Every Wednesday night, local area bands are broadcast live from Public Space One through the University of Iowa's radio station, KRUI. This weekly program, entitled Little Village Live (LVL), is hosted by local music blogger and amateur photographer, Adrianne Behning. Having encountered Adrianne at many shows this past year, I decided to interview her about her involvement with LVL and her unique relationship with Iowa City's music scene.
Behning explained that she first stumbled across LVL a couple years ago (the show was created a few years ago by the local monthly Little Village magazine) in the basement of the Jefferson building. "I found it while fishing around for shows that were earlier in the day and at spaces other than the typical venues. I would sporadically stop down to ccatch the show. Last fall, I offered myself up as a fill-in host if it was ever needed and before I knew it, I was producing and hosting the show."
LVL is a one hour show which allows a band (or two singer/songwriters) to perform for an hour every Wednesday night from 5pm-6pm, while Behning peppers the music with interview-style questions. Her reasons for hosting this show are simple, yet heartfelt and well thought out. "I love music and I think we have a really great scene [in Iowa City]. A lot of people don't get to experience some of the best music in town because they can't make it to shows at the bars for whatever reason. LVL allows these folks to hear good stuff while they're commuting home from work or escorting kids around after school, or whatever.
It brings the nightlife into the light for a bit."
I switched gears for a moment to illuminate upon Adrianne's other passion of photography, especially that of live music shows around town. "I've been photographing shows on and off for the last two years," she explained. "Last year's Mission Creek was what got me really addicted. I just had such amazing experiences throughout the whole event. It was a thrill to be jammed in the audience trying to get these shots that would convey what I was feeling at the moment. It goes back to the power effects music has on the human body/mind and wanting to share that in my own way.
And yes, it all goes back to me wanting to tell people that there is far more going on here than many people realize."
When asked how she sets up each week's episode of LVL, from the performers she chooses to perform and how she comes up with the interview questions, she replied, "I try to book bands around some key event for them - like just before a show, after an album release, tour, etc. But sometimes I can't get who I want when I want them. It's not always a bad thing, though. This encourages me to seek out performers that I'm not as familiar with or may not especially 'like' to fill the open dates. The few times this has happened, I've been pleasantly surprised as how good the show ends up sounding. It reinforces in my own mind that I shouldn't get locked into what I like and shut everything else out.
Sometimes when I show up for the broadcast, I have a long list of questions that I want to ask and other times I wing it. As I get more comfortable with hosting, I find that I'm bringing written questions less often and mostly just trying to have a spontaneous reaction to their performance."
As to upcoming shows, Behning said she doesn't like to book too far in advance because she wants to keep the bands that are playing relevant to what's going in town as they air. "With that being said, I am hoping that as the summer weather approaches, we'll have more touring bands coming around during the middle of the week."
This week's show will feature TECHNO-LINCOLN and The Technicolor Union. Everyone is invited to P.S.1 before 5pm to watch the show as it is being broadcast, or listen to it on KRUI 89.7 FM or to stream it live off of KRUI's website.
Adrianne encourages all interested musicians to email her with a quick bio and any relevant links to vids, music, etc. at Live@littlevillagemag.com
You can view her band photos at her flickr account.
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