_web-1From Thirty Two Magazine:

Driv­ing north from Des Moines not long ago, I veered off the free­way to a place I knew about but had never had any rea­son to visit. When I got there, I could see why: Mason City, Iowa was a mis­er­able look­ing town filled with func­tional com­mer­cial build­ings that left me with a vague feel­ing of despair as I passed them by.

Nonethe­less, I was there because the city had done some­thing his­toric, some­thing of such cul­tural sig­nif­i­cance that I had first seen men­tion of it on the BBC. It had saved and restored one of the most impor­tant build­ings in the world, the City National Bank and Hotel, designed by Frank Lloyd Wright and first opened in 1910. Now it had been reborn as the His­toric Park Inn after a $20 mil­lion renovation.

It may be news to you that Mason City exists, let alone that it has such a build­ing. But it does, and the fact that this is not widely known seems to me like some kind of crime. Barely any­one is aware that one of the most archi­tec­turally sig­nif­i­cant hotels in the world could exist in an ordi­nary, down­trod­den Mid­west­ern town. It is this fact that I find both so inspir­ing and so disturbing.

Read the Rest here.