dsmWeekly: June 4, 2019

NOMINATIONS OPEN FOR 2019 SAGES OVER 70

Reward the local mentors, civic leaders and role models who have influenced you by nominating them to be honored as Sages Over 70. Through their creativity, talent and vigor, such people have helped our community grow and flourish.

dsm magazine honors these remarkable achievers every November in print and in ceremonies with its annual Sages Over 70 designation. And it wants your help in choosing them. To nominate a leader you know (and to find out who's been honored in previous years), click here and fill out the nomination form by July 1. The nominee needs to be age 70 or older and should meet the spirit of these criteria:

Has demonstrated leadership through decades.
Has contributed and still contributes to the betterment of the community.
Has been a role model and mentor to others.

We look forward to hearing from you!

Malo's pleasant patio will soon have an alfresco bar.

A REFRESH WITH A FOCUS ON FRESH

By Wini Moranville

Steer clear of Malo for a few more days. Downtown’s popular Latin-American-focused restaurant closed for a refresh on May 28; the closure will last about 10 days. A few things to look for once Malo reopens:

• New bar, new drinks: The current indoor bar is being transformed into a U-shape, while an outdoor bar will be added on the patio for alfresco sips. Look for new drinks as well: To spruce up the cocktails, the Malo team has engaged a Chicago-based consultancy that grew out of that city’s famed Violet Hour lounge, which earned a James Beard Award for its bar program.

• Chilled options: Executive Chef Partner George Formaro is especially excited about the new "Chilled" section on the dinner menu, including an oyster ceviche. "Mexican flavors pair really well with oysters; our team has created some great ceviche selections with chile, pineapple and lime accompaniments that rank among my favorite anywhere," he says. Other chilled options include a cucumber and jicama ceviche as well as seared tuna with chipotle adobo. "Not only is the dish tasty," adds Formaro, "but it’s beautiful and packs some heat."

• More mezcal: To the non-initiated, mezcal is that smoky tequila-like spirit that has a worm at the bottom of the bottle. Indeed, Formaro says, "I used to associate mezcal as a dare drink because of the harshness and the worm. But good mezcal has no worm, and some have notes of caramel and vanilla, not just smoke." He adds that the Malo team has been working with the state of Iowa to bring in some top-notch versions of this famed Mexican spirit.

Malo is at 900 Mulberry St.; 515-244-5000; malodesmoines.com.

Wini Moranville writes about food, wine and dining for dsm magazine and dsmWeekly. Follow her on Facebook at All Things Food–DSM.

Featured in "Too Heavy for Your Pocket" are (clockwise from top left) Freddie Fulton, Britny Horton, Ryan Collier and Rajaa Camp-Bey.

TANDEM DRAMAS FROM PYRAMID THEATRE

We’ve been fans of Pyramid Theatre Company since it launched five years ago, so we’re eagerly anticipating the company’s new season, which opens Friday, June 7, with "Too Heavy for Your Pocket." The play chronicles the journey of four Freedom Riders into the Deep South in 1961. Calling it "illuminating and moving," the New York Times noted the play "dramatizes questions of class difference within the black community that rarely get broached onstage."

"Too Heavy for Your Pocket" was written by Pyramid co-founder Jiréh Breon Holder, who’s now a writer for NBC-TV in Los Angeles, and will be directed by Tiffany Johnson, who recently was named Pyramid’s producing artistic director.

Pyramid also will present "How I Learned, What I Learned" by Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright August Wilson. Described as provocative, humorous and heartfelt, the one-man autobiographical show chronicles how Wilson’s struggles as a young black artist and his Pittsburgh neighborhood inspired his now-famous plays about the African American experience. The show opens Saturday, June 8.

The two shows will be performed on a rotating basis through June 23 at Stoner Theater in the Des Moines Civic Center. More info and tickets ($20; $36.50 for the season): pyramidtheatre.org.

Good friends, fine wine, a summer's day and the sweet vibe of Winefest — Des Moines is seldom more engaging.

FUN IN THE CITY? WINEFEST POURS IT ON

We're happily closing in on some of Winefest's biggest summer events, including the Prima Dinners Thursday evening, Sips & the City on Friday, and Saturday's elegant Grand Tasting at Capital Square. Click the links for more info and tickets to those events. Go to winefestdesmoines.com for a complete rundown of events.

