Upcoming Events at CSPS Hall
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Michael Charles
While enjoying a flourishing career in his homeland Australia, a turning point in Michael Charles' life and career materialized in the form of an invitation from Mr. Buddy Guy's management to appear at Buddy Guy's Legends in Chicago. He traveled the 12,500 mile and after performing wth Mr. Guy, Junior Wells, James Cotton, Eddy "The Chief" Clearwater, and many more of the blues great in Chicago, Charles returned to Australia. But within days re-boarded the plane with the solid intention of this time staying in America and growing his career there. Not too long after landing, an opportunity quickly presented itself and MC accepted the honor of joining up with legendary "Fast Fingers", Jimmy Dawkins and toured the USA for two years. Some thirty plus years later, Michael Charles' roots are in the USA, Chicago more specifically which he believes is the greatest city in the world, and his career comprises a catalog of forty-one releases, his Chicago Blues Hall of Fame induction, and recognition of remaining one of America's most driven artists as he continues to record and annually tours non-stop across the USA and Canada delivering at each stop an unprecedented, satisfying, concert of uniquely original, guitar driven, contemporary blues. At this time, Michael Charles is traveling his eighteenth consecutive international tour "Guitars, Music, and Miles 2025" tour, which will once again take him to the far corners of USA, Canada, and Australia. The 2025 tour promises a multitude of concerts and publicity appearances as MC performs a whole new list of cities, festivals, and music venues and revisits some favorites from the last seventeen tours. 2025-11-07 22:00:00 -0600
CSPS HallCedar Rapids -
Chicago Blues Hall of Famer Michael Charles and His Band Return to CSPS Hall
“The Guitars, Music and Miles 2025 tour drives the power trio of Australian born Michael Charles straight to you for a non-stop concert explosion of music and guitars, contemporary blues, high energy rock, and soulful ballads from the forty-one release discography of multi-genre Chicago Blues Hall of Famer Michael Charles.” 2025-12-02 22:30:00 -0600
CSPS HallCedar Rapids -
Monday Unscripted
October 13: Improv October 20: Talk Show October 27: Storytelling November 3: Comedy November 10: Improv November 17: Talk Show November 24: Storytelling December 1: Comedy December 8: Improv December 15: Talk Show Get ready for a night of laughs and great stories! Monday Unscripted brings you a weekly dose of joy and humor to Cedar Rapids every Monday night. Presented by Lucky Cat Productions, Anthony Jensen, TellersBridge, and hosted Tim Boyle, this weekly event is a showcase of incredible talent. We're proud to feature a rotating lineup of both established and emerging comedians and storytellers, all guaranteed to make you smile. Join us every Monday, 7pm-8:30pm (90 min) in the mysterious Black Box Theatre at CSPS Hall. It's the perfect setting for an intimate and unforgettable night. Shows feature a mix of rotating hosts, guest groups, and unique themed performances, ensuring that no two Mondays are ever the same. 2025-12-15 21:00:00 -0600
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Mike Zito
Mike Zito is one of the most lauded artists in the contemporary blues arena today and rightfully so, but for him, the thing that counts the most is maintaining his honesty, authenticity and integrity. Those are the qualities that have steered Zito’s career since the beginning and continue to define every effort he’s offered since. “I have nothing to hide; it seems my honesty is what people relate to most,” he once told Vintage Guitar magazine. “Anders (Osborne) told me early on, ‘If you don’t believe what you’re singing, you’ll never be a good singer.’ I try not to write fluff; I try to make every word count.” Naturally, patience and perseverance have been Zito’s stock and trade since the beginning. He began playing guitar at the age of five, and by the time he reached his late teens, he was already a fixture on the local St. Louis music scene. He initially released his music independently and then signed with Eclecto Groove Records in 2008. “Pearl River,” the title track of his 2009 album for the label, won Song of the Year at the Blues Music Awards and marked his first collaboration with Cyril Neville, with whom he’d later work in the Royal Southern Brotherhood. A steady succession of critically acclaimed albums followed, culminating in 2011’s Greyhound, which was nominated for Best Rock Blues Album at that