The White Lightning Wherehouse isn’t a place to take your grandmother. Abandoned shoes hang on pipes from its tall ceilings, spray paint doodles and nude paintings are plastered all over walls that have witnessed possibly some of strangest scenes in Iowa City.
Drag kings, burlesque dancers, sword swallowers, trapeze swingers and sweaty metal bands have all performed on The Wherehouse’s stage.
The eastside Iowa City building, once a car repair shop, is now a community space for artists.
In exchange for contributions to the space, musicians, painters, weavers, media artists and play producers use the makeshift rooms of The Wherehouse as their personal studio space, and bands and dance groups practice on the main stage.
Chris Wiersema, 30, of Iowa City, practices there with his band. He says the space connects diverse types of artists and enables them to work together and feed off one another’s creativity.
It’s also a much needed opportunity for artists that aren’t affiliated with the University of Iowa, says Nelle Dunlap, 25, who leases the space at The Wherehouse.
“After you get out of the university community, you’re at a little bit of a loss because so much is based on that community,” Nelle says.
Similar warehouse spaces have long been popular in large cities such as New York and Chicago, but The Whitelightening Wherehouse is the only of its kind in Iowa City.
“People have been starving for this for a long time,” Wherehouse sound technician Matt Rebelskey, 27, says. “I’ve lived in Iowa City for 16 years and this is the best community space I’ve ever seen.”
The space often hosts musical performances that are open to the public on a suggested donation basis. Local bands have played alongside bands from as far away as Los Angeles and Sweden.
The Wherehouse relies on donated and borrowed equipment and a volunteer “staff.” The low cost of operation allows them to take more risks in the types of bands they book, Dunlap says.
“We host some pretty out there music that bars maybe wouldn’t want to book,” she says.
Chris Wiersema, who has worked as a booking agent at bars in Iowa City, such as the Picador and Gabe’s, says he sometimes found it difficult to book bands that weren’t very well known.
“(The Wherehouse is) a place to see music that you wouldn’t be able to see anywhere else,” he says.
It’s also a different environment to watch live music, largely because they don’t serve alcohol, he says.
“People get locked in the bar mentality. At a bar, people gravitate to the (physical) bar. They end up missing the show or talking through it,” Chris says. “(Without serving alcohol,) the music becomes the dominant influence in the room. That’s what people come (to the Wherehouse) for, and it results in a better experience…”
With no promoters, advertisements, or even a sign, The Wherehouse is relatively unknown to the general public — a conscious choice, says Chris, who asked that their address not be included in this article.
“I think an audience that is driven to seek out the sort of outsider and avant-garde acts that play here see finding us as part of the experience,” he says.
The under the radar approach preserves the space for the most dedicated artists and supporters, Chris says.
They use Facebook and Twitter to get the word out about their concerts and performances. He calls the space ‘Iowa City’s worst kept secret’.
Nelle says that a lot of the success of the Wherehouse is due to the five men who first rented the property with the intention of creating a collaborative art space. Under their direction, the space was much more “wild” and much dirtier than it is now, and was strictly underground.
All but one of the original five have moved away, and since then, the space has taken a more put-together approach, with clean swept floors and an office. They even hosted a university affiliated event last week.
Nelle and others hope to include more of the Iowa City community by hosting more diverse events such as movie screenings and late night yoga sessions. They’d like to work with new people who have new ideas for the space, as long as they’re willing to do some work in return, she says.
“If nothing else, they meet someone new and maybe see or listen to something they otherwise might never have. And all because they put forth the effort to find something off the beaten path,” Chris says.
— JUSTINE
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