This painted panel is one of four in a wall-mounted art installation, which includes painting on the wall itself. Each panel is only partially framed, so the work is not enclosed or restricted but "unbridled," says Jared Ledesma, assistant curator at the Des Moines Art Center, where Epstein’s work is included in an exhibit featuring lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender artists.

ART CENTER OPENS TRAILBLAZING EXHIBITION

The late artist Felix Gonzalez-Torres could spin esoteric theory with the best of them, but he also wanted to be understood. As he put it, "I want to make art for people who watch ‘The Golden Girls’ and sit in a big, brown
La-Z-Boy chair. They’re part of my public, too."

So when Des Moines Art Center assistant curator Jared Ledesma discovered the artist’s work a few years ago during grad school, he wanted to build a show around it someday.

And now, that day has come. "Queer Abstraction" runs through Sept. 8, with 40-some works by Gonzalez-Torres and more than a dozen other lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender artists. It’s the first exhibition in the Art Center’s 70-year history to focus exclusively on queer artists and themes.

Early buzz about the show won it a $10,000 Sotheby’s Prize, one of just five chosen from a stack of 93 applications from 19 countries. It also helped the Art Center win a $100,000 multiyear grant from the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts. Learn more in this story from the current issue of dsm magazine.

Space for knickknacks? The Salisbury House library has always been a den of stately elegance and historic importance.

SALISBURY LIBRARY TREASURY OFF TO GRINNELL?

Grinnell College has preliminarily agreed to acquire the Salisbury House and Garden’s collection of rare books and historic documents. A statement from the school says they are "working toward a definitive purchase agreement and anticipate completing the acquisition by midsummer."

"The college is interested in investing in this treasured Iowa resource to keep it intact within the state
and to make it more accessible to researchers, faculty, students and the general public," said Mark
Christel, Grinnell College librarian.

The Salisbury House library collection contains approximately 2,500 books and 2,000 documents, including:

William Shakespeare’s Second Folio, a 1632 collection of his plays.
A 1492 letter from King Ferdinand II of Aragon, calling for an armada to fight the Barbary pirates.
A leaf from the original printing of the Gutenberg Bible in 1455.
Three medieval illuminated Books of Hours from the 14th and 15th centuries.
Signed books and documents from Abraham Lincoln, Charles Dickens, Mark Twain, John Singer Sargent, Walt Whitman and many other renowned individuals.
Galley proofs of a precursor to "Finnegan’s Wake," with edits by James Joyce.
Correspondence between Salisbury House creator Carl Weeks and prominent authors.

The college says the collection fits well with its current library holdings, which include collections from the 15th to 17th centuries and mid- to late-18th to mid-20th centuries. The Salisbury House collection would enhance the college’s collection from those time periods and will greatly strengthen holdings from other eras.

It's Music Under the Stars — and under some trees — on the state Capitol grounds Sunday evening.

COMING UP: CHAMBER MUSIC AND A POPS CONCERT

Indoors? Out? Classical? Pop? Whatever your taste, two upcoming music events should have just what you like.

Sunday, June 9, is the season debut of Music Under the Stars. The free concert at 7 p.m. on the Capitol grounds will feature music from "The Sting," "Mary Poppins," Barnum and Bailey, and a Sousa march, among others, plus big band pieces with guest vocalist Max Wellman.

Also free, the Zenith Chamber Music Festival opens this evening (Tuesday, June 4) at Drake's Sheslow Auditorium with a 7:30 p.m. concert featuring internationally acclaimed cellist Amit Peled. The program will include Stutschewsky, Bruch, Popper and the incomparable Brahms F major.

Tomorrow (Wednesday, June 5) the Zenith series joins Winefest Des Moines festivities with a 6 p.m. concert at Jasper Winery. Wine, beer and cheese trays will be available to purchase, and the program will be an eclectic mix of Piazzolla, Puccini, Beethoven and Shostakovich.

Zenith presents the Damani Phillips Quartet at the downtown carabet Noce at 7 p.m. Thursday, June 6.

Harpist Acacia Scott will be featured in concert at 7:30 p.m. Friday at Walnut Hills United Methodist Church in Clive. The program includes Rota, Ravel, Gershwin, Golijov and Piazzolla.

The festival closes Saturday, June 8, with a 7:30 p.m. concert back in Drake’s Sheslow Auditorium with Zenith musicians performing Bartok, Puccini, Shostakovich and more.