year’s Blue Music Awards ceremony in Memphis. Two years later, he signed with Ruf Records and released Gone to Texas, the story of how he gained his sobriety, offered an emotional homage to the state that left an indelible imprint on his entire life. It also marked the debut of his band, The Wheel. From 2010 to 2014, Zito also played an integral role in the super group of sorts, Royal Southern Brotherhood. The group released two albums and a DVD, Songs from the Road – Live in Germany, winner of the year’s Blues Music Award for Best DVD. He also made his mark behind the boards by producing albums for Samantha Fish, Albert Castiglia, Ally Venable, Jeremiah Johnson, Jimmy Carpenter, and many others. Meanwhile, the accolades kept coming. His album, Make Blues Not War, debuted on the Billboard Blues Album Chart at number one and garnered him recognition as the 2018 Rock Blues Artist of the Year at the Blues Music Awards. First Class Life followed suit, also entering the charts at number one. Alternate Root magazine insisted that “The First Class Life that Mike Zito titles his upcoming album can be heard in the sweet sound of Blue Soul rising like heat waves from his guitar and his vocal.” American Blues Scene said, “Mike Zito’s return to the blues is, in a word, triumphant!” No Depression declared, “Once again, Zito has delivered the goods, a first class package with no postage due.” In 2019, Zito released a tribute album of fellow St. Louis native and rock ‘n’ roll legend, Chuck Berry, and featured an array of guest guitarists ranging from Joe Bonamassa, Walter Trout and Eric Gales, to Robben Ford, Luther Dickinson and Sonny Landreth, as well as Berry’s own grandson. Rock ’n Roll: A Tribute to Chuck Berry debuted on the Billboard Blues Album Chart at number 1 and remained on the chart for several weeks. Rock ’N Roll won the Blues Music Award for Blues Rock Album of the year and Mike also received the Blues Music Award for Blues Rock artist. At about the same time, Mike Zito partnered with Guy Hale to form the new record label Gulf Coast Records. Gulf Coast Records is based in Nederland, TX with a focus on Regional Roots, Blues and Americana genres. The mutual passion of the founders is to lift up artists and help them get their music out to the world. Quarantine Blues, was recorded during the heart of the coronavirus pandemic and served as a healing love letter to his fans around the world that heralded better days ahead if we’d all just stick together. In 2021, Mike released Resurrection on his record label Gulf Coast Records. The new disc was produced by the celebrated Grammy-winner David Z, best known for his long-standing work with Prince, and who has contributed to albums by Etta James, Billy Idol, BoDeans, Buddy Guy and John Mayall, among many others. “I have songs in me and musical ideas all of the time,” volunteers Mike Zito about the new album’s genesis. “I write what I can, when I can and try to save it all for posterity. Some of the songs are just songs and they don’t always have meaning for me, and some of them become very personal. For me to sing songs and feel them with real emotion, they need to be somewhat personal. Even songs I did not write, I need to feel they explain a part of my thinking or how I am feeling about love, sex, life, death, the world…. Resurrection is an album of feelings, emotions, and is very personal. The title track is how I once almost lost my love, but it came back stronger than ever. I have had this song in me for years, but it only makes sense now to share it with the world. After the year we have had on planet Earth, I believe we all need a rebirth. This rebirth has given me an opportunity to be who I want to be musically and artistically.” Resurrection was a critic and fan favorite and later won the Blues Music Award for the 2022 Blues Rock Album of the year. In 2022, Zito released the double live album Blues for the Southside. Recorded on November 26, 2021, at the Old Rock House in St. Louis, Missouri, and produced by Mike Zito, Blues for the Southside showcases Zito (guitar, vocals) and his stellar band in full fury with special guests Tony Campanella, Dave Kalz and guitar wizard Eric Gales. After the release of Blues for the Southside, Zito joined forces with Gulf Coast Records label mate Albert Castiglia and created the Blood Brothers tour. 2025-12-05 21:00:00 -0600CSPS HallCedar Rapids -
Mid Week Film Club
Tonight's main feature is too sweet and nostalgic to keep a secret - Emmet Otter's Jug Band Christmas, the folksy, 1977 Jim Henson TV Christmas special nominated for multiple Emmy Awards and still leaving viewers with a happy glow each year. This screening will be accompanied by a few mystery short films that round out the vibe. 2025-12-05 21:00:00 -0600CSPS HallCedar Rapids -
