History on Tap: Hot Tamale Louie: Telling Stories Without Words

Sometime between chemo and radiation, University of Iowa Music Professor, John Rapson, was struck by inspiration in the form of a New Yorker article. The piece, “Citizen Khan” by Kathryn Schulz, tells of Zarif Khan, who as a teenager left his home near the Khyber Pass in Afghanistan and eventually settled in the Wyoming town of Sheldon in 1907. Khan earned citizenship only to have it stripped because of his ethnicity. Rapson recognized a story of immigration that echoes today’s political conversation about what it means to be an American. Rapson, along with others, created a thirteen-section musical suite evoking different aspects of Khan’s life.

Program Schedule:
4:00-7:00 p.m. See our new Exhibit, Medieval to Metal: The Art & Evolution of the Guitar.
5:30-7:00 p.m. Screening of Hot Tamale Louie: A genre-bending tale with lilting Western ballads, gentle Mexican waltzes, folk songs and melodies from the East, evocative tone poems, and raucous ragtime melded together by jazz. Originally performed in 2017 at the University of Iowa. See it before you hear from its creator, John Rapson.
7:00-8:00 p.m. The Making of Hot Tamale Louie with Creator, John Rapson

*Cash bar open throughout the event.