Living Improverty
Living Improverty is an improv troupe specializing in short form and musical improv. The group has been doing improv in and around the Cedar Rapids area since 2017. Starting as a small group of individuals composed of former members of Beggin’ for Mercy (the Mt. Mercy improv team) and the Forest Drive Improv Company (the Washington High School improv team), Living Improverty’s ranks have grown to be a seven person team. Although forced into taking a hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Living Improverty is now back in full force and is proud to be able to partner with local businesses, such as CSPS, to provide quality improvisational comedy shows to the Eastern Iowa corridor. Living Improverty’s current lineup of performers consists of: Harrison Shaffer, Jake Truemper, Matthew Weihe, Bryce Althoff, Matthew Trueblood, Ali Gillis, and Seth Engen 2025-12-05 22:00:00 -0600CSPS HallCedar Rapids -
A Winter's Evening with Ryanhood
An evening of songs and storytelling, heartstrings and laughter, A Winter’s Evening with Ryanhood is a live holiday touring show based on the duo’s record, On Christmas, that showcases the high-energy, big-harmony, dueling acoustic guitar approach that Ryanhood fans across the country have come to expect. Featuring a blend of original holiday compositions, wintry covers, and reworked classics woven together with holiday stories and memories, Ryan David Green and Cameron Hood invite audiences to experience the joy, depth, intimacy, and excitement of the holiday season by sharing A Winter’s Evening with Ryanhood. Named ‘Best Group/Duo’ in the International Acoustic Music Awards, acoustic-duo Ryanhood got their first break as street-performers at Boston’s Quincy Market. It was there that they were spotted by a college booking agent and thrust into the college touring scene, where Campus Activities Magazine would name them “one of the most requested acts by college buyers all across the country.” They’ve since gone on to perform more than 1500 shows in 47 U.S. states over the past decade, and have shared stages with Jason Mraz, Matt Nathanson, Train, and many more. On their newest album Yes & No (11/28/25), Ryanhood celebrates 20 years together with a bold, bright, harmony-saturated romp through the inescapable contradictions at the heart of each of us. The album offers ten high-powered acoustic-rock songs, filled with guitar hooks, inquisitive lyrics and tight vocal harmonies built for the live stage. Green and Hood currently reside in their hometown of Tucson, Arizona, where they have won more than a dozen Tucson Music Awards including “Best Folk Band” and “Best Rock Band” (you can decide for yourself which is most accurate). 2025-11-07 22:00:00 -0600
CSPS HallCedar Rapids -
Under The Knife - Gallery Opening - Sam Weis
On the Artist: Sam Weis is a fifth generation Iowan, studied fine art at The University of Iowa, and has lived and worked in the Puget Sound area and in the Florida Keys. Her work is in private collections in North America, Europe and the UK. Statement from the artist, Sam Weis, on "Under the Knife": I have been asked more than a few questions about my paintings. I hope this response will be clarifying. What painters do I admire? The list is pretty long, but here are a few. Monet, Manet, Joan Mitchell, Modigliani, Picasso, Gauguin, Pollock, Kandinsky, Rothko, Diebenkorn, Gabriele Münter, Alden Mason. Why do I paint? I paint because I can’t not paint. I have a desire to see more than is easily visible. On a simpler level I paint because I love the physicality; the flow of paint, and the textures. It is all deeply compelling, and satisfying, and motivating. And why paint nonobjective abstracts? Because I want to show the invisible interior of our world. I paint nonobjective abstracts in an attempt to understand the frequencies, the vibrations of color and shape as being the essential element that links visual art irrevocably to music rendering their perceived differences indiscernible. I am hoping to figure it out someday. 2025-12-05 19:30:00 -0600CSPS HallCedar Rapids -
Miles Nielsen and the Rusted Hearts
About Miles Nielsen and the Rusted Hearts Led by free-wheeling frontman Miles Nielsen, The Rusted Hearts have been wowing audiences for years with the diversity of their sound, the tightness of their 4-part harmonies, and the quality of their songcraft. Equally comfortable in a compact 3-minute pop song and an epic 10-minute jam, the band has toured incessantly since their inception in 2011, amassing an army of hardcore followers that have dubbed themselves the Rusted Herd. Their new album “OHBAHOY” finds the band venturing into a sphere of Americana that feels both familiar and excitingly new. Tight drums, rich guitar tones, gorgeous woodwinds, and sweeping harmonies provide the perfect complements to Nielsen’s immense storytelling gifts and impeccable vocals. The album’s name comes from an imaginary friend Nielsen had growing up, a fitting reminder as we get older to hold tightly to the noble ideals of freedom and creativity that seem so natural to us as children. 2025-12-05 21:00:00 -0600CSPS HallCedar Rapids -
Cold Shock 2
Festering Productions presents the second annual Iowa Metal Underground Midwest Death Metal Showcase featuring Maul, Drillbit, 12 Gauge Autopsy, DIEZELEATER, and Starved. Midwest Death from Fargo, North Dakota, Maul is returning to Cedar Rapids for the first time since headlining Iowa Metal Underground Fest in 2024. Drillbit is an alcoholic death metal band from Oshkosh, Wisconsin. 12 Gauage Autopsy is a grooving death metal band on the border of Illinois and Iowa. 12 Gauge has been playing shows in the Midwest Area since January of 2025 and are dedicated to bringing the heaviest, nastiest, grooviest mess of riffs and slams. DIEZELEATER is bringing the hard hitting zesty ass riffs from Des Moines, Iowa. Starved is an uncivilized death thrash band from the cold wilderness of Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Hardened by Midwest life, they worship savage riffs and depraved indulgence. Starved is prepared to play shows and have been doing so and reaping the spoils since September 2025. 2025-12-05 21:00:00 -0600CSPS HallCedar Rapids -
Radoslav Lorkovic
About Radoslav Lorkovic Drawing from a multitude of influences ranging from elegant classical and jazz styles to the rawest, most basic blues, country, and soul, Radoslav Lorkovic has taken on an unusually broad musical spectrum and refined it into his distinctive piano style. His tenure on the R&B and folk circuits has culminated in five crictically acclaimed solo recordings and numerous appearances on the recordings of and performances with artists including Odetta, Jimmy LaFave, Robbon of Highway Woody Guthrie Tribute, Greg Brown, Richard Shindell, Ellis Paul, Ronny Cox, Dave Moore, Andy White, and Bo Ramsey. His thirty year touring career has led him from the taverns of the upper Mississippi River to the castles of Italy, The Canary Islands, The Yup'ik villages of Alaska, The Kennedy Center and Carnegie Hall. Born in Zagreb, Croatia in 1958, Lorkovic's initial exposure to music can be attributed to two grandmothers. Antonija, his maternal grandmother, sang him Croatian, Slovenian, and Czech folk songs since birth. At age one he was reported to be singing back on pitch. By age three he was putting on floor shows for his grandfather and friends who would respond by showering him with coins yelling "pivaj Radoslav pivaj!" During this time, classical music played in the home constantly due to the influence of his paternal grandmother Melita Lorkovic, an internationally renown classical pianist. After this blend of central European musical influences Radoslav moved to the United States at age six. He had a foothold on a classical music career when at age fourteen he was sidetracked by a blues scale that a friend had taught him. After several years and countless hours of expounding on this spark, Lorkovic began touring at age 20 with Bo Ramsey and the Sliders. Lorkovic entered the band having mastered the styles of boogie-woogie greats such as Albert Ammons, Pete Johnson, Freddie Slack, etc. Ramsey's influence drove Lorkovic deeper to the core of the blues. The music of Howlin' Wolf, Muddy Waters. and Little Walter shifted Lorkovic's focus to the basics as he began to draw from the styles of Otis Spann and Pinetop Perkins. Several years later Lorkovic and Ramsey joined forces with Greg Brown adding musical authenticity to his deep Iowa roots. At this time, Lorkovic was simultaneously brushing up on his classical heritage and looking south to the polyrhythmic sounds of Porefessor Longhair and James Booker. He had picked up Tex-Mex and Zydeco accordion as well. In 1990, he made his solo recording debut. Six CDs later, Lorkovic currently tours the world regularly appearing at prestigious events such as the Woody Guthrie Folk Festival, WOMAD, Winnipeg, Calgary, Companion, eTown, as well as a litany of Italian castles and villas. 2025-12-05 22:00:00 -0600CSPS HallCedar Rapids